History Main / ActionPrologue

** ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' starts in the middle of the battle for Coruscant.

** ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' seems to start in the traditional "introduction of the characters" sense, but within two minutes, you discover that you've been captured by pirates that are not at all friendly, you and your older brother break out, sneak around the base looking for an exit, and then [[spoiler: your brother gets shot and]] you're running for your life through a dark jungle, chased by guys with guns, dogs, a ''bear'' and a ''helicopter''. Only once this sequence ends does the game take on a less edge-of-your-seat-action stance.
** Original ''VideoGame/FarCry1'''s first level, despite being a tutorial, is surprisingly action-packed and difficult.

* ''Anime/GhostInTheShell1995'' begins with Major Kusanagi carrying out a hit on a defecting programmer and a corrupt government minister, establishing her as a consummate ActionGirl (as well as [[TechnologyPorn showing off the coolness]] of the series' [[InvisibilityCloak thermoptic camouflage]]).

* ''Film/JamesBond'' films have [[index]][[ActionPrologue/JamesBond their own page]].[[/index]]

[[index]]
* ''ActionPrologue/JamesBond'' films have their own page.
[[/index]]

''ActionPrologue/JamesBond'' films have their own page.

''Film/JamesBond'' films have [[index]][[ActionPrologue/JamesBond their own page]].[[/index]]

[[index]]
''Film/JamesBond'' films have [[ActionPrologue/JamesBond their own page]].
[[/index]]

* The 2004 feature film version of ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' opens with Deunan Knute fighting some rogue cyborgs and a pair of tanks in the wastelands outside of Olympus.

* The ''Literature/DirtyPair'' movie ([[TitleConfusion better known as]] ''Project Eden'') takes this all the way into a full {{Pastiche}} of ''Film/JamesBond'' films, starting with an equivalent of the BondGunBarrel and ending with a DesignStudentsOrgasm credits sequence the Bond films could be proud of. (Not to mention introducing the [[GuyOfTheWeek Guy of the Movie]].)

** TheMovie for the 2003 anime, ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheConquerorOfShamballa'', opens with a story about the Elric brothers fighting a [[MadScientist Mad Physicist]] who invented a new type of bomb, which turns out to be a story told by Edward to [[spoiler:Alphons Heiderich, Al's [[WelcomeToTheRealWorld alternate world]] [[AlternateSelf counterpart]] about his life before he was sent there]]. [[spoiler:This is later used for an AndTheAdventureContinues ending, as Ed and Al learn that the bomb accidentally ended up in the other world and go to track it down.]]
* ''Anime/GhostInTheShell1995'' begins with Major Kusanagi carrying out a hit on a defecting programmer and a corrupt government minister, establishing her as a consummate ActionGirl (as well as [[TechnologyPorn showing off the coolness]] of the series' [[InvisibilityCloak thermoptic camouflage]]).

* ''Anime/TheWonderfulWorldOfPussNBoots'': All films begin with the moment that Pero the cat is sentenced to death for the crime of saving a mouse or in later films, refusing to kill mice at all, then him running away from the cat kingdom, and the Cat King sending three cat assassins after him to finish the job. Then the [[TitleDrop title drops]] and it cuts to the assassins chasing him across the countryside before Pero loses them and heads toward whatever person or place needs a hero.

[[folder:Film — Animated]]

* In the Pixar film, ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'', the film begins with Finn [=McMissile=] infiltrating the Lemons' oil rig to uncover their evil plans after his partner Leland Turbo has been crushed to death while attempting to escape their lair.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* ActionPrologue/JamesBond films have their own page.

* ''Film/TheTwelfthMan'': The film begins with Jan and his comrades struggling in the ocean after the destruction of their boat and making it ashore while being shot at and captured by Nazis, forcing Jan to swim across a freezing lake to escape. A later flashback shows the build-up to that event.

* "Literature/AGrimmQuest" The prologue follows Keriagon right before he’s taken out of commission.

* The prologue of ''Literature/CityOfNoEnd'' focuses on some random criminals facing and dying against a Man of Iron who is interested in their stolen technology. It is seemingly unrelated to the main plot of the book, although there are hints that they are involved in a conspiracy that will emerge in future installments.

* ''VideoGame/CrescentPrism'': The game begins with the party on Count Chroma's ship. Although the scripted battles all have Lunita fight alone, she has the stats and skills to effortlessly defeat Chroma's mooks.

* ''Film/{{Predator 2}}'' starts off with a 'Predator-eye' view of a pitched gun battle between the LAPD and a street gang. This battle is interrupted when the Predator kills and 'cleans' the surviving gangsters.

* The ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' movie opens with Rachel and Kirsty saving Heather the Violet Fairy, then defending the rest of the Rainbow Fairies from Jack Frost.
** Natalie the Christmas Stocking Fairy's book opens with a goblin running amok in Rachel's kitchen and escaping to the Ice Castle.

* The pilot movie of ''Series/{{Emergency}}'' from 1972 starts with firefighters asleep at an L.A. County fire station; it pans the living quarters where the firefighters are sleeping, and shows the firefighters dozing. After several minutes, an alarm rings out for a factory fire, and the firefighters go to work, with all vehicles rolling, lights and sirens, then it is shown that the firefighters are responding from Station 10; the opening credits roll as well. The fire that starts the series is later revealed to be a sort of night drill to test the firefighters' skills. This movie is remembered more of course for how it set up how two of the main characters in it (John Gage and Roy [=DeSoto=]) get certified to become paramedics, and how, for much of the runtime, Dr. Kelly Brackett is doubtful of the paramedic program; Brackett eventually comes around, and assists the paramedics on the last call, a cave rescue (the bill authorizing paramedics also passes and becomes law).

An Action Prologue starts off with something exciting happening immediately. Right at the beginning, the hero is sneaking around an enemy base, being menaced by a threat, or something similarly exciting. In some cases this is {{foreshadowing}}. The event may be a minor one, but [[ChekhovsGun related to a major plot point that we don't discover until much later]]. It could be a dream sequence, where the hero sees something threatening that later shows up for real. It could be the EstablishingCharacterMoment for our badass ActionHero. Or it could be something completely unrelated to the main plot at all, used only to make sure that ''something'' exciting happens right at the start.