As far as this BatFan is concerned, there is no feature-length, live-action Batman movie complete without a good chase scene. Any time Batman returns to the big screen in a new DC movie, it immediately fills fans with anticipation for the moment when he gets behind the wheel of the Batmobile (or any of his many customized vehicles) to either pursue or outrun a member of his notorious rogues gallery.
However, riddle me this: which chase scene from the best live-action Batman movies so far deserves the honor of being called the Dark Knight’s brightest moment as Gotham’s ultimate road warrior? Let’s figure it out by taking a look at them all in this list that ranks them from the least impressive to the most exciting.
9. GCPD Chases Batman Chasing Bane's Goons (The Dark Knight Rises)
While I find all Batman movie chases impressive and exciting, the least memorable for me comes from 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, when Batman’s (Christian Bale) long-awaited return distracts the police (apparently all of them) from Bane’s (Tom Hardy) henchpeople carrying hostages on the back of their motorcycles.
While I do like the moment Bats uses a conveniently placed ramp to escape on the Batpod (which a fan paid $400,000 to purchase) and one at the very end when — as it seems Matthew Modine’s Foley has effectively trapped him — he flies away on The Bat, my main issue with this sequence is the editing, which downplays the excitement with asides (like Jim Gordon and Catwoman watching the action on TV) that I do not find necessary.
8. Batman And Catwoman Chase Talia (The Dark Knight Rises)
My favorite chase from The Dark Knight Rises — admittedly my least favorite installment of Christopher Nolan’s otherwise brilliant trilogy — also involves both The Bat and the Batpod, as driven by Batman and Anne Hathaway, giving one of the best Catwoman performances, respectively.
In order to save what’s left of Gotham from cataclysmic destruction, the duo take to the air and the streets to chase after the recently unveiled daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia (Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard), who is in a truck carrying an atom bomb. Once again, I think the editing puts this DKR sequence at a lower spot here, but watching the Bat and the Cat dodge missiles set off by hench people in Tumblers (the military grade vehicle that Bruce Wayne made into the Batmobile) is an unending joy.
7. Joker's Goons Chase Batman And Vicki Vale (Batman)
Even though my top choice for the best live-action Batmobiles belongs to Michael Keaton’s beloved iteration of the character, I can’t say I believe the chase scenes it has been involved in live up to its slick style.
Take, for example, the vehicle’s debut in the 1989 blockbuster (one of Tim Burton’s best movies) when Batman rescues Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) from Joker (Jack Nicholson), who sends his goons after them until a bulldozer forces them to abandon ship. The sequence does show us some of the Batmobile’s coolest features — such as a grappling device to ensure smoother turns and anti-theft shields — but is far too short for my taste.
6. Batman And Robin Chase Mr. Freeze (Batman & Robin)
Say what you want about the DC movies’ Joel Schumacher era, but Batman & Robin has some redeeming qualities. Exhibit A, in my book: this visually stunning sequence when the Dark(ish) Knight (George Clooney) and the (grown-up) Boy Wonder’s (Chris O’Donnell) trail on Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) takes them off the streets and onto a giant, human-shaped monument whose hand is used as a ramp near the end.
In addition to the unique (if not a little ridiculous) production design, my favorite element of the chase is its comic book accurate depiction of the titular Caped Crusaders’ sometimes hostile relationship, conveyed when Batman prevents Robin from making his final jump and causes a pivotal breach in trust.
5. Two-Face Chases Batman (Batman Forever)
While Val Kilmer is not exactly my favorite of the live-action Batman actors so far and I am not a big fan of his Batmobile’s design either, I think they are both involved in one of the best things about Batman Forever: a pretty entertaining car chase.
When Harvey “Two-Face” Dent (a more animated Tommy Lee Jones than Jim Carrey’s great Riddler portrayal) poses as a woman walking her child in a carriage to lure the Dark Knight into a trap, it sets off an intense pursuit through Gotham’s most conveniently empty streets and narrowest corridors. Bats has the last laugh, though, by using a grappling device to drive up the side of a building and escape the rising inferno caused by Two-Face’s goons’ multi-car pile-up.
4. Penguin Controls The Batmobile (Batman Returns)
One of my favorite scenes from the otherwise odd and controversial Batman Returns is a unique sort of chase. It starts off with Keaton’s Batman struggling to take control of the Batmobile as Oswald Cobblepot (Danny Devito, in one of the most iconic Penguin portrayals) pilots it remotely with a repurposed kiddie ride. Once he is finally able to regain control and prevent further accidents, the Dark Knight (and the audience) still have reason to be nervous when he has to outrun the GCPD and just barely make a clean getaway through a narrow alley with his initially malfunctioning “Batmissile” feature.
3. GCPD Chases Batman And Rachel Dawes (Batman Begins)
Even though its unique, intimidating design probably would have done the trick, Nolan assured that Bale’s Batmobile made a big impression on its maiden voyage in this breathless sequence from 2005’s Batman Begins, in which he uses the “tank” to jump between rooftops at death-defying speeds. That’s the only way he can successfully avoid the multiple police cars pursuing him and get a poisoned Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) to the Batcave safely. At the time, it was hard to imagine Nolan topping a chase like this.
2. Batman Chases Joker Chasing GCP And Harvey Dent (The Dark Knight)
Nolan would top the Batman Begins chase, in my opinion, with this sequence in the arguably better 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight, that debuts the Batpod, which Batman must use to catch up with Joker (Academy Award winner Heath Ledger) after his rocket launcher destroys the Tumbler.
That tragedy strikes while Bats pursues the Clown Prince of Crime as he and his goons try to intercept a pre-Two-Face Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) from an armored SWAT team truck. Despite its many, literally, explosive moments throughout, the chase is, essentially, a beautifully constructed build-up (without any musical accompaniment necessary) to the heart-stopping conclusion when Batman uses cables to flip Joker’s semi truck upside down.
1. Batman Chases Penguin (The Batman)
Currently, my personal favorite Batman movie of all time is Matt Reeves’ The Batman from 2022, which I realize might make Robert Pattinson’s 100-mph pursuit of The Penguin (an unrecognizable Colin Farrell) as my Number One choice a little on-the-nose.
However, I genuinely believe that this is one of the best cinematic car chases I have ever seen, regardless of the Dark Knight’s involvement, and the reason lies in the beautiful cinematography (it keeps the action still easy to follow even in pouring rain), old school construction (it calls back to classic chases from movies like Bullitt and Vanishing Point), and undeniably epic finale in which Batman flies through a hellish inferno and turns Cobblepot on his head.
At the moment, Reeves is hard at work on The Batman Part II and The Flash director Andy Muschietti was recently chosen to helm the upcoming Batman movie, The Brave and the Bold, which exists in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s newly founded DC Universe. I challenge both of them to give us a sequence that can top every Batman movie chase we have seen before. Until then, these are my choices for when the Dark Knight was at his fastest and his most furious.
