For my money, the best car chase is from Bad Boys II.
The Best Car Chase crown usually ping pongs between The French Connection and Bullitt, two films shot more than 50 years ago. This was when movie stars were stunt drivers, street permits were skipped, and speeds reached up to 100 MPH. Memorable car chases were guaranteed.
Today the value equation has flipped. Producers follow tight safety standards to make the next shareable thrill for a savvy audience.
Enter Michael Bay, the director of Bad Boys II, as well as some movies you’ll admit to seeing and some you won’t. Total box office: 7.8 billion. He’s the Nickelback* of Hollywood.
When Michael Bay shoots a car chase, he choreographs it. Sequences are worked out. Multiple cameras and professional drivers are half the work – aptly named ‘Bayhem’ – with extensive computer generated imaging (CGI) added later for maximum value. Bay uses every tool to keep an audience glued, so cars don’t just flip, they pirouette.
In Bad Boys II, they roll. The sequence I’m referring to involves a hijacked car hauler being pursued by a Ferrari on a freeway. In between machine gun rounds, stacked cars from said hauler are dropped onto the traffic below. The Ferrari twists and weaves, while spinning cars explode around and over it. Impossible without CGI, but Bay suspends your disbelief and you trust every rolling car as reality.
Because the rolling cars are real. It’s the Ferrari that’s fake.
The director knew where discerning eyes would focus: real cars exploding on the freeway. Since those stunts couldn’t be simulated, he ordered a CGI Ferrari like he would a pizza.
Unmanned stunt vehicles added more value to that scene than a movie star driving a Ferrari. Keep that in mind when assuming your exotic job shields you from AI. The shiny can be learned and duplicated, but it’s the genuine and unexpected that will keep a job safe.
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*Nickleback is a rock band who took what they had, crafted a point-of-view, and sold 50 million albums to become the 11th best-selling band in history.