Of all the scenes that can define a great movie and make it iconic, the car chase is unquestionably one of the most prominent, especially as far as the action genre goes. We've sat through hundreds if not thousands of car chases throughout the years, and though most of them tend to blur together in their saminess, every so often a unique, exhilarating chase will abound, one that heightens the visceral appeal of the narrative and engages us greater in what is going on. These directors - the vast majority of them high profile filmmakers - caught lightning in a bottle with these immaculately composed, visceral, visually stunning chase sequences, thrilling audiences the world over and making their films a whole lot more memorable in the process. Here are the 10 greatest movie car chases of all time.
10. The Bourne Identity (2002 version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ETruidd5lQ Doug Liman's entry into the Bourne series might be the lesser of the three films, but it does feature the best car chase of the lot, as Matt Damon's Jason Bourne gets Marie in tow and drives a Mini Cooper through the dreary Paris streets in an attempt to evade the authorities. Using his cunning as a wheelman, Bourne hurtles down stairways, taking advantage of the Cooper's small size to run rings around his pursuers, mounting the curb and barely avoiding pedestrians as he does so. The best moment arguably comes when a motorcycle-riding cop isn't looking where he's going and hits a car, catapulting himself into the stratosphere as Bourne is free to get away. That the scene is backed by Paul Oakenfold's excellent tune Ready Steady Go (also used in Michael Mann's Collateral) is just the icing on the cake. Even though we might have lost sight of it in the other two films, this scene is proof that you don't need shaky cam to make a gritty and engaging car chase.