World’s Most Dangerous Parking Garages – Vol. 1
For years now, I have been saying both here on the site and on The Bulletproof Podcast, that parking garages are some of the most dangerous locales in all of action entertainment.
Today, to prove my point, I will present to you ten of the World’s Most Dangerous Parking Garages…
10. No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990)
We begin with Casey Alexander (Keith Vitali), who has just returned home after a hard day’s work at the Central Intelligence Agency. Casey no sooner parks his car in the parking garage of his upscale apartment complex, when he spots what appears to be an unconscious damsel in distress a few yards away. But this is no damsel in distress… this is a trap set by the same terrorists who killed Casey’s father. Casey fends off three attackers at once, before finding himself trapped inside a car. Casey hurls himself out the rear window, where an even greater danger awaits.
An oversized pickup comes barreling towards Casey, fortunately Casey’s brother Will (Loren Avedon) shows up in the nick of time and pushes Casey out of the way. Then some martial arts mayhem breaks out with the Brothers Alexander kicking ass! The Kung Fu Fighting comes to an abrupt end when Casey pulls out his gun and starts shooting the attackers. When it is all said and done, it is clear that chivalry is not dead but some blood thirsty terrorists are!
9. Transporter 2 (2005)
Miami, Florida. An attractive young woman approaches Frank Martin (Jason Statham) in a parking garage asking him for help. But Frank has an appointment he doesn’t want to be late for, so he politely declines the request. But this young woman isn’t going to take no for an answer and pulls a gun on Frank, demanding that he step out of the car! Frank exits his vehicle and that’s about the time the woman’s four carjacking compatriots make their presence known. They want to steal Frank’s brand new, top-of-the-line Audi A8. The carjackers quickly hop in the car, but the automobile’s advance security system prevents the thieves from just driving away.
Now the would be thieves are mad as hell and their next move is even dumber than their first… they decide they are going to get physical with Frank Martin! Ever the gentleman, Frank removes his suit jacket, neatly folds it and places it on top of his car. Frank then swiftly takes out his tire iron and knife wielding attackers with ease. The gun toting female, who started all this, gives up and runs away with only an intimidating look and some stern words from Frank. These ill-advised criminals did not get Frank Martin’s car, but they did make him late.
8. Mercenaries from Hong Kong (1982)
A night out on the town turns into an all out rumble for Luo Li (Ti Lung), his boys and their matching jogging suits. While relaxing at a swanky bar in a Hong Kong high rise, a group of thugs shows up and quickly start trouble with the mercenaries. But drinks aren’t the only thing spilled in this bar fight, the action spills outside the bar into the hallways and corridors of the building before it ultimately ends up on level 7 of the building’s parking garage.
It is there a man, backed up by an army of thugs, confronts Luo Li and his five friends. The man claims he is there to avenge the death of his brother at Luo Li’s hands and that’s when Luo Li and the boys bring out their baseball bats and they charge the gang of goons that are armed with swords! The sound of clanging metal soon fills the air. A motorist trying to park gets caught in the middle, and they’ll have one hell of an insurance claim as a result. Luo Li and his fellow mercenaries are quickly overcoming the numbers disadvantage, taking out thugs left and right… they even show mercy on one thug and let him take himself out!
7. Death Wish II (1982)
Los Angeles, California. Vigilante Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is roaming the mean streets of L.A. on the hunt for the men who raped and killed his daughter. Kersey hears screams coming from a parking garage and he races towards them. Kersey finds a married couple being assaulted by four thugs including Jiver, one of the men that Kersey was after. When Kersey gets eyes on the situation, Jiver has just taken the wife into the back of a van, where he intends to rape her. Kersey blasts the thugs that were holding the the husband at bay. Jiver hears the shots and exits the van, using the now nearly topless woman as a human shield. Jiver fires a few shots at Kersey, before letting the woman go and making a run for it. Kersey shoots Jiver in the leg as he is running away, but with the adrenaline pumping Jiver still manages to escape.
Jiver may have survived the parking garage, but he was not unscathed. And it wasn’t long before Paul Kersey catches up with the wounded Jiver and says his goodbye.
6. Death Wish 3 (1985)
Three years later Paul Kersey finds himself embroiled in another parking garage incident, this time in a New York City neighborhood overrun by gang violence and intimidation. Local resident, Maria Rodriguez (Marina Sirtis) is targeted by one of the gang members, Hermosa (Alex Winter). Hermosa spots Maria in her car at a stop and tells her he wants to eat her! Before she can drive away, Hermosa jumps on the hood of Maria’s car, tapping on the glass of the windshield, obstructing her view and nearly causing an accident as Maria heads for an underground parking garage. When they get to the garage, Maria slams on the brakes, which propels Hermosa forward.
Hermosa gets up and threatens to kill Maria, but what he doesn’t know is Paul Kersey was already in the parking garage in attempt to take out one of Hermosa’s fellow gang members, The Giggler. Hermosa also doesn’t know that Kersey is armed with an old tire iron, but he’s about to find out… the hard way! Kersey reacting quickly to the situation, nails Hermosa with the tire iron, allowing Maria to put her car in reverse and get the hell out of dodge!
5. Riot (1996)
Christmas Eve in Los Angeles. Major Shane Alcott (Gary Daniels) finds himself doing battle with the IRA’s Bryan O’Flaherty (Patrick Kilpatrick) in a city engulfed in chaos.
When the battle makes it way to a parking garage, Alcott does his best to get as much space between himself and his IRA pursuers. But O’Flaherty was one step ahead and when Alcott makes his way up to the parking garage’s fifth level, O’Flaherty is lying in wait behind the wheel of a car. In a flash, O’Flaherty punches the gas and runs over Alcott! Looking to finish the job, O’Flaherty pops the car into reverse, but this time Alcott manages to roll out of the way! Alcott gets to his feet and the chase is on, with Alcott running for his life with O’Flaherty in hot pursuit.
One of O’Flaherty’s men has hot wired a white station wagon and now Alcott nearly finds himself between a rock and a hard place. But Alcott’s quick thinking has him hanging on to the station wagon’s luggage rack while simultaneously punching the driver in the head as he goes on a wild ride. The punches are effective as the driver loses sight of where he is going and ends up crashing into a parked car, the sudden stop sends Alcott flying off the roof of the station wagon.
Once again Alcott gets back on his feet, with O’Flaherty hot on his heels! Another hot wired car driven by one of O’Flaherty’s men is coming from the opposite direction… it looks like the plan is to sandwich Alcott between both cars. But Alcott manages to jump up and grab a banner that was conveniently hanging on the support above, just before the cars collide. Back on solid ground, Alcott notices the other driver is stunned after the collision, so he opens the door and pulls the guy out… but O’Flaherty takes another run at Alcott only to crush his own man and ripping off the driver side door of the car he was driving in the process.
Alcott gets behind the wheel and now the playing field is even. There is a full fledged car chase inside the parking garage and no speed bumps are going to slow these rivals down. As fast as they are going there’s not enough time to stop when they find their vehicles barreling towards the wall of the parking garage and that’s when both cars take flight and go crashing down to the street below. With no driver’s side door, Alcott was able to jump out of his car and grab hold of a fire hose that was conveniently hanging off the side of the building, while down on the street below, Bryan O’Flaherty is like a chestnut roasting on an open fire!
4. Righting Wrongs (1986)
Attorney Jason Chan (Yuen Biao) is walking through a parking garage when a car appears behind him.. a car that quickly accelerates with evil intentions! The light-footed lawyer leaps onto the hood of the oncoming car and rolls over the top, landing ass first on the concrete floor. Jason gets up just as the car whips around to makes another attempt at running Jason down! Before he knows it, Jason has two cars after him in the garage and it’s about to get worse.
An innocent bystander enters the parking garage and has a head on collision with one of the cars looking to do more than a little bodily harm to Jason Chan. Jason is able to hit the deck before he is sandwiched between the motor vehicles, but the twisted metal has snagged one of Jason’s pant legs. Now Jason finds himself stuck as his assailants step on the gas looking to shake the bumper to bumper bystanders and finish the job on Jason.
Miraculously, Jason comes out of that situation unscathed, but he’s still on the run from his persistent pursuers! When another unsuspecting bystander pulls into the garage, he has to swerve wildly to avoid a collision, his car flips on its side and the momentum carries the automobile several yards before it slides right into a parked car.
The chase continues and once again Jason finds himself leaping on to a car to avoid being hit, but the pursuing vehicle isn’t stopping and the very car Jason used to escape certain doom, is the same car that serves as a ramp for Jason’s pursuers, causing their car to jump out the side of the parking garage and come crashing down!
3. The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991)
Beverly Hills, California. The citizens of Beverly Hills have all been evacuated from their homes due to a reported chemical spill, but in actuality there is no chemical spool, it is all apart of an elaborate and evil plan concocted by Robert Masterson (Robert Davi). And it is a plan that is threatened by the unlikely duo of quarterback, Boomer Hayes (Ken Wahl), and disgraced cop, Ed Kelvin (Matt Frewer)… the proverbial flies in the ointment.
If everything is going to go according to Masterson’s plan his minions are going to have to eliminate Boomer and Kelvin. Leading the charge for Masterson is Benitez (Branscombe Richmond). Benitez has already pursued Boomer and Kelvin all over Beverly Hills and things only escalate when the chase ends up in a parking garage!
Boomer and Kelvin are in a stolen Rolls Royce with one of the rear wheels completely gone, while Benitez is in the back of a pickup truck with a flame thrower! The pickup along with multiple squad cars follow the Rolls into the parking garage. Benitez is looking to burn Boomer and Kelvin alive, making this one hot chase!
The chase ends up on the roof of the parking garage complex and it is there Kelvin loses all visibility when the front end of the bullet riddled Rolls Royce is completely on fire and that’s when Kelvin drives right off the roof of the parking garage, landing on the building of the roof next door, but the roof can’t withstand the weight of the burning luxury vehicle and Kelvin and Boomer go crashing down, floor by floor until they end up in the ground level Japanese restaurant.
2. Rumble in the Bronx (1995)
Vancouver, British Columbia The Bronx, New York. Keung (Jackie Chan) is in town to attend his uncle’s wedding, but Keung gets more than he bargained for when he finds himself at odds with a dirt bike riding street gang that is terrorizing his uncle’s neighborhood.
One afternoon, the gang decides to grab some baseball bats, hop on their bikes and chase Keung on the streets of the Bronx. Keung ends up seeking sanctuary in a parking garage of all places. The locked gate of the garage slows the gang down momentarily, but it’s not long before they catch up with Keung and the chase is on once again. There’s peril everywhere Keung turns, not only does he have to avoid the dirt bikers and their baseball bats, he also has to avoid the vehicles using the parking garage for its intended purpose.
After fighting off some of the gang members, Keung manages to climb up to the parking garage’s upper most level in spectacular fashion, but now Keung has nowhere to run… or does he? After spanking one of the gang members with a car antenna, Keung gets a running start and jumps from the parking garage to the building across the street!
1. Highlander (1986)
After taking in a night of professional wrestling featuring The Fabulous Freebirds, Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) returns to his car that was parked in one of the many parking garages in New York City. But this particular parking garage has something no other parking garage in New York has, a sword wielding Iman Fasil looking to take out his old enemy, MacLeod.
A sword fight ensues as the two rival swordsman fight around and even on top of the parked cars in the garage, causing thousands of dollars in damages! They even manage to trigger the sprinkler system, adding a level of drama to an already high-pressure situation. MacLeod is forced to improvise when he temporarily loses his sword, but Fasil doesn’t capitalize and instead shows off his gymnastic abilities. The moment of truth comes when MacLeod lops off the head of Fasil because, after all… there can only be one!
However when it comes to questions about what went down in this parking garage, you better believe that the NYPD will have more than one!
