Today's post from Scriptshadow mentioned making your car chase original. I have to thank Carson for that, because it got me thinking about my current project and the car chase set right at the beginning. His point was that we've seen everything under the sun when it comes to car chases so you really have to think of something neat to make yours stand out. He mentioned the chase in Deja Vu.
My favorite car chase is probably from We Own the Night. The movie was okay but not brilliant, but the car chase was spectacular. If you haven't seen the film, Joaquin Phoenix' character is in a car following his dad and he watches the car chase through the rain and fog on his windshield. It's blurry and fast and you only get glimpses of what's going on and when a really dramatic moment comes you - or I did, anyway - physically gasp. I felt the powerlessness the character must have felt.
I had a hard time thinking of other car chases that were super awesome and then I remembered.
Terminator 2. That's all I'm going to say. Terminator 2.
Everybody raves about The Bourne Identity car chase but I just saw that as your standard chase with shakey cam. I guess Bullet was cool when it came out, but I had a hard time getting into it since the movie was not really that interesting up to that point.
So I started thinking about my story and the relationship between my protagonists and, well, I don't really have any original ideas on fancy car maneuvers or any fancy camera tricks, but I do have an interesting relationship going on in the car. Then I realized that's my trick. It's what's going on inside the car that will add a creative element to my car chase. And if it's what's in the car that's cool, I don't even have to show as much of what's outside the car, which means my budget comes down.
So phase one of low budget - awesome part for actor - totally commercial but still clever action chase comedy is complete.
What's your favorite car chase?
