What do you mean by "start the game" - when you click the icon on the desktop, when you click New Game or when you click Start on the briefing screen?
Which version of the game do you have? The three versions I have (original retail, GOG and Steam) by default all play some short movies promoting nvidia, EAX etc. when starting from the desktop. The trailer only plays after the time-out.
Behind the black screen, the game is restarting itself. So it takes some seconds, although 10 seconds to get the loading screen sounds like a bit much. Did you time it? Edit: Went and timed it myself. In fullscreen 10 s is actually about right.