Obscure Inq

This week we ask…

What is the most awesome car chase of all time?

Tom-

The entire Blues Brothers movie (the original, none of that “2000” bullshit). They drive through a mall, down a highway, and through Chicago, being chased by cops, National Guard, fire fighters, and Illinois Nazis, all the while tallying up the highest number of cars crashed in a single movie.

Also, the music is awesome.

There’s also the chase in Jurassic Park, when they’re in the Jeep, and the T-Rex is on their ass the whole time. Admittedly, no guns or rockets, but the T-Rex does destroy a tree by running through it.

Also, he’s a T-Rex.

Travis-

I’ve actually done some research and watched all of the movies that “the experts” have deemed to have awesome car chases. The best car chase title belongs to James Bond*. I’ve seen Bullit, I’ve seen Vanishing Point, I’ve seen Gone in 60 Seconds… They all left me wanting. Bond delivers. Best example: In The Man With The Golden Gun, Bond drives his getaway car off a partially collapsed ramp completing a full barrel roll before landing safely on the other side. To compare: In the new Gone in 60 seconds, Nick Cage jumps a computer generated car over a bunch of traffic on the highway… Yawn.

Also, I mentioned the Bond car chasing to someone, and they said, “Oh, you mean the invisible car?” Care to explain, Travis? -Tom

*This excludes invisible cars with mortars. A la Die Another Day. -Travis

Tristan-

The scene from The Bourne Identity still makes me as giddy as a school girl. First off it’s in a little tiny POS car, which Bourne maneuvers around, between, and through obstacles. He also uses some fancy clutching and shifting to get the car to do things you wouldn’t expect such a little car to do. No guns, rocket boosters, V12 engines, or anything, just a little Austin Mini speeding through one way streets, down flights of stairs, and weaving through heavy traffic.

The beginning of The Rock that was another one that came to my mind. Watching Sean Connery blast through anyone in his way with a Humvee was one of the defining moments in my youth.

HP-

I think I have to give my vote to Terminator 2. We have the Terminator on a motorcycle with a pump action shot gun and the T-1000 barreling down on him in a mac truck. You’d think ol’ Ahnold would be in trouble being on a tiny vehicle with a whiny teenage boy hanging on him, but he held his own with that shotgun.

Batman Begins was neat too. In the Tumbler when he was escaping from the cops…

Jake-

So, I’ve got a trend for stepping outside of the norm with these topics, but this one is still a car chase, dammit. Gears of War, the level where you drive the Junker through the city, avoiding the night-bats of doom or whatever they are. In single player, this is nothing, but with two people playing co-op, the screaming, swearing and laughter make this better than any movie’s car chase I’ve ever seen. I still love playing that level, and I laugh my ass off just as much every time as two people bungle their way through the streets while emo-bats rape their crapass vehicle.

Jake, I don’t think I’ve seen that one, but it reminded me of the part at the end of Halo (the first one) where you’re in the Warthog driving through a ship as it’s kerploding. That was probably my favorite moment in gaming ever. -Tristan

Yeah, they did it again at the end of Halo 3. Which was kind of a copout, imo. -Tucker

Except in Halo 3 you could drive over an area you thought was safe and then watch it fall and have to start over. That was fun. -HP

Tucker-

If Jake gets to use made up cars, I get to use things that aren’t really cars. Endor. Speeder. Bike. Chase. Now I don’t know about the rest of you, but the sheer concept of the speeder bikes operating in that crazy “trees rushing at your face” fashion in Return of the Jedi is one of the best chase scenes in any movie. I don’t care that when they run into eachothers sides it looks like dueling Snapper lawnmowers. The fact that not only do characters have to worry about their advesaries, they also have to worry about weaving in and out of a goddamn forrest. Did you ever do that thing where you wave your hands really fast on each side of someone’s face and say “you’re running through a forrest, and then you hit a tree” and you get to hit them in the face? This was like that, and was arguably just as good as hitting someone in the face.

Will-

Hands down, the truck chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I’m gonna do my best to breifly recap one segment of the sequence. Indy on a horse… Indy then on truck… Indy then inside said truck… Indy thrown through truck windshield… Indy scrambles underneath truck… Indy back in truck. It’s cinematic gold! And Travis, I’m wondering which Bond chase is specifically considered the best. Did you just add them all together? That doesn’t seem fair. And if that means that you are including the all the rubbish from Die Another Day, then I’m leaving.

At least I didn’t try to pass off Harrison Ford as a car. -Travis