Begin at the beginning

It's bothered me for quite some time.  I seem to remember feeling this way the first time I watched "Ghandi" too, so it's not just novels.  If memory serves, that film begins with the funeral of the protagonist, then flashes back to tell the story.  For some reason it bugged me.  I know, his life and death are a matter of record.  It wasn't a "spoiler" for the rest of the story.  Why then, you may ask, did it gnaw at me so?
    I think I've finally come up with an answer (which may be painfully obvious to everyone reading this, especially if they happen to be a writer).  It's a cheat.  Putting an action beat, or a (generally only superficial) plot twist, or your protagnist's death (especially when it's only feigned) at the opening is an easy way to get the audience invested in the story right off the bat.  They want to get your blood up, or tug on your heart strings, but they haven't earned it yet.
    There is nothing inherently wrong in starting off with a bang.  In fact, it's highly recommended.  Te tv show "Castle" starts off with a gristly new corpse in an interesting location almost every week.  I'm talking about starting off with a bang and then going back a few months, or years, to find out how we got there.  It strikes me as lazy writing (though I'll never claim to be above it.  If you ever see it in a novel with my name attached, you'll know that the editor told me what was required to sell my book, or maybe I just changed my mind about this whole thing, so there).  It's a card trick, a little sleight-of-hand to keep you distracted while the writer puts in the real work.
    Flashbacks are fine, often essential tools, to give important pieces of background.  Using the past tense to tell a story already puts in the readers mind that these events are being retold.  My objection is in plucking a moment from the middle, or the end, of the story being told and used as an opening.  Who am I to talk like this?  I'm a reader.  As a writer I have taken up the oldest mantel, stated so clearly as "be the change you want to see in the world."  In life, I've found it almost as important to spot the negative examples as the positive.  By avoiding pitfalls, I might just stumble upon the right path.


What do you think?  Does this bug you when you encounter it?  Is it just a great teaser for the meat of the story?