Rated Greg’s Top 5 Opening Scenes
- The Prologue in Raising Arizona
- Indy’s escape in Raiders of the Lost Ark
- The phone call in Scream
- The interrogation in Inglorious Basterds
- The car chase in Baby Driver
Honorable Mentions: The Social Network, Pulp Fiction, Drive, The Lion King, The Dark Knight, Bad Boys
Ocean’s 11 meets Drive. A week ago I listed Baby Driver as the best movie of 2017’s first half on the Rated Greg rankings. Since then I’ve had some pushback from a couple friends, claiming that it was good but not great. Entertaining but not exceptional. “A little overrated.” You know what, JUSTIN? Star Wars is a little overrated, lacrosse is a little overrated, and YOU’RE a little overrated. Baby Driver is a goddamn delight and you should be ashamed of yourself. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Baby Driver puts Fast and Furious to bed and goes hunting for fucking dinner. It’s is the most exciting movie since 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road. Name me a recent movie with more pure entertainment, start to finish, than Edgar Wright’s just released crime caper. The very opening scene already makes my Top 5 Car Chases list appear dated and the pulse never really lets up from there. What I appreciate most is the tremendously impressive, real life, stunt work contained within each set piece. Bravo. It’s commendable that Wright refused to let computers do the heavy lifting and chose to create magic the old fashioned way. Shoot, there’s better choreography in an early, relatively meaningless scene involving a casual stroll for coffee than most of the action in 2017.
That’s not all I appreciate though. I appreciate Jamie Foxx throwing 100mph heaters in every scene he’s in (how has he not been in a good movie since Django?). I appreciate Jon Hamm embracing a new haircut and going H.A.M. I appreciate my first exposure to former Telenovela star (and Bachelorette JoJo lookalike) Eiza Gonzalez. I appreciate Ansel Elgort’s undeniable charm as the titular character. I appreciate what great diner scenes can do for a movie. And finally, I appreciate a nonstop kickass soundtrack. Grade: A-
Rated Greg 