If you've seen David Fincher's Dragon Tattoo, the opening credits probably blew you away with their angry, sub-Bond style and loud cover of Led Zeppelin's The Immigrant Song by Trent Reznor and Karen O. At the very least, they should have made a strong impression, presuming you don't already think that it was the best title sequence of the whole year.

Now, you can watch those Dragon Tattoo opening credits online - thanks to Tim Miller and Blur Studio's superb design, it's 154 seconds of your life that you won't regret losing.

Yet to make your mind up about your favourite titles from the past 12 months? Read on for the top 5 opening credits of 2011. 

Blue Valentine - Closing Credits

This wonderful film got forgotten about by lots of folks in their end-of-year lists, but Blue Valentine's credits are hard to forget. Ok, so they actually come at the end of the film but when Jim Helton and Charles Christopher Rubino are creating the visuals, no-one cares about such technicalities. Heart-breaking, beautiful stuff.

Captain America: The First Avenger - Title Sequence

You've got to hand it to Marvel. They know how to pick their directors. Kenneth Branagh's Thor was a fantastical treat, while Joe Johnston's intelligent take on Captain America played up his period camp as war-time propaganda, placing him squarely in the real world while also allowing for a neat song-and-dance number. Combine the two together with The Rocketeer's art deco style and you have the best comic book film opening titles to date.

Rok!t Studio's opening credits aren't embeddable, so here are the closing credits instead - for the more dynamic introductory titles, head to the typically awesome Art of the Title.

Drive - Opening Credits

In terms of using music and font (oh, that font - Mistral, if you're wondering) to set the mood for a piece in under two minutes, the opening credits for Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive are hard to beat. Stripped-down, stylish and full of hot sugar.

The Adventures of Tintin - Unofficial Credits

Spielberg's visuals were divisive in his mo-cap take on Hergé's hero. Some wanted realistic humans, others expected more traditional cartoon animation. But what everyone agreed on was the brilliance of the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang-style opening credits.

They're not online (mainly because Art of the Title haven't worked their analytic magic on them yet) but luckily, a fan called James Curran made his own unofficial titles that were equally impressive. They were so good, in fact, that they even got him a job. So here they are:

What were your favourite opening credits of 2011?