Entertainment

10 Action Movies That Hooked Me From the First 10 Minutes

Nairavoice · Nov 4, 2026 · 12 min read

First impressions matter, and some action movies want to grab the audience’s attention right from the get-go. A great opening ten minutes can tell you everything you need to know about the kind of ride you’re about to experience. Some tease spectacular action with amazing set pieces, and some employ suspense and atmosphere to make every moment count.

The films on this list use the first ten minutes so effectively that you can instantly tell they’re about to be proper masterpieces. From the revolutionary superhero storytelling of The Dark Knight and The Matrix to the relentless intensity of John Wick: Chapter 4 and the immersive spectacle of 1917, the greatest openings demonstrate just how inventive action filmmaking can be.

‘The Shadow Strays’ (2024)

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    Image via Netflix</figure>

The Shadow Strays is an underrated action masterpiece directed by Timo Tjahjanto. The opening is set in Japan, introducing us to the main character known only by her codename, 13 (Aurora Ribero). Although it appears to be another routine assignment, she is defeated by her target’s bodyguard. Despite killing her target, 13 is then suspended and grounded for retraining.

This opening is slick and stylish. The action is set beautifully in a traditional Japanese house, before moving to a snow-covered garden. Tjahjanto, who directed the acclaimed actioner The Night Comes For Us, wastes no time displaying his brutal vision and technical prowess. The scene promises that the combat sequences will just get bigger, and it does. The film also establishes 13’s character immediately, making it an effective storytelling stage as well. The Shadow Strays is an underrated and underseen Netflix film that deserves to be discovered by fans of bone-crunching action.

‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ (2023)

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    Image via Paramount Pictures</figure>

The cold opening of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is literally a cold one set in a Russian submarine named Sevastopol, which also houses a sophisticated artificial intelligence. Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt) is not present, but we see the crew encountering a mysterious threat. On the radar, they see another submarine attacking them, so they launch a counterattack. However, there is no attack, and their torpedo returns to destroy them, leaving the AI and the key to access it gone in the ocean.

It is pretty bold to create this extended opening that does not feature the main actor and is full of mystery. Anchoring the sequence is Marcin Dorociński, who played the submarine captain and is probably familiar to fans of The Queen’s Gambit. It is an important scene to establish the threat the IMF team is facing for two movies. It gives the villainous Entity a distinctive kind of menace that is manipulative and dangerous. The claustrophobic scene is brilliant in building tension as it has practically no fight sequences, just the crew in the submarine.

‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ (2023)

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    Image via Lionsgate</figure>

The opening ten minutes of John Wick: Chapter 4 waste absolutely no time reminding audiences that Keanu Reeves‘ John Wick is a total badass. John has disappeared into the desert, where he rides through the darkness on horseback in search of the mysterious Elder. After dismantling the henchmen, he finds a new Elder who replaced the retired one. Their negotiation is not fruitful, and John kills the Elder, setting the stage for his final showdown with the High Table.

This fourth chapter once again embraces the franchise’s signature combination of carefully composed widescreen imagery, striking locations, and deliberate movement, creating an atmosphere that feels simultaneously operatic and grounded. Then, it also expands the mythology and the background to his conflict with Bill Skarsgård‘s Marquis later on. By killing the Elder, John has decided that the only way to escape the system is by facing it head-on. John is not interested in running and hiding, which is why the combat scenes in this film are all big and brutal. It’s arguably the best chapter in the franchise.

‘One Battle After Another’ (2025)

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    Image via Warner Bros. Pictures</figure>

The opening of One Battle After Another throws audiences straight into the action, introducing a group of radical activists known as the French 75. Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) is helping organize a daring operation to liberate detained immigrants from a detention facility near the US–Mexico border, alongside Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) and the other members of the group. During the operation, Perfidia subdues Captain Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), leaving him weirdly captivated.

Paul Thomas Anderson‘s Oscar-winning film may be the most unconventional on the list, but that doesn’t diminish its highly effective and compelling opening. Perfidia immediately emerges as the most magnetic presence, with Taylor giving her a combination of confidence, aggression, and provocative unpredictability that’s impossible to ignore. Her encounter with Lockjaw is especially important because it establishes a disturbing personal dimension to the main conflict. The scene is further complemented by Jonny Greenwood‘s magnetic score. It’s a powerful opening for one of the highly acclaimed films of the 2020s.

The first film not in the English language to win Best Picture, in the Academy’s
92-year history to that point.
It took four Oscars in one night: Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and International
Feature.
It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2019 by a unanimous jury vote, the first Korean film
to do so.
The Park family’s modernist house was not a location. It was built from scratch on an
outdoor lot.

Seven Oscars, including three acting wins for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee
Curtis.
Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win Best Actress.
The visual effects were handled by a team of fewer than ten people, most of them
self-taught.
Ke Huy Quan had all but left acting for two decades before this role brought him back.

Seven Oscars, including Nolan’s first wins for directing and for Best Picture.
Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. both took their first Academy Awards for it.
Kodak engineered a black-and-white 65mm stock that did not previously exist so Nolan could
shoot those sequences on IMAX.
A three-hour, R-rated drama about theoretical physics that passed 950 million dollars
worldwide.

Four Oscars, among them Best Picture and Best Director for Iñárritu.
Emmanuel Lubezki’s win here was the middle of three consecutive cinematography Oscars,
after Gravity and before The Revenant.
Antonio Sánchez’s improvised drum score was ruled ineligible for the score category,
which caused a minor uproar.
The long-take illusion was built from a handful of extended shots joined by hidden cuts.

Four Oscars: Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem.
Adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel, with much of his dialogue carried over
intact.
Carter Burwell’s score runs about sixteen minutes and is nearly inaudible by design.
Roger Deakins was nominated twice that year, for this and The Assassination of Jesse James,
and won for neither.

‘Thief’ (1981)

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    Image via United Artists</figure>

The opening of Thief introduces Frank (James Caan), a professional safecracker carrying out an elaborate nighttime robbery with great precision. Working alongside his trusted associate Barry (Jim Belushi), Frank breaks into a high-security vault and methodically dismantles its sophisticated locking mechanism. Once the job is complete, he collects his share and returns to the outside world.

Thief is one of the best neo-noir films and definitely one of Michael Mann‘s best films. Rather than presenting the robbery as a frantic, improvised operation, Michael Mann allows the audience to observe Frank’s work in meticulous detail, from the specialized tools he uses to the careful movements of his hands. The process is laborious, technical, and surprisingly quiet, with the sounds of drilling, metal scraping, and machinery creating an intense atmosphere that puts the viewers in his situation and headspace.

‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ (1968)

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    Image via Paramount Pictures</figure>

Once Upon a Time in the West starts with three gunmen arriving and taking up positions around the station, waiting for someone to arrive by train. When the train finally arrives, the men discover that their intended target is not aboard. Instead, they encounter a mysterious harmonica-playing stranger, played by Charles Bronson, who has apparently come looking for them. The confrontation erupts into a sudden gunfight, and the stranger kills all three men.

Compared to the other films on this list, this opening is the least action-packed, but it is still memorable and effective. Rather than immediately explaining who the three men are or what they want, Sergio Leone lets the audience sit with them as they wait. These apparently insignificant details stretch the tension to an almost unbearable degree, until the fight erupts. The stranger’s entrance is particularly effective because Bronson barely needs to speak to establish his character. By the time the scene ends, Leone has demonstrated extraordinary confidence in his audience and visual storytelling.

‘1917’ (2019)

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    Image via Universal Pictures</figure>

1917 opens with Lance Corporals Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), two British soldiers resting beneath a tree during the First World War. Their moment of rest ends when Blake is summoned and instructed to bring Schofield with him on a mission that could determine the fate of an entire British battalion, including Blake’s own brother.

The genius of this opening is how much tension Sam Mendes creates before showing the audience a single major battle. It starts with a quiet stillness and then plunges the characters and the audience right into battle. Most importantly, it prepares us for the film’s remarkable technical achievement. Its continuous shot technique, courtesy of the Oscar-winning Roger Deakins, makes the audience feel as though there will be no escape from the journey once it begins, just like what the characters are going through. It becomes less of a gimmick but a necessary storytelling tool in this story that unfolds in real-time.

‘Gladiator’ (2000)

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    Image via DreamWorks Distribution</figure>

Gladiator opens with Maximus (Russell Crowe), a Roman general commanding the armies of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) during a campaign against Germanic tribes near the empire’s northern frontier. Before the battle begins, Maximus contemplates his surroundings and then starts his rousing speech. When the fighting finally begins, the Romans charge through enemy lines and legionaries advance in coordinated formations against the Germanic warriors.

Ridley Scott does what he does best in this opening sequence. He starts slow and then escalates with the chaotic battle scenes, combining an epic scale with the intimacy of a character study. The battle itself is a remarkable demonstration of cinematic craftsmanship. The camerawork, massive production and thundering score are combined to create an immersive experience, glued together by Crowe’s Oscar-winning performance. With breathtaking spectacle, visual storytelling, and a deeply human hero, it is clear that from this opening, Gladiator is one of the best films ever made.

‘The Matrix’ (1999)

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    Image via Warner Bros. Pictures</figure>

The Matrix begins inside a dimly lit hotel room, where Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) is being tracked by the police, who have apparently discovered her connection to Morpheus. When officers enter the room to arrest her, they quickly discover that they have underestimated their target. Trinity takes them down with astonishing speed and gravity-defying movements. Then, mysterious men in black suits arrive, chasing Trinity through rooftops until she gets away.

In a matter of minutes, The Matrix introduces a mysterious world, an extraordinary heroine, a powerful enemy, and a world with different rules than ours. The film turns this action sequence into a puzzle, encouraging audiences to wonder what kind of world could produce such extraordinary events. The opening also establishes the visual identity that would become one of the film’s most influential contributions to cinema. The action choreography, which combines wire-fu and gunfights, is also astounding. It is undoubtedly one of the best openings in the action genre.

‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)

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    Image via Warner Bros. Pictures</figure>

The Dark Knight immediately begins with a bank heist carried out by a group of men wearing clown masks. They are given specific jobs, but as the robbery unfolds, the robbers begin killing one another, as instructed by their mysterious employer. In the final moments of the heist, the bank manager tries to strike down a clown with his shotgun, but is shot back. Then the criminal reveals himself to be The Joker (Heath Ledger), kills the last clown, and disappears into the city.

This opening establishes Christopher Nolan as one of the directors who craft spectacular action sequences. The Joker is an instant icon, unpredictable and chaotic, exploiting greed and human nature through manipulation. When he is unmasked, all of the doubts surrounding Heath Ledger’s casting immediately went away; he would go on to earn a posthumous Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor. The Dark Knight is always in conversation for the best superhero movies of all time, and it is quite clear through this opening alone.

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