Photo: Warner Bros.
Because humans love ranking stuff, here’s a new study that reveals the most exciting car chases in film, according to science.
Before we get into the findings of the study, we should note that it’s not meant to appreciate in any way or rank the value of the films considered. Their independent rankings with fans and critics were considered, but only in terms of determining the top 20 films that should be included in the study. That is to say, they were used to find the top 20 most popular car action movies of all time.
The small-scale study conducted by Money.co.uk included 100 volunteers watching these 20 movies with heartbeat monitors, tracking the effect of on-screen action in terms of elevated heartbeat. The average resting heart rate in the test group was 64 BPM, and the top number one film, Mad Max: Fury Road marked a 33 percent increase in that, to 85 BPM. Of course, it probably helped that the movie is non-stop action from start to finish.
Fast & Furious 6 came in a close second, with 84 BPM, followed by Furious 7 (83 BPM), Ronin (82 BPM), Baby Driver (80 BPM), The Fast & The Furious (78 BPM) and Quantum of Solace (77 BPM). The top 10 was rounded up by The Bourne Supremacy (76 BPM), The French Connection (76 BPM) and Batman: The Dark Knight (75 BPM).
The same study revealed that Fast & Furious 6 was the fastest and most furious movie in the entire franchise, and that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was the fastest and most furious actor in the franchise. Apparently, his appearance in the films made them 9 percent more exciting for the audience, 9.4 percent better received by the public, and 309 percent better in terms of box office performance.
Other interesting takeaways from the same study: The Matrix Reloaded had the most destructive car scene in movie history (300 vehicles totaled for the highway scene), the 1974 original Gone in 60 Seconds has the longest car chase (40 minutes) and the 1971 The French Connection is the oldest movie to break into top 10.
The small-scale study conducted by Money.co.uk included 100 volunteers watching these 20 movies with heartbeat monitors, tracking the effect of on-screen action in terms of elevated heartbeat. The average resting heart rate in the test group was 64 BPM, and the top number one film, Mad Max: Fury Road marked a 33 percent increase in that, to 85 BPM. Of course, it probably helped that the movie is non-stop action from start to finish.
Fast & Furious 6 came in a close second, with 84 BPM, followed by Furious 7 (83 BPM), Ronin (82 BPM), Baby Driver (80 BPM), The Fast & The Furious (78 BPM) and Quantum of Solace (77 BPM). The top 10 was rounded up by The Bourne Supremacy (76 BPM), The French Connection (76 BPM) and Batman: The Dark Knight (75 BPM).
The same study revealed that Fast & Furious 6 was the fastest and most furious movie in the entire franchise, and that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was the fastest and most furious actor in the franchise. Apparently, his appearance in the films made them 9 percent more exciting for the audience, 9.4 percent better received by the public, and 309 percent better in terms of box office performance.
Other interesting takeaways from the same study: The Matrix Reloaded had the most destructive car scene in movie history (300 vehicles totaled for the highway scene), the 1974 original Gone in 60 Seconds has the longest car chase (40 minutes) and the 1971 The French Connection is the oldest movie to break into top 10.
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