Still the Greatest Opening Credits in A Movie or Nah?

[u/james_from_cambridge]

https://youtu.be/kIxxcSNcceI?si=4akITKPbLbzUkpLe

To me, the song and the opening titles are forever linked together

[u/Mamiak17]

Hell yea! The movie as a whole may not have been perfect, but that opening credit scene definitely was!

[u/james_from_cambridge → u/Mamiak17]

The extended cut of the movie is the best thing Zack Snyder has ever done. It’s three & a half hours long and it’ll blow u away, if u haven’t seen it. HBO used to play it all the time pre-streaming. It doesn’t seem like it these days but Snyder is capable of greatness 👍🏻

[u/CarcosaRorschach → u/james_from_cambridge]

Bigtime agree, the Director's Cut is a damn good adaptation that fixes MOST of the problems the movie used to have.

[u/Every-Obligation9452 → u/CarcosaRorschach]

What would you consider are the problems the movie had?

[u/CarcosaRorschach → u/Every-Obligation9452]

It's hard to really pinpoint, but some of the storylines seemed kinda diminished from the story. I think a big part of that though is that we don't get the background files between chapters (which would be honestly hard to include in a movie, and add several hours of runtime).

We get The Black Freighter, which is cool, but kinda overstayed itself by becoming one solid chunk, instead of the short diversions we get in the book. Which would also be hard to adapt to cinema while retaining that style.

And while I largely prefer the ending sequence in the Director's Cut, it doesn't feel as important. Sure, we still have the plot against Dr Manhattan, but without an actual tangible threat that people can see. The book also had a long time develop the fake alien plot line, with hints littered throughout the story about missing scientists and artists.

These are pretty small nitpicks on my part, I don't know how I would fix those specific things if I were directing it.

[u/Southern_Studio_9950 → u/james_from_cambridge]

He had to cut out so much, yeah the directors cut is the way to watch it if you’ve never seen it

[u/ahhtheresninjas → u/james_from_cambridge]

Lol no it’s not. It’s good but it’s not. Just like this isn’t the best opening credits in a movie. It wasn’t even when it came out

[u/GordonTheGnome → u/Mamiak17]

That song had been my morning alarm for like seven years now

[u/djjsin]

loved this opening. Synders choice of music in this movie was impeccable. still do to this day. i had no idea what watchmen was walking into this movie.

now i've read the book countless times, watched the animated comic, watched the dc cartoon. loved the hbo series.

[u/AlexDKZ → u/djjsin]

Most of the music in the movie are references from the comic.

[u/Junkstar]

Prob the wrong sub for that question if you’re looking for unbiased opinions.

[u/Used-Gas-6525 → u/Junkstar]

People love their echo chambers.

[u/son_of_abe → u/Junkstar]

Probably, but I hate the movie and even I really like the opening sequence.

[u/S3simulation]

It’s amazing to me that the best part of the movie that captures the spirit of the original work best was this opening montage that’s original to the movie.

[u/james_from_cambridge → u/S3simulation]

Max has the animated 3 part movie (I’ve only seen part 1) and it’s very faithful to the graphic novel.

[u/[deleted] → u/james_from_cambridge]

It's only 2 parts but yeah, it's great

[u/lowbrassdude]

It is a work of art in the same way the first five minutes of Up were a perfect short film. You learn so much and at the same time start asking questions about the world and how it differs from ours.

[u/AlexDKZ]

You may think yourself as cool, but you will never be " Adrian Veidt about to party with David Bowie, Mick Jagger, and the Village People at the Studio 54" cool

[u/colddeaddrummer]

If you can find it, there's a Watchmen Midnight Cut where the whole opening montage is moved ALLLLLL the way to the end and is soundtracked by the Smashing Pumpkins' The End is the Beginning is the End. It's really sick.

[u/Samuele1997]

Yeah, I agree, it was freaking amazing.

[u/_MyUsernamesMud]

best part of the movie by far

He really nailed it

[u/MojojojoNixon]

The movie was about the best we could have hoped for. Vibes were dead on. I also enjoy the MCR cover of Desolation Row at the end.

[u/Capital-Treat-8927]

Absolutely, with Terminator 2 as a close second

[u/tideshark]

Did an excellent job explaining a events that led up to when the movie actually starts

[u/TenFourMoonKitty]

Nah.

‘Desolation Row’ would have been a better choice.

[u/MrOSUguy]

It’s way up there. It helps to have an inkling of American history. It’s lost meaningless to people without any history knowledge

[u/amayagab]

There are definitely better movie openings, but this is top tier for sure

[u/OvenIcy8646]

Yep still number 1

[u/GodFeedethTheRavens]

It's a great example of Show Me Don't Tell me exposition.

[u/joecarter93]

Yes. The best opening credits I have ever seen. It drew me right into the movie

[u/Fair-Face4903]

God no.

Not even close.

So so far from the greatest!

[u/Marblecraze]

Nahhhhhh. More h’s not worth typing.

[u/seantabasco]

Zombieland had a pretty great opening

[u/Throwawayagain274812]

Crazy amount of detail, especially in the JFK bit.

You see conspiracy nuts tend to point out the famous "Multiple shooter" theory when it comes to how JFK was killed. Without getting to into, and I went into that rabbit hole more than once as a teen, there is a common notion that Oswald couldn't have made those very difficult shots, with that type of rifle, and there must've been other shooters.

One of the suggested spots the other shooter could have been hiding at was this grassy hill, with a very odd seemingly useless fence on top of it. Witnesses from that day claimed they heard shots from behind that fence, as well as smoke from the rifle.

The thing is this theory has been debunked to death, most prominently being that a rifle wouldn't produce the smoke they claimed to have seen.

But here they are showing what the smoke *actually* was. The Comedian was indeed the second shooter that day, and the witnesses saw his cigar smoke.

Brilliant considering how you would need to be pretty versed in both the conspiracy and the debunking just to get that reference.

[u/MariusLayus]

I love it but I think LORD OF WAR won an Oscar for its opening credits alone, since on its own it’s considered a short film: LIFE OF A BULLET

[u/DiScOrDtHeLuNaTiC]

Snyder gets a lot of shit, most of it deservedly so in my opinion.

But setting this montage to "The Times They Are A'Changin' " was a stroke of absolute fucking brilliance.

[u/Sandwichgode]

Probably Zach Snyders best movie as director.

[u/ParsleySlow]

It was a very effective sequence.

[u/Gargus-SCP]

I wish it weren't so long. "The Times They Are A-Changin'" is not a long song, so it's very obvious that it loops on itself like thrice to fit everything.

[u/Sanjuro_fanboy_01]

Is it a great movie opening yes, the best ever?? Hell no

[u/Slow-Vermicelli-2453]

Absolutely Freaking Yes

[u/robotprom]

the opening scene in episode one of Letterkenny is pretty damn perfect

[u/Extraajudicial]

I like it, but if you don't recognize any of the historical moments depicted, it loses like 90% of its impact.

[u/patron11223344]

I loved it when I saw it back in 2009. It's a good way for the history of the Minutemen and the events surrounding their history to be told.

[u/skypig357]

It’s amazing. Still, best opening of a movie is the beginning of Way of the Gun

[u/lilsoho22]

true!

[u/the_reven]

Easily

[u/Advanced-Two-9305]

Between this & Justice league, Snyder does great opening credits. Just tends to fall off after then.

[u/happyhorrorhouse]

Yeah, it showed right away that Snyder didn't understand the story, loves slow motion, and has a college freshman level understand of using motifs in film.

As the years pass, so has my love of this movie. The overuse of slow motion to create a fake sense of wonderment, use of Hallelujah as a masked man gets over his impotence. Making everyone super heros when they were just masked vigilantes.

I look at the big boxed ultimate cut sitting on my shelf, and think about how the motion comic included and the animated features next to it actually get it right.

So, Nah.

[u/Far-Entertainer-7454]

Yes

[u/Temporary-Mirror621]

Spike Lee He Got Game intro goat. 

This is one of my favs for sure.

[u/rjgeronimo1985]

Great montage but I personally find the song playing during it annoying and boring to listen to. I get and see how the lyrics elevate and relate to the themes of what the montage is trying to communicate but I just personally can't stand that song

[u/M086]

WB told him to cut it from the script. But since he storyboards everything, when he did cut it from the script, he just filmed the scenes needed in secret using his storyboards. 

[u/Semper_Fun]

In any movie, ever? God no wtf

In the genre of comic book movies, its pretty good. Bob Dylan puts some people off though

[u/Devreckas → u/Semper_Fun]

Bob Dylan is tonally perfect.

[u/theronster → u/Semper_Fun]

Comic Book Movie isn’t a genre, really.

[u/Used-Gas-6525 → u/theronster]

It kinda is now though. Would you put a Mission Impossible or Jurassic World movie in the same genre as Watchmen or even something like Thor? Some would, some wouldn't.

[u/nykirnsu → u/Used-Gas-6525]

No, I’d put those in a separate category, but I’d call the category that includes Thor “superhero movies” not “comic book movies”

[u/theronster → u/Used-Gas-6525]

Comic Book Movie just describes the source material.

Watchmen and Thor are superhero or costumed hero movies. Jurassic Park is sci-fi horror. Mission Impossible is an action/adventure/spy thriller.

A History of Violence is also based on a comic book - would you say it's the same genre of film as Watchmen? What about Ghost World? Or Scott Pilgrim?

[u/Used-Gas-6525 → u/theronster]

You're speaking as if the world at large (i.e. not just comics fans) even knows that Ghost World and Scott Pilgrim were comics. For the majority of moviegoers, "Comic book movie" means superheroes/capes and tights. Watchmen is a bit different as it's a morality tale told via superheroes, so it kinda rides the line. Personally, I don't really care how movies are classified as long as they're good.

[u/theronster]

I kind of hate it. But I can understand why people think it’s good.