I find it so sexist – as I’m sure you do - when people say women can’t enjoy car chases in the movies. We can all appreciate the thrill of speed and skilful driving as much as any man! And when a car chase is an essential sequence in a movie how can we not appreciate it? Here’s a pick of some of the best car chases in the movies.
Warning – contains spoilers
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1. The Matrix Reloaded
This one hits the top spot because it has the best car chase scene of all time. The production company smashed almost thirty cars to get this scene right, and they did a fantastic job. Morpheus and Trinity are trying to outrun agents. They start in a car and are hounded on all sides, and from the inside. Trinity is forced onto a motorcycle and has to choose between a bullet in her guts or weaving between oncoming traffic. Then the coup de grace - they are stuck on top of two lorries going head-to-head. It just doesn’t get any better than that when it comes to car chases in the movies.
2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
The first was a horror and the second was an action film. It was a bold move, but most agree that it worked. The part where the T-1000 is chasing the car on foot is scary enough because it shows just how relentless this machine is. The other big car chase involves the heroes in a slow car being followed by a truck. It is a tense moment, but watch it again and ask yourself why they didn’t just tread on the brakes when the lorry was besides them, skid around and scoot off in the opposite direction. An 18-wheeler is not going to be able to do a U-turn on a bridge.
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3. Die Hard with a Vengeance
So many top action movies have a chase sequence. Die Hard With a Vengeance is jammed full of speeding cars, so this one has to enter near the top of the list for movie car chases. But A Good Day to Die Hard also has to have a mention for the ridiculous chase against the army truck, though it is good because that army truck just wouldn’t go down. Plus, it was fun to see Bruce trying to tackle it in his car like a flea trying to trip over a dog.
4. Thelma and Louise
Not the most action packed of the bunch, but it sits at the number four spot because it pulls the rug from under you. Part of you thinks they will get away, and you have already started looking online for something else to watch. Then, out of the blue, they look as if they are going to be caught, so they decide to do a Peter Pan off the edge of the rock face.
5. Ted
Your foul-mouthed best friend, that happens to be a talking teddy, has been stolen by that creepy guy that used to play Phoebe’s brother in friends, and who played that nasty guy in Avatar. Your Ted jumps through the back window to your car, only to be recaptured after a nifty move from the bad guy.
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6. Batman Begins
In the first Nolan Batman movie, we get to see the new incarnation of the Batmobile, and it looks pretty good. We get to see it in action too, and it is very impressive. Then, in the Dark Knight, we see it in action again, and see a bunch of bad guys with rocket launchers chasing a police van. It is action packed stuff, especially the bit where Batman is tempted to kill the joker with his bike.
7. The Bourne Supremacy
The three Bourne films starring Matt Damon are full of thrills and spills and there are chases galore and in various countries too. The one that deserves most credit however, in my opinion, is the Moscow chase scene where Bourne is being hunted by Kirill, his Russian foe. It’s adrenaline pumping and action packed all the way.
Isn’t it weird that the movie Speed never really had a car chase, and that the movie Kill Bill featured Uber-Cool Uma Thurman on a yellow bike and in a yellow car and never once gets into a car chase in her vengeance movie. Angelina Jolie is fantastic during the car chase in Salt when she uses a passed-out policeman’s body to drive the car, but the chase is just a shade too short to appear in this list. It is more of a daring escape, though she did her own version of Thelma and Louise by taking it off the bridge in style. And then there’s all those classics that I haven’t mentioned like Bullitt, the Bond movies, Mad Max, Gone in 60 Seconds … oh how I could go on.
Which do you think should have got a mention?
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