Film & TV

The top three car chases that aren’t in Fast & Furious

Our regular film column

They’re great guilty pleasures, the Fast and Furious films, aren’t they? How can anyone not enjoy having some drinks and a pizza while watching several ripped guys illegally street race and pull off stupid heists? Fast and Furious is simply a very fun, enjoyable set of action films, and – of course – they feature some great car chases. However, my opinion that Tokyo Drift is the best one is apparently some sort of cardinal sin… let’s see if my friends can agree with me on this list at least:

Blues Brothers (1980)

There’s actually several big car chases in this 80s classic. The two that really stand out to me are when the brothers completely destroy Dixie Square Mall and, of course, the ending. No film since has packed so much comedy and carnage into such short periods of time. Fun fact – a record (at the time) 103 cars we destroyed in the making of this film.

The Raid 2 (2014)

Hey guys, have you heard that I like The Raid films?!? I think I may have mentioned the series a few hundred times in this column alone. In all seriousness though, any list of the best car chases that doesn’t include the incredible highway fight scene in The Raid 2 is just objectively inaccurate. I would also recommend watching the horrifically convoluted making-of for this incredible scene.

Lupin III : The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

Hey guys, did you hear that I like Miyazakai films too?!? Oh, right, sorry. At least here I have some big-name back up for my love: Steven Spielberg has famously described the opening car chase of animated classic The Castle of Cagliostro “one of the greatest chase sequence ever filmed”. The jazzy soundtrack here is also a perfect remix of the classic theme to the 70s TV show Lupin III.