From James Bond to Fast and Furious, there are many iconic car chases that have made our hearts race throughout the years. But which one claims first place on the podium of popularity? Curious to find out, Uswitch.com/car-insurance delved into the numbers to discover which on-screen car chase is our favourite.

By evaluating a variety of factors such as the number of YouTube views, likes and dislikes, and IMDb ratings, they created a fan index score that determined which are the most memorable car chase scenes committed to film.

The key findings include:

• The Dark Knight Rises (2012) is our favourite car chase, scoring 9.06 out of a possible 10
• Another car chase from the Batman franchise claims second place, The Dark Knight (2008)
• Drive (2011) makes the top three, followed by Baby Driver (2017) in fourth place
• Captain America, Mad Max and Bullitt are amongst the films with our favourite car chase scenes
• Jack Reacher (2012) rounds out the list coming in at 15h place with a score of 6.23 out of a possible 10

THE RESULTS

Batman’s thrilling first appearance in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) is our favorite car chase, scoring9.06 out of a possible 10. Iconic for the triumphant return of Batman (Christian Bale) from the darkness, the scene raises our pulse with the chase that involves the police, Batman, and of course the villain Bane (played by Tom Hardy). Views on YouTube have amassed 13 million to date and resulted in a score of 9.43 out of a possible 10 on the platform’s like to dislike ratio.

Another car chase from the Batman franchise races into second place, this time involving the superhero and the legendary Heath Ledger’s Joker behind the wheels in The Dark Knight (2008). The scene, which starts with Batman’s Tumbler seamlessly transforming into the Batcycle before riding off after The Joker, scored an overall rating of 8.24 out of a possible 10.

The opening scene of Drive (2011) makes the top three, rating 7.99 out of a possible 10. The adrenaline in this particular car chase is caused not by the typical loud explosions and tyre screeching, but by the soothing and quiet way that the Mystery Driver (Ryan Gosling) flees from the cops on a Chevrolet Impala. Comments on the YouTube video include “Every police chase should be like this” and “most realistic getaway driver scenario”, contributing to the like to dislike ratio score of 9.62 out of a possible 10, the second highest after Parabellum (2019).

The curtain raiser scene on Baby Driver (2017) comes in fourth with 7.93 out of a possible 10. The young getaway driver, played by Ansel Elgort, sings along to “Bellbottoms” by Jon Spencer whilst simultaneously being chased by numerous cop cars. This slick moment of cinematic history has earned over 67 million views on YouTube, the most of all scenes analyzed in the study.

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>> YouTube videos of all the car chase scenes included in this study, as well as the total 52 scenes analysed can be found here.

The 31st Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy is organised from September 20th to 30th, 2018. Spike Lee, a true trailblazer of American and more specifically African-American cinema, is the festival’s honorary guest. Other main guests include legendary director of German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, Australian cult director Stephan Elliott and German-French-Iranian filmmaker Emily Atef. The collaboration between HIFF and Yle will continue this year in the form of French cinema.

Love & Anarchy is honoured to bring highly accomplished filmmakers to Helsinki this year. HIFF’s honorary guest is the Academy Award winning American director Spike Lee, who will be holding a masterclass at the festival. HIFF will screen Lee’s hugely popular new film BLACKKKLANSMAN in addition to DO THE RIGHT THING (1989), the biggest hit of the second edition of the festival. Spike Lee’s visit is organised in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Finland and BlacKkKlansman actor Jasper Pääkkönen.

The Grand Old Lady of German cinema Margarethe von Trotta will be attending the festival. Besides Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders, she is one of the most important directors of New German Cinema. Von Trotta will bring to Helsinki her new documentary SEARCHING FOR INGMAR BERGMAN, in which a number of filmmakers discuss the Swedish maestro’s influence on their own work. Von Trotta’s visit is organised in collaboration with the Hanaholmen cultural centre.

Stephan Elliott, whose colourful comedy THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT was one of the hits of HIFF 1994, will be joining us all the way from Australia. The director, whose work has brought LGBTQ+ themes into mainstream cinema, will be introducing his new film SWINGING SAFARI. In addition, Priscilla will be shown as a special drag screening as part of the new Love & Anarchy Trailblazers section.

Director Emily Atef brings her film 3 DAYS IN QUIBERON from Berlin to Helsinki. The film, which won most German Film Awards at the Lola-Gala in April, is a recreation of the legendary film actress Romy Schneider‘s iconic interview.

At the end of the festival, the R&A Shorts sidebar will welcome the performance art group LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, which includes Hollywood star Shia LaBeouf. The festival presents the trio’s new film #TAKEMEANYWHERE. The visit is organised in collaboration with the Finnish Institute in London.

The best local films of the year 2010 were awarded in Jussi Gala in the 6th of February. The awards were given by Filmiaura, the association of Finnish film professionals. Jalmari Helander´s Rare Exports collected a total of six awards for its ambitious technical solutions (Best Costume Design, Best Set Design, Best Editing, Best Sound Design, Best Music, Best Cinematography). Lapland Odyssey collected four awards (Best Film, Best Direction, Best Script, Public Favorite). The legendary director Matti Kassila, 87, was awarded with Concrete Jussi for his life-time work in the service of the Finnish cinema.

The winners in categorical order:

Best film:
Lapland Odyssey – producer Aleksi Bardy

Public Favorite:
Lapland Odyssey – Dome Karukoski

Jussi Awards have been given since 1944 and they are considered as the oldest European film awards. The gala was broadcast live via Finnish TV channel Nelonen.

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For more information:
www.jussit.fi

Ask your average English-speaking layman to play a game of Word Association, and the chances are, if you say Finland, that if they don’t opt for ‘cold’, or ‘depressed’, the word ‘sauna’ will come up. I’ve always found it amusing that the Swedes and Finns both lay claim to the advent of the Sauna, and in the excellent coming-of-age novel Popular Music in Vittula, by Mikael Niemi, set on the border of the two countries, there is a wonderful argument between the elders on the virtues of a Swedish sauna versus a Finnish version, and, God forbid, a Norwegian equivalent. There is nothing comparable in any European culture I can think of that is so central as the Sauna is to the Nordic countries, and, in particular, to Finnish men.

Miesten Vuoro serves as a celebration of the sauna while exploring ground hitherto relatively unknown – emotional tenderness beneath that most hardened veneer of macho stoicism, the Finnish male psyche. Far from the emotionally retarded, monosyllabic stereotype that is generally accepted, the many subjects of this excellent documentary all have stories to tell, which are in turn heartbreaking, endearing, and often compelling. The directorial duo of Joonas Berghäll and Mika Hotakainen have stated in interview that, during the ten years in which they dreamed up a formula, ‘there have been loads of documentaries and discussions in the [Finnish] media about women’s emotions and lives. We thought it was time to show that there is a tender and emotional side to men also.’ (1)

The film takes the form of a series of vignettes, set in saunas all across Finland, with interludes depicting panoramic landscapes of the country to set the context. Domestic strife is a theme that comes up more than once, and many of the subjects of conversation are universal enough for an international audience to relate to. However, they also tell us a great deal about Finnish society, such as certain characters’ battles with alcoholism and solitude. Not all the scenes are everyday tales of the average Joe – one man gives a lengthy account of his paternal relationship with a fully-grown grizzly bear, and a group of off-duty Santa Claus’ are amongst those placed for comic relief. Sometimes the documentary form is betrayed by set pieces like this – a scene featuring a man taking a sauna in a converted telephone box, and another of a couple who have altered a clapped-out car to enjoy a cleansing seem unlikely, and the fact that the Santas wear full dress in the changing room is playing to the camera in a rather more staged manner than might befit a true ‘documentary’. Nevertheless, these are minor quibbles. When the film finished at the cinema I was at, the audience trailed out the theatre in a sober fashion, but I saw several with moist eyes, and quiet, warm smiles, which I imagine is exactly the reaction the film set out to achieve.

(1) http://www.documentary.org/magazine/meet-docuweeks-filmmakers-joonas-berghall-mika-hotakainen-steam-life-miesten-vuoro

{mosimage}Obviously, the cinema that best portrays Finland is the Finnish cinema. But apart from directors like Kaurismäki brothers, JP Silli, Aku Louhimies or Petri Kotwica, there are winks to Finland and Finnish culture in movies made abroad. FREE! Magazine brings you a few examples! 

Confessions of a Shopaholic (USA)

Now in cinema theatres. There is a funny dialogue in "Finnish" when the main character assist to a social event.

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Link to YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5muyAz5DYM

Zugvögel … einmal nach Inari (Germany)

Hannes is a beer-truck driver in Dortmund. His biggest dream is to win the train Time-Table Contest in Inari (Finland). He will have a twisted trip to Finland where he will meet all kind of people and also…love

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Earth Girls are easy (USA)

{mosimage}There is an hilarious moment when the aliens are watching TV and they claim that Norway is the capital of Finland… The relation between Geena Davis and Renny Harlin has probably a lot to do with this wink. And obviously, if you are a fan of Harlin´s movies, you must have notice that he always places objects or references to Finland in his movies.

Link to video in YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSbiL725hVQ

Los Amantes del Círculo Polar (Lovers from the Arctic Circle)(Spain)

Julio Medem is one of the best Spanish directors of the last decades, and this is probably his masterpiece. A romantic and beautiful love story that drags the two main characters into a trip to Finland. A must see!

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Osobennosti natsionalnoy okhoty (Peculiarities of the National Hunting) (Russia)

Finnish actor Ville Haapasalo is a well known character in Russian cinema. This title is the first one of a comedy saga, and has some hilarious moments. Do not miss how a cow can end up inside a fight plane. The drunkards Russian do not know in the end at what side of the border they are, if the Finnish or the Russian one. 

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Aaltra (Belgium)

If you like indie movies, this one is for you. Two paraplegics who hate each other into a road trip that leads them to Finland, with the wish of meeting Aki Kaurismäki.

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And some other “Finnish” moments in foreign films that come to my mind is the beginning of the newest Chacal, shot in Helsinki, Charlie´s Angels using Finnish as a secret communication language, the Finnish hacker in Operation Swordfish (although he does not speak Finnish when interrogated), the crazy Nokia mobile phone in Transformers, Night on Earth and the taxi driver in Helsinki…

If you remember more, just drop us a line and maybe we can altogether create a continuation to this article!

{mosimage}One more year, the Helsinki International Film Festival Rakkautta ja Anarkiaa (Love and Anarchy) it is a compulsory destination for lovers of good cinema. The offer this year is astonishingly good and wide, with more than 130 festival films available in the following venues: Bio Rex, Maxim, Kinopalatsi, Andorra, Dubrovnik and Kino Engel. 

Basically every single cinema lover will find something interesting to watch during the 10 days that the festival take place (from 18 to 28 of September). Japanese animation, the new cinema from Spain, the last tendencies of the neighboring Estonia, the most acid documentaries, other projects where cinema and music melt… everything has space here in Helsinki. The organization of HIFF is full of young and dynamic people who truly love cinema, and that gets extrapolated in an awesome offer.

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Added to this, the audience will have chance also to enjoy the visit of some very special guests like the Mexican director Carlos Reygadas or the Estonian directors Ilmar Raag, Veiko Ounpuu and René Vilbre (who is on the hot spot in his native country nowadays with the releasing of Minä Olin Siin, his latest project), as well as veteran Spanish actress Silvia Munt or the irreverent Chris Waitt, creator of the show Fur TV that you can watch in Finnish MTV.  

FREE! Magazine´s 5 picks for the 21st Helsinki International Film Festival:  

{mosimage}1) A Complete History of My Sexual Failures

Well, I think that the following sentence perfectly resumes the philosophy of a person who dares to dissect all his past failed relations in front of the camera. What you can expect from Chris Waitt and his exhilarating new movie is just to have a great time: 

”I made some sexy moves on Keira Knightley on the dance floor at a film awards party last year. I lasted two minutes before I was escorted away by her bodyguards.”
– DIRECTOR CHRIS WAITT, EMPIRE 

http://www.hiff.fi/lang-en/search-results/event/2024    

{mosimage}2) Tokyo Sonata  

Japanese director Kurosawa (no, not related to Akira Kurosawa) features a delicious bitter sweet story of a middle class family in Tokyo, where every member disguises in the everyday normality their own problems, dreams and passions. A great dissection of the contemporary Japanese society, and a wonderful final Sonata played in the piano by the child Kenji in the end that surely will make you feel goose pimples. 

http://www.hiff.fi/lang-en/search-results/event/2130—tokyo-sonata 

{mosimage}3) Chaotic Ana. 

Julio Medem is undoubtedly one of the best Spanish directors in the last decade. The creator of masterpieces like Land (Tierra), Lucia and the Sex (Lucia y el Sexo) or the closely related to Finland The lovers from the Arctic Circle (Los Amantes del Círculo Polar) is back with a new little masterpiece where features the exploratory journey of the young and beautiful Ana. 

http://www.hiff.fi/lang-en/search-results/event/2044—chaotic-ana 

{mosimage}4) It s a Free World. 

Ken Loach continues being socially involved with a new film that digs deep in the problems of the illegal workers in England and the hard conditions that they suffer. We follow the steps of Angie, a beautiful British recruiter who will fall in the dark side of morals and ethics when starts her own recruiting company. Entertaining and at the same time compromised. 100% Loach. 

http://www.hiff.fi/lang-en/search-results/event/2072—its-a-free-world 

{mosimage}5) Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.  

Hunter S. Thompson is certainly a name to remember in our recent history. The father of Gonzo journalist opened a path of excesses that not many could follow (but many were and still are dreaming with it). A path of drugs abuse, taking experiences to the limit, including to ride 1 year together with Hell Angels in order to write a book (if you still have not read his books Hell Angels, run to the bookstore for it!). Director Alex Gibney gives you a detailed view of the talented and neurotic journalist here. If after this you feel hungry of more about Hunter S. Thompson, you can always take a look at the superb acting work of Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, where Mr. Thompson makes a cameo. 

http://www.hiff.fi/lang-en/search-results/event/2064—gonzo-the-life-and-work-of-dr-hunter-s-thompson         

A typical Finnish weather welcomes the guests of this year’s Tampere Film Festival. But the festival offers a way to escape cold and snow and to travel to exotic places. In this edition the festival takes a look at the new films from South Korea, the current trends in Russian and the cinema done by Palestinians and their neighbours. The festival opens today and it will show nearly 500 films during five days.

As usual, the festival offers also interesting retrospectives on diverse filmmakers. One of the most outstanding British avant garde filmmakers, John Smith, will present Hotel Diaries, a series of video recordings made in hotel rooms. Smith will be in Tampere and will discuss his work on Saturday 7.3 after the screening of Hotel Diaries.

Swedish Johan Hagelbäck will show a collection of his animation and music videos. The festival also offers the opportunity of watching some of the short films by veteran Finnish director Kari Paljakka, who this year was commissioned to organize the special screening Carte Blanche, to which he chose short films by Roman Polanski, among others, and classic Finnish documentaries.

The Tampere Film Festival characterizes for premiering in Finland relevant music films and documentaries. In the last years, Neil Young’s Heart of Gold and Ramones’ End of the Century were shown at the festival. This year the focus is on Kurt Cobain with the screening of the documentary About a Son. Directed by AJ Schnack this is a portray of the leader of Nirvana based on more than 25 hours of interviews conducted by journalist Michael Azerrad for his book Come As You Are. The festival also premieres Jouko Aaltonen’s documentary about Finnish punk, Punksters & Youngsters (Punk – Tauti joka ei tapa).

Finally, the theme of the traditional night long Saturday party is devoted this year to Finland. The long Suomi Night Saturday proposes a celebration of the Peculiar Mentality of Finns. It’s Finland 101: eight hours with new and old Finnish short films, city promotion videos, music videos and Aki Kaurismäki’s Total Balalaika Show as the star of the night at midnight.

www.tamperefilmfestival.fi
5-9 March
All screenings have English subtitles