Brandon's top five all-time movie motorcycle scenes

Tom’s recent stunt was discussed in one of our Common Tread meetings, and that took me back to my childhood dreams of being a stuntman. I remember all the cool motorcycle chase scenes and stunts I used to watch growing up. I always thought, and still think, motorcycles are just freaking cool. Combine these cool machines with explosions, jumping off buildings, wheelies, killing bad guys... epic.

So I decided to put together a quick list of some of my favorite motorcycle stunts and scenes. I'll start with the most controversial one.

"Hot Rod"

Yeah, I’m going to get some shade for this one, but with my childhood dreams of one day becoming a stuntman, this one hit home. Thinking back about all the makeshift ramps that continuously failed me, I really can't believe I didn't break any bones until I was 30.

"Hot Rod" may be one of the dumbest/best movies currently available involving stunts, mopeds, and motorcycles. OK, maybe only one motorcycle and it's really a dirt bike and it's at the end, but still, if you haven’t seen it and you don’t have the personality of a piece of cardboard, it's worth a watch. 

"The Matrix Reloaded" 

Can you even talk about favorite motorcycle scenes without mentioning Trinity on the 996? When I think of some of my favorites, this one always comes to mind. Say what you will about the movie itself, but I’ve never wanted to ride a motorcycle more than when I was watching this moto chase unfold. Dodging oncoming traffic, terrible techno music in the background, guns, crashes, explosions — what more could you ask for?

By the way, one of our former Common Tread contributors, Brittany Thomas, interviewed Debbie Evans, the stunt woman who actually rode the 996 in this movie and she talks about her experience. That includes the scene on the 996, which went well for four takes and then the fifth take ended up with her taking a trip to the hospital — fortunately with injuries that didn't keep her off the set the next day. Check out that article for a look into a stunt rider's life.

"Skyfall"

The opening scene for "Skyfall" has James Bond riding across rooftops in Istanbul, Turkey. At one point, Bond is ripping up a staircase, jumping through a window into a busy market, and uses the bike to hurl himself onto a moving train.

The other thing I love about this scene is the engine sounds. Perhaps they’re not perfect, but it’s nice not to hear a two-stroke dirt bike sound coming out of a sport bike. I’ve seen so many motorcycle chase scenes where the bikes sound like weed eaters when they should have more of a potato-potato sound. Or, you’ve got a dirt bike with a strung-out inline four coming through the speakers. Zito and I have talked about this a fair amount and it always drives us a little crazy. We can’t be the only ones, right?

"Terminator 2: Judgment Day"

Not one but two Cyborgs, a semi truck, a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy, an 1887 Winchester lever action shotgun, and a kid on a dirt bike — easy recipe for success.

I remember watching this scene when I was a kid, long before I rode motorcycles, and thinking, “How many times did he have to jump that bike in order to land it? It usually takes me a few times on my BMX bike.” I was clueless and awestruck. Now my annoying-adult-rational brain just laughs at all these ridiculous stunts. 

My favorite part is watching Arnold jump from a height of about four stories and land that Fat Boy with just a few sparks emitted from the bike. Again, that rational adult brain thinks “I ride a motorcycle and there is no way that would work. Also, doesn’t that Cyborg weigh like 400 pounds?” 

I’ve since learned that the bike was suspended by cables, very big cables. When the bike made the initial leap, it was never actually on the ground for this scene. If the bike were to be on the ground and then left the ground suddenly, the bike would've weighted the cables and been positioned incorrectly for the landing. In other words, it would have looked more fake than it already does.

If you watch closely, you can see the Fat Boy is perfectly level the whole time. That obviously would not have been the case in real life. The bike was then “slammed” to the ground hard enough to emit some sparks but not hard enough to destroy the bike or kill the stunt double.

"Mission Impossible 2"

I know we already talked about Tom Cruise, but "Mission Impossible 2" has one of my favorite motorcycle chase scenes of all time. It’s packed full of incredible moto stunts and features two bikes from one of my favorite brands, the Triumph Speed Triple and a Daytona 955i. 

When Ethan (Tom Cruise) jumps the Speed Triple off the island onto the wooden bridge, that’s where they almost lost me. You can clearly see the trajectory was a bit off. But... this was circa Y2K so I can’t hate on it too hard. I think most people were more worried about computer networks around the world crashing. Anybody else remember the Y2K scare?

When it comes to the actual stunts, outside of the one-handed-stoppie-swing-around-to-shoot maneuver, I love when Tom Cruise and Dougray Scott jump off their bikes to tackle each other in mid air. The final fight scene follows shortly after and it doesn't disappoint.

Also, this came up a fair amount when I was a Gear Geek here at RevZilla but did anyone else notice the tires changing from street tires to dirt tires, depending on the surface they were riding on in this chase scene? Can you imagine how many tires we could sell to ADV riders if they morphed from street rubber to knobbies as soon as you left the pavement? I need a set of those tires.

Choosing only five motorcycle stunts and scenes was pretty tough. There are so many to choose from but I would consider these my favorites.

OK, "Hot Rod" was more of a joke and just reminds me of all the stupid stuff I did as a kid — snowboarding off the roof of our house, crashing our pickup truck into a tree, jumping the four-wheeler and destroying our shed in the resulting crash — the list goes on. As a kid, I was a bit more fearless and a bit more of a menace working towards my stuntman career. Now I’ve got that boring-adult-rational brain...