Top 10 Best Nicolas Cage Car Chases

He not only starred in National Treasure, he is a national treasure. Here’s our list of the raginist, cagenist chase scenes in cinematic history.

Destined to be nothing less than Nicolas Cage, his parents mistakenly named him Nicolas Kim Coppola. He’s an Academy Award and Golden Globe winner, but more than that, he is a genuine car enthusiast.

That last fact has manifested itself in some of the best chase scenes in movie history. But, this isn’t just about car chases, this is a complete celebration of Nicolas Cage, henceforth referred to by the informal, Nic – because we’re all friends here.

What you need to know about this list.

This list is by no means exhaustive, definitive, or probably even accurate. It is a very personal expression of humanity’s love for one of our greatest creative minds and talents.

Each entry also includes a listing of some of the interesting vehicles involved in the movie, a completely arbitrary Cage-Rage Quotient that is a weighted average of observable Cage-ness throughout the film.

Lastly, most of Nic’s work is filled with other extremely skilled actors, most commonly identified as: “That’s the guy who played the dude that did the thing in that movie.” We’ve made it easier for you by just listing the cinematic role you probably know them from and not their actual name.

Please, enjoy our celebration of Nic.

10. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)

• Cage-Rage: 4/10 Good sorcery is calm and collected
• Cars as Stars: Ferrari F430, 1935 Rolls-Royce Phantom II, Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, Ford Crown-Vic
• Supporting Cast: Hiccup Haddock, The Borg Queen, Persephone

Starting the list out gently with a Disney live-action adaptation of what was originally animation, this movie was not particularly well received by critics — or most people, really.

Nic was obviously great, as were many of the special effects. The car chase action was so heated that some film extras were unfortunately injured when one of the stunt drivers lost control of a car, hitting one person and knocking a light pole down on another. Mysteriously, a second car accident occurred on set, but was unrelated to filming.

The big car chase starts with the antagonist in a typical New York Crown-Vic taxi fleeing from our hero in his 1935 Rolls-Royce Phantom II. When the villain transforms his cab into a Ferrari, Nic responds by turning the Roller into a McLaren SLR. Although the Ferrari would definitely have the advantage in handling, the SLR’s supercharged 5.4-liter V8 has the grunt needed to blast through Time’s Square traffic. It’s worth a watch, especially with younger car and Cage enthusiasts.

9. Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance (2011)

• Cage-Rage: 8/10 He’s literally a flaming skull riding a motorcycle
• Cars as Stars: Tata Telcoline, Ford Explorer, Land Rover Discovery, ZiL 131
• Supporting Cast: Heimdall, Rupert from Ted Lasso

Another adaptation, this time of a Marvel comic book hero who would later be seen on Agents of SHIELD – but with another actor. Nic plays the amazingly-named Johnny Blaze, a motorcycle stunt rider who made a deal with the devil to save his dying father. Now, as the devil’s own bounty hunter, he transforms into a flaming skeleton in leather biker gear to fight evil. So evil that even Mephistopheles is like, “Look I’m evil, but that guy is really messed up and you need to stop him.” So, Johnny Blaze gets literal and jumps on his flaming motorcycle.

This film takes place in Romania and Turkey, lending beautiful scenery and a cast of interesting cars. As you can imagine, a large portion of Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance revolves around action on wheels. There are a few particularly awesome sequences involving car/motorcycle/military-vehicle chases along with huge explosions; fighting inside, on top, and underneath all those vehicles; along with guns, flames, and more explosions.

8. Drive Angry (2011)

• Cage-Rage: 6/10 Understandably angry, but maybe not so much as the title would imply
• Cars as Stars: 1969 Dodge Charger R/T, Ford Econoline RV, 1971 Chevy Chevelle, 1957 Chevy 150, 1963 Buick Riviera
• Supporting Cast: Mera from Aquaman, Alex Mahone, Brutus from The Green Mile, Donna Smoak

Without a hint of irony, Nic plays John Milton who escapes from Hell and is being chased by Satan’s bounty hunter — who doesn’t have a flaming skull or motorcycle. Anyway, bad guys did bad things, so Nic steals a big gun, comes back from the infernal regions to drive fast and take names. There’s probably more to the plot, but it’s pretty inconsequential.

Cool cars with the accompanying bellowing V8 soundtrack abound in this movie, but it’s worth mentioning this is at the very bottom of the list of family-movie-night-friendly. Reportedly, one of the reasons Nic decided to take this project was to explore the supernatural-action potential when leaning into the R-rating for “brutal violence.”

7. Face/Off (1997)

• Cage-Rage: 7/10 Is it Cage-Rage or Travolta-Tantrums?
• Cars as Stars: Hummer H1, GMC Yukon, Lockheed JetStar, Scarab SCS25
• Supporting Cast: Vinnie Barbarino, Rotten Luck Willie

This is one of the greatest action movies of the 1990s and one of very few films with a backslash in its title, so why isn’t it further up the list? One, the order of listicles is completely irrelevant other than to get commenters arguing over what should be where. And B, the best chase in this movie is in boats, which is an inferior mode of action-scene-transportation due to its lack of burn-outs and tire squealing.

If you’re unfamiliar with this epic tome, then I would imagine you were just rescued from a deserted island, in which case, here’s the rundown: Nic plays a criminal mastermind whose minions have planted a bomb to blow-up LA. The guy from Grease is an FBI agent who infiltrates the bad guys gang by surgically switching faces with Nic. This is not a comedy or in any way a Freaky Friday reboot.

Stuff happens. But more importantly, at one point we have cars chasing a private jet and we have cars chasing cars, and most importantly, we have Randy from Valley Girl fighting Tony from Saturday Night Fever, while both fight pigeons before chasing each other in freakin’ speed boats, man – did I mention this is a Jon Woo film?

6. National Treasure: Book Of Secrets (2007)

• Cage-Rage: 3/10 Being double-crossed, shot at, all just water off a duck’s back to Ben
• Cars as Stars: Mercedes-Benz C280, LTI Fairway, Range Rover Series III, Cadillac STS, Scania P94
• Supporting Cast: John Voight from Seinfeld, Bridget von Hammersmark, Doug from the Hangover, Jackson Pollock, Mr. White, The voice of Deep Thought

When life seems perfect for Benjamin Franklin Gates, played by Nic, along comes the guy from The Abyss accusing the Gates family of being conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. As many of the world’s leading Cage scholars have noted, this can be seen as a commentary on Nic’s own life. A humble man just trying to enjoy a simple life of immense fame and vast fortune while the cruel world attempts to knock him down.

In the second installment of the National Treasure franchise, the adventure spans the globe traveling through Pasadena, California to Mt. Rushmore, and even to Buckingham Palace in London, and briefly through Paris, France. The big chase takes place in the streets of London, with Ben and crew commandeering a Mercedes C-Class and being chased by the one-two combination of a Range Rover and a London Taxi. As one would expect of a chase through The Old Smoke, there are also double decker busses, left-hand drive jokes, and kegs of warm beer.

Book Of Secrets is rated PG and contains many lines of dialog with historically-important sounding words, so a perfect movie for family night.

5. Gone In 60 Seconds (2000)

• Cage-Rage: 9/10 Will people ever learn not to mess with his family?
• Cars as Stars: YES, all of them. Seriously, too many cars to list, including the Eleanor Mustang – the car that launched a thousand lawsuits.
• Supporting Cast: Maleficent, the medic from Saving Private Ryan, James Caan’s son, the 9th Doctor, Bullet Tooth Tony, Marvel’s Dominic Fortune

Memphis Raines, a retired golden-hearted vehicular-larceny artist, manifested by Nic, must return to his life of past sins to save the life of his younger brother, Kip. The younger Raines has made a deal with a Long Beach gangster, played by a classically-trained British actor, who the writers chose to give the Italian surname, Calitri. In just one night, the family Raines, with the help of Memphis’ old crew of rag tag retired car thieves, must steal 50 very specific high-profile automobiles – and the cops are onto them.

The film is essentially one long YouTube car video with short interludes to pacify the portion of the audience just there to see a fun summer movie. The final and definitive chase goes beyond limits of imagination and the reality of physics to deliver a monumental artistic statement of man and machine in the struggle of good vs evil. There’s also a wicked-cool jump on the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro.

The action in Gone In 60 Seconds is only made more awesome with the knowledge that Nic performed his own stunts in the movie, most notably the driving. But, perhaps the most commendable thing to celebrate Nic for, is introducing a younger generation to the Shelby GT500 and War’s sonorous funk classic, Lowrider. I think I owe the Carrol Shelby estate $5 just for mentioning the car.

4. The Rock (1996)

• Cage-Rage: 7/10 Don’t mess with a biochemist
• Cars as Stars: Ferrari F355, Hummer H1, San Francisco Cable Car, countless Crown Vics and Caprice cop cars
• Supporting Cast: Sir Sean Connery, Dr. Cox from Scrubs, Cpl. Hicks, Jackson Pollock again, Brutus from The Green Mile again, Manny Horvitz

Nic is Stanley Goodspeed, a mild-mannered biochemist working for the FBI in Washington DC until that guy from The Abyss, again, threatens to unleash a chemical weapon on San Francisco after taking control of Alcatraz. Stanley buddies up with the real James Bond, who is the only person to ever escape Alcatraz. Together, they must stop the terrorists, who kind of have a blurred-line-of-morality. Are we supposed to hate them or like them? It’s confusing if there’s supposed to be a message here.

The City by the Bay is a supporting character here. San Francisco was settled by Spanish officer Juan Bautista de Anza in 1776 after he recognized the area would one day be an ideal location for filming car chases. The Rock was a direct beneficiary of this foresight, as is the audience.

In an unforeseen twist, this chase finds 007, not in the European sports car, but in the ultimate expression of Americanism — a Hummer H1. Goodspeed gives chase in a Fly Yellow Ferrari F355. The action features exploding everything, including a wayward cable car, flying beverages, and enough cop car carnage to make the Blues Brothers green with envy.

Again, Bond James Bond has a good reason for possibly maiming and killing dozens of tourists and causing incalculable property damage, so everything is fine. Although this is a Michael Bay film, it does have an identifiable plot with meaningful dialog. It has held up over time, even with the inexplicable absence of Dwayne Johnson, the apparent title character.

3. Con Air (1997)

• Cage-Rage: 10/10 It’s what got him into this whole mess
• Cars as Stars: 1967 Chevy Corvette, Kawasaki KZ1000, Seagrave Firetruck, Fairchild C-123
• Supporting Cast: Lloyd Dobler, Humma Kavula, Lori from Boston Legal, Machete, Ahchoo, Donny Kerabatsos, Chief Miles O’Brien

The legend of Nicolas Cage was already well established when the world was blessed with Con Air on the 6th of June, 1997 – but this was the film that cemented his place in the pantheon of action hero greats. Was it the ripped physique? The stone-faced delivery of one-liners during heart stopping action? The mullet? Probably a combination.

The majority of the action takes place aboard and around a convict-shuttling airplane. When the plane is hijacked by a group of the nation’s most dangerous prisoners, Nic’s character Cameron Poe, an ex-military Special SEAL Commando Ninja, who is scheduled for release, decides to stay with the prisoners to lead the efforts of their recapture from the inside.

The final chase involves a plane crash on the Las Vegas strip, which then turns into Poe and Hoops McCann jumping on motorcycles to chase a firetruck stolen by the guy who played John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich. The final editing of the chase completely ignores the actual layout of Las Vegas. This will only be obvious to those who have spent time in Las Vegas, but didn’t fully experience Las Vegas if they were coherent enough to build a detailed mental map of their surroundings.

2. Raising Arizona (1987)

• Cage-Rage: W/10 Nic’s hair changes during the film as a physical representation of his character’s state of mind
• Cars as Stars: 1972 Chevy Impala, 1966 Chevy C-Series, Honda VT500
• Supporting Cast: Elastigirl, Senator Gil John Biggs, Manny Horvitz again

Although it wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe Nic’s entire career as Cult Classic, this film is genre-defining as such. Raising Arizona is far from being the most famous work of writer/directors the Coen brothers, but it stands with the likes of The Big Lebowski, No Country For Old Men, and Fargo. Nic plays an ex-con who falls in love with a cop while being booked. That’s about as far as I can go without spoiling it.

This is not an action movie, although the chase scene is a robbery getaway. The protagonist is pursued by the police, a .357 Magnum-packing teenage gas station clerk, a pack of dogs, and also involves a bag of Huggies. Not simply a car chase, but an exploration of modern life contemplated in a supermarket, in the glossy sheen of watered black top streets, and a lovely split-level home. This entire movie, like Nic himself, is a treasured piece of Americana.

1. The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent (2022)

• Cage-Rage: 10/10 No crazy is as crazy as true Cage crazy
• Cars as Stars: Ferrari 400i, Land Rover Defender 90, Mitsubishi L200
• Supporting Cast: Nicolas Cage as Nicolas Cage, Din Djarin, Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi, The NPH, G.I. Jane

Cage playing Cage in a movie about Cage; it never could have been anything but glorious. Nic plays Nicolas Cage who has been hired to attend a super fan’s birthday party. The super fan, played by The Mandalorian, is a suspected crime boss under surveillance by CIA agents who recruit Nic to gather intel. I could continue, but I won’t do it justice, nor will it become any clearer.

There is a predictably awesome chase scene involving the heroes driving a Defender 90 being chased by leather-clad bad guys on motorcycles. There is a now meme-famous moment with Nic and Mando in a Porsche 356. Constant self-referential gags about Nic’s career and characters. All of this is just icing on the Cage. The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent is a celebration and a love letter to the fantastical gift to the universe that is Nicolas Cage.