10 Opening Movie Scenes NOTHING Like The Rest Of The Film
6. Con Air
Con Air is one of the most ludicrously entertaining - and straight-up ludicrous - actioners of the late-90s, and few would deny that it's an unapologetically corny genre flick bolstered by its excellent ensemble cast and thrilling set-pieces.
There's certainly a tonal consistency to the film, except for a brief opening scene that feels unmistakably like it was stapled to the front of it by a studio executive.
The first minute of the movie is an odd montage of real-life footage of Army Rangers on manoeuvres, set to a voiceover narration from the late, great Powers Boothe, extolling the Rangers' virtues as soldiers, before we cut to protagonist Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) saluting as he's honourably discharged.
This hurried sequence feels far more like it belongs in a military propaganda movie like Act of Valor than a Jerry Bruckheimer action flick, especially considering how hastily thrown-together it looks.
The Army footage was presumably pulled from a stock video library somewhere, and though Boothe's narration is supposed to be addressing Poe and his fellow soldiers, he never physically appears on-screen at all because it was clearly recorded deep in post-production.
The movie could've just as easily started with Poe arriving home in Alabama to his wife Tricia (Monica Potter), but instead there's this strange scene tacked onto the start.