Say what you will about Michael Bay - but the man knows how to create intense car chases. Sure, you need to suspend a large amount of disbelief in order to fully appreciate the scenes, but no one is better at destroying metal traveling at high-rates of speed better than Mr. Bay. Here, for your viewing enjoyment/afternoon adrenalin rush are the ten best car chase scenes from Michael Bay movies.
10. Bay Boys II
That bit about suspending disbelief? Make sure it's fully employed here. On the run from a Cuban drug smuggler and the Cuban military, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence do what anyone driving a brand-new Hummer would do ... take it down and through the hillside drug-manufacturing village they happen to be driving by. This, of course, leads to a series of explosions and mass destruction, ending with a "slightly used" glory shot of the Hummer driving away from the carnage.
9. Transformers
I'm not sure "car" chase actually fits for this one as it's really between a big rig and an armored vehicle ... both of which eventually turn into robots and fight each other.
8. The Island
Bay likes to throw things - big, heavy things - at cars. In this (long) car chase, he manages to throw rail car wheels at Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor as they're trying to evade an elite team of mercenaries attempting to snuff them out. Did I mention Scarlett Johansson is in it?
7. Bad Boys
The final scene of Bad Boys, with a pissed-off Martin Lawrence behind the wheel of Will Smith's Porche and chasing the bad guy in his Shelby - on the runways of an airport - ends with one car still moving and the other ... not so much.
6. Transformers
Two words: Megan Fox.
5. Bad Boys
This isn't so much as a car vs. car chase scene, but a car vs. a flat-top wearing Will Smith chase scene. Of note: I used to live in Miami and know the footbridge the SUV drives over. No matter how many times I've seen this seen and looked at the bridge, I can't figure out how they got the large vehicle through a very narrow space. Ah... movie magic. (My apologies for the watermark on the video)
4. Bad Boys II
Instead of large metal objects being thrown at vehicles, Bay switches it up and tosses dead bodies instead. Be on the lookout for 2008 Best Supporting Actor nominee Michael Shannon as a redneck locked in a trunk. And with a cameo by Dan Marino in this scene, it's sure to please the Dolphin fans in all of us ... all three of us.
3. Chevy Commercial
Michael Bay is so good, he can make Chevy look cool.
2. Bad Boys II
While watching this scene in the theater with my girlfriend, a woman who looks forward to the Sex and the City Movie and He's Just Not That Into You, she turned to me with a smile and said, "That might have been the most intense thing I've ever watched." And it is intense. Ridiculously so. Anyone who has the idea to chuck cars off a car carrier at 85mph has to have a few screws loose. What's more, Bay turns a two mile causeway into a 10 mile road of mass-carnage. And it's scenes like these that make you appreciate your surround sound.
1. The Rock
This was the movie that made me a fan of Bay's. It's basically non-stop action from start to finish, and it's one of the best looking films ever shot. This chase, following a stand-off at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco literally has it all. A Ferrari, an exploding cable car, a Hummer, Sean Connery, an old woman crossing the street, breaking glass, and it takes place on the steep hills of San Francisco.
That bit about suspending disbelief? Make sure it's fully employed here. On the run from a Cuban drug smuggler and the Cuban military, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence do what anyone driving a brand-new Hummer would do ... take it down and through the hillside drug-manufacturing village they happen to be driving by. This, of course, leads to a series of explosions and mass destruction, ending with a "slightly used" glory shot of the Hummer driving away from the carnage.
9. Transformers
I'm not sure "car" chase actually fits for this one as it's really between a big rig and an armored vehicle ... both of which eventually turn into robots and fight each other.
8. The Island
Bay likes to throw things - big, heavy things - at cars. In this (long) car chase, he manages to throw rail car wheels at Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor as they're trying to evade an elite team of mercenaries attempting to snuff them out. Did I mention Scarlett Johansson is in it?
7. Bad Boys
The final scene of Bad Boys, with a pissed-off Martin Lawrence behind the wheel of Will Smith's Porche and chasing the bad guy in his Shelby - on the runways of an airport - ends with one car still moving and the other ... not so much.
6. Transformers
Two words: Megan Fox.
5. Bad Boys
This isn't so much as a car vs. car chase scene, but a car vs. a flat-top wearing Will Smith chase scene. Of note: I used to live in Miami and know the footbridge the SUV drives over. No matter how many times I've seen this seen and looked at the bridge, I can't figure out how they got the large vehicle through a very narrow space. Ah... movie magic. (My apologies for the watermark on the video)
4. Bad Boys II
Instead of large metal objects being thrown at vehicles, Bay switches it up and tosses dead bodies instead. Be on the lookout for 2008 Best Supporting Actor nominee Michael Shannon as a redneck locked in a trunk. And with a cameo by Dan Marino in this scene, it's sure to please the Dolphin fans in all of us ... all three of us.
3. Chevy Commercial
Michael Bay is so good, he can make Chevy look cool.
2. Bad Boys II
While watching this scene in the theater with my girlfriend, a woman who looks forward to the Sex and the City Movie and He's Just Not That Into You, she turned to me with a smile and said, "That might have been the most intense thing I've ever watched." And it is intense. Ridiculously so. Anyone who has the idea to chuck cars off a car carrier at 85mph has to have a few screws loose. What's more, Bay turns a two mile causeway into a 10 mile road of mass-carnage. And it's scenes like these that make you appreciate your surround sound.
1. The Rock
This was the movie that made me a fan of Bay's. It's basically non-stop action from start to finish, and it's one of the best looking films ever shot. This chase, following a stand-off at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco literally has it all. A Ferrari, an exploding cable car, a Hummer, Sean Connery, an old woman crossing the street, breaking glass, and it takes place on the steep hills of San Francisco.
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Transformers wins for me. Some of the others are super-cool but when the cars in the chase turn into robots that makes it even better. Other than my cousins playing with the toys I hadn't really seen much of Transformers before that movie. But I walked out of that theatre and looked at big trucks differently ever since. I now wish all of them would just suddenly turn into massive robots just like in the scene for #8 up there.
Well, except I hope they flip over someone else's car of course.
You know what? everyone criticizes micheal bay. I happen to love movies with huge pointless explosions and car chases.
My name is Sheriff Pablo and I am a fan of Micheal Bay movies.
the end.
Say it loud say it proud!
just wanted to make sure you knew that I came back to read this entire post. Keep 'em coming.
wow is it Will Smith day here? lol
seriously though, keep em coming, how about a 10 best foot chases? I vote for our man of the day big Willie chasing down the dude in Men In Black, and jumps on te busses etc
Dude. Michael Bay is a horrible, HORRIBLE, director. I'm pretty sure that anyone who likes the crap he makes is a gigantic tool. It is actually possible to make bad ass action movies without making it totally retarded. You mindless apes that pay money to view such atrocities as Transformers, Pearl Harbor, or any of these other awful movies are just keeping this sh1t train rolling. Please, don't defend this crap by saying that you don't mind hollywood treating you like a 5 year old as long as you get to see pretty explosions and car chases. I'm not saying they need to make everything an art film, I'm saying demand some basic sensibility. Can you imagine if Nolan or Raimi had directed Transformers?? It could have been great!! Michael Bay is the worst director in the history of the world, and he needs to die.