Have Your Say: Well Begun Is Half Done

A popular Dutch saying is "Een goed begin is het halve werk", which means something akin to "The first blow is half the battle", or "Well begun is half done". If it were always true, it would mean some films could coast along on their first ten minutes or so. Hell, some James Bond films sure have their most memorable moments in their pre-title sequences.

Alas, not all films benefit from a strong start: when I saw Oshii Mamoru's Avalon at the cinema with friends, several of them were disappointed that the last 100 minutes of the film didn't resemble its first seven a bit more. Likewise, Luc Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets can hardly be called a "hit" even though it sports one of the best beginnings I've seen in years. The still above is from that beginning but trust me, it doesn't begin (haha) to do the sequence justice.

So let's make "beginnings" the topic of the week. What is your favorite beginning of a film? And did the rest of the movie manage to live up to it?

Chime in, in the comments below, and HAVE YOUR SAY!!

(Note: special thanks go to regular contributor cjohnston, who mailed us the idea for this week!)