Top 20 Car Chase Scenes in Movies

Many websites have a compilation of the best car chase scenes in movies. Names like Bullit, The French Connection, Blues Brothers, Vanishing Point and Cannonball Run always appear on the list. I am not sure about the rest of the readers, but from where I come from, and from the generation I come from, I don't quite get it why so many people think that those are the best chase scenes in movie history. Maybe because I come from the Fast and Furious generation and we have come to expect a certain type of cinematography in movies. 70s and 80s era acting and chase scenes just don't do it for me at all. I have watched Bullit and felt a bit underwhelmed, after all the hype. Vanishing Point was extremely boring, 2 hours of driving in a rather ugly American car. French Connection, even more ugly 70s era American cars. Don't get me wrong, while I may not be of the age to watch Sir Stirling Moss race in F1 or even Steve McQueen when he acted in Grand Prix and Le Mans (and I have watched both of them), I do appreciate a classic 1972 Lamborghini Miura SV or even a 1927 Bugatti Type-41 Royale, but when it comes to acting, 70-eras movie is not my cup of tea, and I suspect it's the same for a very large portion of netizens too! So here is a list of what we at theautoindustrieblog.com think should be the 20 best car chase scenes, in no particular order. We can't decide if the original 1969 Italian Job is better than 1998 Ronin. Each of them are special in their own unique way.

1. Bourne Identity
Matt Damon in an original Mini, being chased through the city of Moscow by VAZ 2101 police cars (Soviet era clone of the Fiat 124).


2. Sorcerer's Apprentice
1930s Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe, Ferrari F430, Mercedes SLR
The chase scene is relatively short, but it was special because it featured a very rare car - the Rolls-Royce Phantom. Not the one made by BMW, but the original bearer of the Phantom name from the 1930s. In the movie, Nicholas Cage would use his sorcery power to morph his RR into a Mercedes SLR to chase down the villains Ferrari F430. And did you know that the Roller used in the movie is actually Nicholas Cage's own car?


3. Matrix Reloaded
The cars were all sponsored by General Motors. When the movie was released, GM was keen to push out a new image for Cadillac, not the Cadillac your grandfather but a Caddy that is hip and will appeal to the young - the Cadillac CTS. Other SUVs used in the chase scene were Caddilac Escalades.

Matrix Reloaded - the Freeway Chase Scene
Uploaded by FanaticMovie. - Car, truck, and motorcycle videos.

4. Bad Boys II
Will Smith in a Ferrari 575 Maranello. It also featured some good old muscle cars including Pontiac Firebird Trans Am and Chevy Nova


5. Legend of Speed 2
One of the best street racing movies to come out of Hong Kong. Pitty that petrolheads in most English speaking countries didn't get to watch it. It's a good old Subaru Impreza WRX vs Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution street battle. Hong Kong A-listers Simon Yam plays the villain in the Subaru camp while Ekin Cheng is the lead character driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. The movie was made that peak of the Subaru vs Mitsubishi rivalry in WRC, the Tommi Makkinnen and the late Colin McRae era. And if you wondering about Legend of Speed 1 - well unless you are fan of bike racing or Andy Lau movies then don't bother about it. Other than sharing the title, the two movies have very little to do with each other.


6. Initial D Movie
A live action movie adaption of the hit anime series that popularized the art of drifting in the west, Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou plays manga character of Takumi Fujiwara, a toufu delivery boy who honed his skills on the hills of Mount Akina in his Toyota Corolla Sprinter / Trueno AE86, racing against various cars like Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Nissan Skyline GT-R and Mazda RX-7. The plot is rather thin. There is no way one can squeeze in at least 3 seasons of anime series into a 2 hour film without losing much of the original plot. Still worth watching it though. This clip was dubbed into English, which makes it look really odd. Best to just get the original version in Cantonese with English subtitles.


7. Ronin
Said to be one of the best car chase (and one of the longest) in history. There so many chase scenes featuring so many cars - highlights include a E34 BMW 5-series (both 535i and M5 were used in the filming), Peugeot 406, Audi S8, and this author's favourite; the Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9, the first Q-car or sleeper car in history. Clothed in a body that your grandfather won't mind driving but hiding underneath the hood is a massive 6.9-liter V8 that can eat supercars for breakfast.



8. Swordfish

John Travolta in a TVR Tuscan, being chased down by Ford Explorers. It's was a relatively short scene but made it into our list by virtue of its unique choice of car for the lead character. Heck, the TVR still has British plates on it in the movie! Watch the clip here.

9. Gone in 60 Seconds
I never liked the original 1974 version of the movie, it was boring and had a lot of ugly cars. Nicholas Cage's remake was much better in our opinion. And of course Angelina Jolie is there too. The finale race is between a Shelby Ford Mustang GT500 and a E39 BMW 540i.



10. Die Another Day
This film was made with the support of Ford Motor Co. Pierce Brosnan in his Aston Martin Vanquish against the villain's Jaguar XKR, in the snow, with lots of gadgets and fancy weapons. Perfect. One of the best and the longest in a modern day Bond movie. The film was made when Ford Premier Automotive Group (PAG) still existed and Ford owns both Jaguar and Aston Martin, hence the choice of cars.


11. James Bond Quantum of Solace
The movie opens with Daniel Craig driving an Aston Martin DBS, being pursued by a couple of Alfa Romeo 159 along Lake Grada in Italy.


12. Thunderbolt
HK superstar Jackie Chan stars in this racing movie that features a lot of chase scenes. The clip below is between a Mitsubishi FTO and the villian's Nissan Skyline GTR R-32. Jackie Chan is brand ambassador for Mitsubishi in many Asian markets including China and Hong Kong.


13. Who Am I
Another one of Jackie Chan's movie, this time featuring a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV and E36 BMW 3-series.


14. The Transporter trilogy series

The first installment featured an E38 BMW 7-series but starting from the second installment, Jason Satham was roped in by Audi for some of their ads and the Audi A8 W12 is used. Here is a clip of the A8 W12 vs W211 Mercedes E-class.

15. Fast and Furious series

The original was still the best in our opinion. 2 Fast 2 Furious was a bit corny. Tokyo Drift had a very good chase scene in downtown Tokyo and included cameo appearance by the original drift king Keichi Tsuchiya but acting was never quite as good as Vin Diesel. The fourth installment was good but the finale mine tunnel race scene was overly CGI-ed in our opinion. Still, if you are not a movie critic but a regular petrolhead wanting a good time to chill out, either of these movies is good enough.

16. Shuto Kousoku Trial series
Largely unknown outside of Japan, which is a shame. There are six series of the movie in total, all of them with really terrible acting. But if car chase scenes is all you want, you won't be disappointed. Keichi Tsuchiya makes his appearane in some of the installments as well. The early installments are quite old featuring classic 70s era Japanese cars. Unless you are fan of retro Japanese cars you should just watch the last installment, which featured the Toyota Supra, MR-2 and Nissan Skyline GT-R R33 and 300ZX Fairlady


17. Original Italian Job
The original work is not sponsored by BMC, the then owners of the Mini brand. We think that this British production is way better than any pre-70s era Hollywood car chase. One of the few 70s era work that we really liked.


18. Italian Job remake

Unlike the original film, the remake is sponsored by BMW, the current owner of the MINI brand (which is now spelled in capitals). A classic 8-series driven by Jason Satham also makes an appearance. Bike fans will be pleased to see BMW bikes being used as well.

19. Taxi Trilogy series
It's in French, featuring a super talented taxi driver who drives a Peugeot 406 tricked out with some really out of this world gadgets, to the point its bordering on insulting your intelligence. But you will forgive it once the cars start running. Below is a chase scene with a coupe of W124 Mercedes 500E. Hollywood would later do a remake of the movie under the same title, featuring Queen Latifah who drives a souped up Ford Crown Victoria taxi, facing against the villains in a E65 BMW 7-series.


20. Autobahnraser (also known as A2 Racer / Autoroute Racer)
It's in German. Acting is rather terrible but it featured some pretting interesting chase scens and two pretty girls in a E46 BMW M3. Highlights include a classic BMW 2002Tii, a Ford Mustang and a Smart Brabus.