10. The Matrix Reloaded

https://youtu.be/p4olnb0sIpE

While you might not have as much respect for the later Matrix movies, the lengthy freeway chase at the heart of The Matrix Reloaded featuring Trinity and Morpheus is a must-see.

Peppered with bullets from the Twins, Morpheus and Trinity try to escape in a Cadillac that seems incapable of being fully crushed. Filled with absolute carnage, they speed along the freeway whilst cars are flipped, scrape against trucks, and just generally get thrown around in a way only a Wachowski-level production budget could have allowed.

Flitting both inside and outside the Cadillac, we’re treated to both long-range shoot-outs and expert hand-to-hand combat inside the car thanks to one of the Twins’ phasing inside and holding Morpheus at knifepoint. Littered with stunts and crashes, we are promised action as soon as Trinity reminds us that Morpheus warned her never to drive on the freeway for fear of it being “suicide”. We’re promised action, and boy is it delivered.

Punctuated by a deep, electronic score and filled with impressive bullet time moments and total destruction, this is easily one of the most visually impressive car chases ever seen in the cinema.[/nextpage][nextpage]

9. Bad Boys II

https://youtu.be/2mrPXPI9zA8

Bad Boys II’s Highway chase scene is another example of a film which may not have gone down all that well with critics, but nevertheless has an amazing scene at its core. If Michael Bay can do anything, it’s over the top action. It’s no wonder their chief pulls them over the coals after this chase solves nothing and just ends up causing more chaos for the sake of it.

This intense firefight dominates an open road, with gang members trying to evade pursuit by both the police and our eponymous heroes, Marcus (Martin Lawrence) and Mike (Will Smith). Here, we’re treated to the pair chasing down a giant car carrier trailer as it slams its way through traffic, devastating everything in its path.

Unique camera work and huge budgets make for maximum carnage as the gang dump cars off the back of the lorry into the open road, all the while tension is ratcheted up as the two bad boys’ partnership begins to deteriorate. Lawrence and Smith are charismatic in their lead roles and carry the scene in their stride as we get escalating explosions and pile ups.[/nextpage][nextpage]

8. Mad Max: Fury Road

https://youtu.be/HClM8YvNljo

Being a franchise so dependent on its killer vehicles, Mad Max has to have amazing chase scenes. However, none of Mel Gibson’s original run comes close to the anarchic thrill ride of Mad Max: Fury Road.

The chase in question has got to be the one that finally unites Max and Furiosa as they escape Immortan Joe with his wives. Each enemy is treated as mere fodder in this scene, they serve only to try and hamper or sabotage the ceaseless pursuit of the War Rig through the sand dunes as they throw themselves at the giant truck with reckless abandon.

Lurid stunt jumps, a continuously stirring score and pinpoint accurate shoot-outs with the pursuers makes for a truly pulse-pounding chase through Mad Max’s sandblasted apocalyptic landscape.

This scene is important narratively speaking too; it shows us just how good of a team Furiosa and Max are going to be, even if they are really only working together out of pure survival. Ultimately, this is a top-level action scene, delivering truly edge-of-your-seat thrills through expert stunt choreography, the looming threat of horrendous fascist dictator Immortan Joe, and a great attention to continuity and detail at every turn.[/nextpage][nextpage]

7. Drive

Like many of Drive’s most memorable moments, this one is a short but sweet sequence that allows Ryan Gosling to fully embody the stoic, violent and emotionless action lead that Driver requires. Here, we feel a much stronger sense of urgency more than anything else; Gosling isn’t yet sure who is pursuing him and low-level crook Blanche just yet, but he knows they need to get away from the motel, and fast.

The genius is having the pursuing car having pulled up before the robbery the Driver is helping with goes sour. That car is in the back of our minds the whole time, and it’s only when the chase takes off that it becomes as important. Intermittent cuts compress time and space, making the acceleration feel all that more pronounced and therefore making the chase all the more exhilarating.

Culminating in a wicked little backward maneouvre that shows just how well Gosling’s unnamed driver knows his way round his stolen 2011 Ford Mustang, Drive’s most thrilling chase shows just how stylish you can be when you direct a chase scene that is sadly all too brief.[/nextpage][nextpage]

6. The Blues Brothers

The American comedy band The Blues Brothers might not spring to mind immediately when you think of amazing car chases, but their cult classic movie absolutely should. Elwood definitely proves his ‘motorhead’ status once the police start crashing through the doors and windows of the Dixie Square Mall in hot pursuit of the Bluesmobile.

Here, we’re treated to a huge number of police cars careening through shop windows and frightening the living daylights out of fleeing shoppers, all the while Jon Belushi and Dan Akroyd (Jake and Elwood respectively) casually whip around the Dixie Square mall quipping about the sheer variety of items found within. Comedy and action are balanced against each other perfectly, all the while we’re treated to absolute mayhem on screen.

This sequence is every bit as ridiculous as it is brilliant. Whipping these police cars and the Bluesmobile around the pedestrian corridors must have taken incredible skill, and this is all captured with perfectly framed cinematography and some impressive stunts are thrown in for good measure. Set against a light-hearted ska backing track, the tension disappears into the good-natured digs of the two brothers within the miraculously safe (and iconic) Bluesmobile.

(Excerpt) Read More at: WhatCulture.com[/nextpage]