Tokyo Drift has a pretty great one at the climax of the film. The 2nd one has few nice ones too. And the 4th has a pretty good one with the blue Skyline. But yeah, there's a lot lacking.
It actually feels more like a statistical inevitability BECAUSE the entire series is built on car chases, there's so many you can't not have some of the worst ones come up
The original 1979 Mad Max car chase is absolutely one of the best - it looked dangerous because it generally was. But it’s Miller’s choice of angles that covers it is what makes it truly iconic.
You know what....that is a great film for car chases! I was going to a video on the opening scene in that film -- but there's been many videos about it already, so I have nothing new to say about it other than it's a great chase :) Thanks for the comment!
@@kostastube2010 Nah, there was one car chase in it after the botched heist where the hot next door neighbour's husband got killed, but it wasn't very good to be quite honest.......
I think the Nick Fury car chase in the Winter Soldier was done very well, but I guess the tension of the moment also had a part to play in that scene as well.
I adore a good car chase. The Blues Brothers, The Raid 2 and The Batman had spectacular chases. I was even background on F&F6 and saw them film a chase using The Stig as a driver. That was a fun time. Its s shame they went the CGI route as the safe theft in Fast 5 is the best in the series.
I didn't see Raid 2 in the cinema! But at home, it's a good old chase! It's shame that the film is so long and the story is so elaborate compared to the original!
Woah! Don't be throwing shade on Raid 2 😂 Good point about the correct utilisation of CGI - should be used to enhance and not totally create unrealistic situations, unless the film is intentionally OTT. To be fair, the 2 Fast franchise 'jumped the submarine' several films back. With the incredible evolution of AI, we will no doubt see an even greater move towards badly constructed chase scenes (Subscribed)
I was baffled by how extremely different The Raid was from The Raid 2 Even the world-building was cranked up to 11 in The Raid 2. There's a Hammer Girl, Baseball Man & Karambit Man? I get that it's a natural progression for Rama to learn more about the criminal underworld... but wow the shift from a single apartment complex to basically organizations with potential for city-wide influence got me good. I love both Raids, but Raid 1 still feels more like a "solid" complete film, overall
uh, Bullitt? Steve McQueen doing his own driving, the amazing light jazz score by Lalo Schifrin that stops when the action really gets going, the absolute sense of speed, velocity, and big American muscle cars? The incredible style? The analogue grittiness contrasted with the sleek surfaces of the cars themselves?
For Your Eyes Only is a good example of how you can do comedy without undermining or sidelining the excitement of a car chase the way Spectre does. I know ppl kind of look down on For Your Eyes Only but the car chase with the Citroen 2CV is by far one of my favourites because it makes so much of so little, nowadays movies require the insanest stakes or settings to get any sort of tension, gadgets and explosions and many many cars and whatnot. For Your Eyes Only has just one clunky sturdy little car, immediately subverting the expectations by blowing up Bond’s fancy gadgety Lotus Esprit, and putting him smack-dab in the hilly quaint countryside of Spain, chased by two cars, and the entire chase just takes every single possible scenario, obstacle, opportunity that might arise out of such a limited setting and situation. It’s great how car chases back then were like clever plot-writing, they had to figure out the obstacles and issues that arise during a chase, and the smart problem-solving of our protagonist, showing his skill and cunning. Not by just shooting a gun, not by just having a bigger fucking car or driving faster or tougher, no by being SMART.
I think TWINE hit a real sweet spot with the Q-Boat Thames chase. It had the set pieces (boats blasting past the Houses of Parliament and Elizabeth tower, Millennium Dome, the crazy barrel roll jump), but it still felt grounded in realism (no CGI), with a slick, engaging micro-plot and thanks to David Arnold, a score that is a master-class in audio storytelling. There’s humour too, but just a couple of hints (police cars chasing a boat, the wheel clampers), that doesn’t distract from the overall sequence.
Great example of good and bad car chases. These days, the Fast and Furious installments resembles a Looney Toons Cartoon more than an action movie. The Matrix reloaded was not nearly as good as the first movie, but that incredible freeway chase helps me forgive many of its shortcomings.
Tomorrow Never Dies might have the best car chase in recent Bond history. It just sparks joy to see James using his new RC supercar like a kid in Christmas.
The handcuffed motorcycle chase is probably my favorite in all of Bond - very imaginative and fun. But I do love how hard David Arnold's score goes during the RC scene - Backseat Driver.
Gotta mention of H.B. Halicki’s Gone in 60 seconds. Arguably one of the most raw and real car chases in film history, since it was practically all filmed without the correct permits on public roads with regular people as extras. as well as being one of the longest chases in film history
Some other great chases are Mission Impossible Rogue Nation (car chase and bike chase), Mission impossible Fallout (bike chase), Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning, Jack Reacher (first movie), and Quantum of Solace's opening.
You don't watch F&F for good chases, you watch it for over the top chases. The whole point is how over the top they can get this time. Therefore if they'd done a normal chase they would maybe make some people happy, but disappoint a bunch of others.
The first one was good in my opinion. Yes, there was some bull in the final chase, but props to them for doing it for real. Just watch the second movie at the beginning. The practical stuff look really good, but the CGI parts - oh, boy. You're in for a "treat" 😂
I would like to add Speed Racer. Purely CG made, but great within the context of the movie. IMHO, the final race was absolutely superb in various aspects.
Speed Racer is one of the few films I'd be willing to call a "Live Action Cartoon." Only others I've seen I'd be willing to call that is the 1994 Flintstones movie and maybe the Early 2000's Scooby Doo films.
I saw clips from the car chase in Ronin (a personal fave of mine), and I was reminded of what Johnathan Pryce said of it. “People say I looked terrified in that scene. I was. I was holding on for dear life.” And that’s another element that’s needed. Put the performer in the actual vehicle, obviously safely but in a way that makes the moment real. Stone faced driving makes me nervous, as though the person had a death wish and I’m trapped. I feel better if the driver or rider on screen is tense or scared a bit. And yes, the Matrix does have the best car chase ever. And Mad Max Fury Road has a special place for me as I saw it in the theatre and I could tell immediately what I saw on screen was actually what was filmed. Practical effects almost always triumph.
Almost every single shot in Fury Road is an effects shot. The exceptions are almost all interior shots. You are praising actual filming while talking about a film that's almost always showing you something that wasn't filmed and wasn't practical effects. Which just proves that people have no idea what they are talking about. "Practical effects" is now just how people say "good effects" and "CGI" is just how people say "bed effects". At least you picked a film where the vehicles usually at least existed, even if the terrain, sky, explosions and dusk were generated in a computer, and the vehicles supposedly driving next to each other were actually filmed completely separately, and the actors filmed separately from everything else.
@@HALLish-jl5mo Thanks for this! Not sure what you mean though...? If you're talking about the part in the video where I say Fury Road came out the same year and put the other chase to shame....? Then I can discuss that more...
@@MarcusFlemmings I'm not addressing anything you said, I'm addressing the comment above which talked about how they could tell that everything was "actually filmed" when it wasn't all "actually filmed" and in reality they don't know what they are talking about.
I can't leave this thread empty of any mention of the chase scene on the speeder bikes in Return of the Jedi. That was just so much fun. And Terminator 3, too, with the construction crane.
I love the final chase scenes in Deathproof! I was on the edge of my seat when Zoe Bell's character is on the hood of the challenger while Stuntman Mike tries to knock her off by slamming their car repeatedly! So intense!
Duel (1971) has one of the best car chases for me, the entire movie is surrounded by it, but Spielberg's knowledge makes it extremely fun and engaging to watch
The Bourne movies and Baby Driver have my absolute favorite car chases in movies. I love it when movies use matching audio from the cars they're using. Its nice to see a Subaru and hear that iconic EJ Boxer sound with equal length headers. Nothing takes me out of it more than when i see a car thats supposed to be an Inline 6, and they've overdubbed a V8 in post. Even in the first Fast & Furious chase scene, Brians green Eclipse does not have the sound of a 4G63.
Fun video 👌 I was hoping you’d spend just a little longer on the Ronin car chase, which to me is world-class. That was probably the one car chase that had me literally on the edge of my seat for the whole time!
To me, it's about editing and the shots the editor has to work with. Having fast cuts is a double edges sword and could be effective if done right. Like Mad Max, or even before that, car chases in The Bourne Trilogy.
Deffo! But also it has to be shot well! If, like in F9, it's just CGI for 95% of the shot it will never sell to the human eyes. Fab comment! Stick around!
One really good example of a well constructed and incredibly surprising car chase is the one in Nightcrawler. It's brief, visceral and perfectly edited.
My personal Top 5 car chase scenes (in order): French Connection (1971), Bullitt (1968), Ronin (1998), The Bourne Identity (2002), The Transporter (2002)
@@patmann9363 And the soundtrack. When the music stops and the burnout begins, it's all business from there. Such an interesting way of peaking intensity, by simply stopping the suspenseful music that had been building.
The Road Warrior.....Ronin...French Connection....To Live and Die in L.A.....Blues Brothers......these are the best in movie history. They were not only expertly filmed, executed, but they also had reason and drover (no pun intended) the story forward. As far as I know no CGI on either of them as well.....
The matrix reloaded's action set pieces are amazing. The chateau fight and the highway set piece outclass nearly every action movie this decade. The camera work, choreography and soundtrack is immaculate. Most of all everything has style, and there is a natural build up and release of tension.
Being a car guy, what I hate most about car chase scenes in some movies is the protagonist having a fast powerful car and the regular cop cars or antagonist's regular car keeping up with him. That just wouldn't happen. Once you floor it, you would lose them and see ya later.
Honestly, peak car chases are from The Blues Brothers. If you ever want to do a follow-up on this video, it could be interesting to look at that film :)
Terminator 3 has one of my favorite car chases ever, with the crane and the remote controled emergency cars, and it was made almost in its entirely without CGI!
I’m surprised no one is mentioning The Italian Job (1969)! The car chase with the minis and the bus is so fun to watch, can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched it!
A few of my favourites: Bullit (1968) Driver (1978) We Own the Night (2007) Vanishing Point (1971) Thelma and Louise (1991) - though it has some of that 90's cheese.
You gotta watch some older car chase movies. You can't talk about bad car chases vs good car chases and not show The Blues Brothers, Smokey and the Bandit, Gone in 60 Seconds, Vanishing Point, Death Proof, To Live & Die in LA, etc.
Well The French Connection came out before any of those films :) and I talk about that scene as a good example. I've seen all the films you mentioned, bar To Live and Die in LA - as it's not available anywhere. Thanks for the comment!
@@MarcusFlemmings The original Gone is 60 Seconds has the longest car chase in movie history at 40 minutes AND they destroyed 93 cars in the process (and you see the car wreck footage). Plus they had a really tight budget and didn’t have the proper permits so it was all filmed on Sundays (when offices of bureaucrats were closed) and it was a *ONE TAKE* and that’s a wrap kind of situation. It’s pretty impressive from a logistical point of view and part of cinematic history IMO….definitely give it a looksy Marcus. 🩵
I've figured out the F&F franchise progression. It's literally GTA V online. The moment submersible cars and jet bikes with missile launchers arrived, it all went to hell.
In 2024 car chases in today's films are dead. Last one I remember being so good was the Cuda scene in John Wick 4. It's a lost art now. All time favs are Duel, Bullitt, White Lightning, Seven Ups, Blues Brothers, Gone in 60 Seconds (both versions), The Driver, Road Warrior, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Terminator 1 & 2, Tomorrow Never Dies, Short Time, Black Dog, Ronin, Raid 2, Bourne trilogy, Drive and Baby Driver. Many more!!!
Great video! "Fast food filmmaking" is a perfect way to put it, and it has definitely been the bane of movie making since the over reliance of CGI. I gotta say though.. as a big lover of practical effects and an even bigger hater of CGI, I still a die F&F fan. I get that they are super unrealistic at this point, but I feel like they perfectly walk the line of taking themselves seriously and not taking themselves seriously, which most movies coughMARVELcough fail miserably at. I think it's mostly due to all the actor's chemistry with each other, and aside from a couple people (looking at you, Rock "The Dwayne" Johnson) you can really tell that everyone genuinely enjoys being with each other. Last thing: a really fun movie that is about 80% car chase is the original 1974 Gone in Sixty Seconds. It's full of insane stunt driving including a devastating UNSCRIPTED car crash that was kept in the film.
This comment is LIFE! Love it! Also I love the fact that you defended F&F! I don't want this channel to be an echo chamber. I love fast 5 but the rest don't really work for me...and that's okay. They work for a helluva lot of people. Based on the box office! Stick around sir!
One of the best car chases no one ever talks about is from the first Jack reacher movie. No cgi just a raw big block chevelle car chase. Gives me goosebumps every time I watch it.
Fully agree that Spectre chase is boring. Contrast it with the car park sequence in Tomorrow Never Dies, and there’s no contest. TND gives us an innovative take on the genre, with great stunts, a slick look, and a great soundtrack.
Thank you for giving the car chase from Matrix Reloaded the credit it deserves. I agree that it's the best one there is. I saw it in the cinema when it was first released and it was mind-blowing, despite the rest of the film being a bit of a snooze.
@@MarcusFlemmings Oh no, it was downloaded. Part 6 I think. I'm on a seemingly endless quest to find the worst movie ever made, so I've seen trash that makes Furious Fastness look like Citizen Kane. . . stuff that made that same friend spray Febreze in his own eyes. Not even joking.
@@SewerTapes HAHAHAHAAHAHHA! I need to stay away from your friend, and you it seems - I simply can't embark on such trash in my life! Time is too short! Troll 2 might be the one though!
I want to give a shoutout to the Dukes of Hazzard movie from 2005. The second half of the movie was essentially just one long interconnected car chase, and it was amazing.
I think the lotus / helicopter chase in Spy Who Loved Me is an underrated gem Having a real car and helicopter pass within feet of each other and clever camera angles to capture the movement give the visceral quality you highlighted AND it has humour without resorting to pure ridiculousness, up to and including the car changing into a submarine to finish ( mainly because it starts as a real car and finishes as a real submarine )
Yesterday, I noticed Ronin was on Prime and watched it once again. Such a good movie. From McGuffin to acting to car chases, story. Almost 30 years old yet still feels so fresh.
Talking about something else, I believe you've described perfectly why I love playing GTA IV (yes, FOUR!) with my Logitech G29, albeit it has to be modded for the wheel to work ingame. I ADORE zooming around Liberty City just like in the movie Ronin while being chased by the police: it's beautifully visceral, especially playing from the point of view of Niko while driving and using TrackIR. Yes, it's an "old" game (prolly 15 years old now!), but having it modded, it makes you feel like you're driving in Ronin's car chases. To me, at least. Thanks! xD
Some of my favorites that are not mentioned in the video are Drive, Nobody, Tokyo Drift 1st race, Mad Max, Gone in 60 seconds Eleanor chase, Taxi, Bullitt, The Batman. I love great car sounds and intense scenes
After seeing the Spectre car 'chase' scene I went back and watched the opening car chase scene to Quantum Solace and it's night and day. The editing is clunky with too many cuts, but it's fast, feels real, we see Bond who, like you said, is a calm and cool character actually looking like he's in trouble, no reality bending gadgets, just guns, driving ability and also luck, the environment in a narrow tunnel with traffic & police being both a benefit and also a hindrance.
Spectre is a bad film, so is the most recent one...Casino Royale and Skyfall remain the only two good Bond films on Craig's record! Thanks for the comment! Stick around!
Fun fact the French connection, at the beginning of the clip theres a white car that hits him, thats a real civilian car, they didnt have any license so that was a real genuine car crash
3:00 I think the main issue with the Bond chase is that it seems clearly intended for product placement. You're not meant to look at the action, you're meant to look at the car. The shots are long and clear; at low speeds. You're meant to drool over the Aston Martin that 3% of the world could afford to buy.
The ironic thing about James Bond is that they dont very often have "visceral" action, at least not in the older movies, instead opting more for a action-comedy approach using situational humor to drive the comedy and the action at the same time. It certainly was entertaining. Spectre though....used the comedy to put a stop to the action. Which is bad.
Excellent analysis! Love the 'fast food film-making' comment. When you said visceral car chase, I immediately thought of Nick Fury vs the Hydra agents posing as cops in Captain America: Winter Soldier.
the fact that Baby Driver is not mentioned is criminal. Baby driver easily has some of the best chases ive ever seen, and most of its practical effects.
That bridge scene in F9 really had me at a loss for words. 💀 My best friend and I found ourselves laughing hysterically trying to make sense of what we witness.
One to add to future episodes - the car chases from the original French film, "Taxi" (1998). Of course it's sequels would go on to devolve into silliness (which is fine in terms of the universe it occupies) but the first film has some great, visceral chases - especially the final chase scene between the police (in said Taxi) and the bank robbers which is inverted because the robbers are chasing the police... Some amazing camera work in that one, and completely practically shot too. The rigs they used are quite impressive.
The less the chase focuses on the cars, the worse it is. I don’t know how Hollywood has lost that. Directors seem to think that the only way to get good reviews is to make their film more absurd, more dazzling, more CGI. Like nah dude, just tell a good story and hire a good cinematographer. Get fancy with the camerawork. It’s genuinely concerning how many people will just gawk at the worst cgi we’ve seen in decades and give rave reviews because the only thing they look for is bright lights and flashing color. Edit: some great examples of modern chase scenes are the ones in The Man from UNCLE. A tad bit absurd at times, especially in that first chase, but still I think they show a love for both the cars and the characters. Great modern spy/action film that doesn’t get enough praise imo.
How to write a car chase scene: - Realistic environment Set it in an environment that the audience is familiar with, to create a contrast between the mundane and the extreme danger of the scene. - Realistic physics People know cars. A car chase has to make physical sense. Use the camera and sound design to communicate speed, wind, inertia etc. - High tension, not necessarily stakes You don't need to have your protagonist racing to stop a dragon at all times. Often, lower stakes are more gripping for the audience, since they are more relatable. They could imagine themselves in that situation. - Clear roles A car chase scene needs to establish before it even starts who the good, bad and unrelated guys are, who's chasing who and who is trying to accomplish what. Roles can for example be very well communicated via vehicle design. An imposing, aggressive or non-personal looking vehicle is going to instinctively make the audience not like it. - Decisions The outcome of a chase is decided by split-second decisions of those involved. Don't have something as random as a construction site end your chase, have a bad decision in how to avoid the construction site end it. - Unrelated people are still people Especially when characters are chasing each other over public roads, remember that the other cars aren't props. The people driving them are probably going to be taken aback by the action and react to it. For example, a villain smashing through civilian cars because they don't care is also a good way to showcase their role. - Don't be afraid to get crazy Real car chases aren't all that interesting. Depending on the tone of your work, you have to consider how to make such a scene dramatic and dynamic. Don't compromise on the realism, even with insane stunts.
I remember reading a Top Gear article on shooting the Spectre car chase back when the movie came out (and was absolutely everywhere). It was described as a really huge undertaking. Multiple streets closed in Rome, an Aston Martin prototype and a Jaguar movie double both made SPECIFICALLY FOR THE MOVIE (talk about an investment), the film crew describing the chase as "the most dramatic couple of minutes in car chases' history"... all for a malfunctioning car machine gun, bad slapstick moment with the old opera-loving man and ultimately crashing the car into the water after only a few minutes of screen time. A CAR MADE SOLELY FOR THE MOVIE THAT DISAPPEARS AFTER A COUPLE MINUTES. Yeah, the studio really knew how to spend the money.
There’s something about the sound of a revving car engine that just makes the whole experience visceral. One recent one I can think of is the chase from The Batman. That was so epic. Not much of a chase compared to other sequences from other films but the feeling a regular looking car that’s pimped up just enough to make it believable and unbelievable sound design just made the whole scene feel so awesome and visceral.
Not a movie, but the bike chase in the tv show Barry (season 3) is one of the most intense chase scenes I've seen lately. The sound design is insane. If you haven't seen it, watch it on RU-vid, you won't regret it.
@@MarcusFlemmingsBarry is one of my favorite shows, I'm so glad to see you watched it. Oh, I also watched your video on the avalanche scene in Force Majeure, it was really good. Fun fact : the movie is titled "Snow Therapy" in French, my native language. I find it really funny that we're using an English title, while English speakers are using a French title for the movie.
The French Connection chase inspired The Puerto Rican Connection mission in GTA 4, where Niko tracks a subway to kill a target once they reach their destination in a very similar fashion to the movie
I hated F8...especially the submarine chase scene 1) That submarine (due to the placement of its sloped con tower) appears to be a Schuka (Akula) class attack submarine, not a ballistic missile sub. While it might carry nuclear tipped torpedoes, or a nuclear cruise missile, it can't carry an ICBM 2) That submarine dove with hatches open, it would sink 3) That sub has a max deepwater speed of around 50mph, and max surface speed of around 20. In ice, it would be moving 10, at best, meaning this ice-skating chase is moving slower than most people can run.
