This may seem like a rather out of the blue topic, but shortly after discovering a more definitive article written by the bods over at Top Gear, I thought I might as well have a stab at it myself.
The use of a car chase in a film is quite underrated by some people, they presume it’s all a little bit flashy, maybe they’re all CGI cars so no real danger? Good thinking but it’s not always the case. Some directors like to take the car chase sequences to the max and I know of a few times where some companies tell of the horrors or dangers involved when filming such scenes. In no particular order here are my favourites:-
Blues Brothers – Final Car Chase
The final Chase sequence in this film is something to admire, granted the earlier one involving a shopping mall and a police car was amusing, it just doesn’t hold a light to what ends the film. You know right from the off that the car sequence will be great, as soon as the Blues Brothers get in their car and buckled up you know what’s coming. The chase starts off somewhat casually, the pair obviously speeding attracts more and more attention from the police, backup is called and a most fantastic chase is underway. At all times during this the best part is the completely calm attitude of the drivers as they hurtle down the freeway and weave in and out of oncoming police vehicles. The amount of destroyed police cars by the end justifies watching this scene for comical effect
The Transporter
A lot of film buffs may think I’ve gone slightly insane with this choice, however, I personally enjoyed watching the car chase scenes in this film simply because of their fantastical and almost impossible things they can do with a car. With Jason Statham behind the wheel it’s not hard to imagine he could will the car to do his bidding and even by being a slightly exhilarating chase you can’t help but smile a little.
Ronin
I think a lot of people will agree that the car chase in this film was mightily impressive and a lot of other blogs around have listed this as their favourite. I’m not going to go so far as to state this as my number 1 but it is definitely up there. What is so great about it? Apart from the fact that there are hardly any computer generated cars or overly unrealistic special effects it just beams with excellence. It took around 300 stunt drivers to manage to pull this one off and I do believe they did a superb job with it. This is by no means my definitive list to car chase sequences but it does include a few of my favourites. I’d be really interested to hear from you guys to know what other film is sitting out there waiting to get me on the edge of my seat.