The underground offers rich possibilities as a filming location. For one, it's hidden from the eyes of the wider world. Two, it can, depending on how populated it is, be frighteningly crowded or spookily quiet. Three, directors seem to really like destroying them.
These are 30 of the most compelling scenes involving subways from around the world, some of them romantic, some of them thrilling, some of them really weird, a lot of them violent for some reason.
Skyfall
When Bond (Daniel Craig) chases Silva (Javier Bardem) into the London Underground he thinks he's got his man cornered. Then Silva blows a hole in the ceiling and brings a tube train crashing down on Bond. Least plausible element: There are plenty of seats available on the tube.
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Sliding Doors
It's the moment that establishes the film's entire premise, that one single mundane moment can change the entire path of your life. By missing the train, Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) never meets James (John Hannah) and, well, you'll have to watch the film to find out what that means...
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An American Werewolf In London
Things you expect to encounter when traveling on the tube: Smelly people, delays, the occasional mouse. Things you don't expect to encounter: Werewolves. But sometimes they happen.
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Creep
In a scene that seems to take more than a little inspiration from An American Werewolf In London, Kate (Franka Potente) wakes up on a train deserted but for a sleazy guy she met at a party, who now sexually assaults her. When an unseen...savior(?) drags the man under the train, Kate runs for safety, only to discover she's trapped.
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Shame
Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is a sex addict. That doesn't stop when he gets on the train, where he wordlessly flirts with a fellow commuter.
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Fast & Furious 6
When Riley (Gina Carano) chases amnesiac criminal Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) through a busy underground station, they get into a fight that would outdo most of the far more muscular cast members (who can barely move their arms above shoulder height).
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Hanna
An ex CIA agent who has been training his daughter to become a deadly warrior, Karl (Eric Bana) arrives in Germany to meet up with his child. But others have intercepted him, which means he's going to have to put a few of those old skills into practice.
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Atonement
'For most of Atonement's running time it appears to be the story of how a tragedy tore two young lovers (James McAvoy and Keira Knightly) apart and they somehow found their way back to each other. Sadly, it becomes clear later that all this is wishful thinking and that both characters met sad ends, Knightley's being in a flooded south London tube station.
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Amelie
To the Paris Metro for some romance, as Amelie (Audrey Tautou) takes a trip and accidentally stumbles on a man retrieving lost passport photos and embarks on the biggest adventure of her life.
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The Matrix
Man, remember how amazing 'Bullet Time' was the first time you saw it? This was its big sell in the original Matrix movie as Neo (Keanu Reeves) confronted Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) in the subway and they rushed toward each other and the camera rushed all around them and we all lost our minds and wondered if we might be able to pull off a long leather coat (no, is the answer).
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The Amazing Spider-Man
The Spider-Man movies love a train scene. Spider-Man 2 featured an astonishing train fight sequence (disallowed from this list for being overground) and Spider-Man 3 featured a pretty lame fight between Spider-Man and Sandman in subway tunnels. This scene was one of the high points of the reboot, showing off both some solid action and a dose of creative humour that the rest of the film could have used.
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Cloverfield
There were many terrifying moments in Cloverfield, a raw take on the monster movie, but few more so than this subway scene in which our heroes discovered they were very much not alone in the dark.
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Ghost
Because being stuck on earth when you're dead is hard, Sam (Patrick Swayze) seeks out a train-dwelling spirit, credited as Subway Ghost, who teaches him how to move objects. Learning never stops, kids.
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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
A neat illustration of the nature of Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). When she's mugged on the underground she doesn't call the police or panic, she just beats up the thief and screams in his face.
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Dressed To Kill
After witnessing a violent murder, prostitute Liz (Nancy Allen) tries to convince the police that the killer is after her. An officer watches her while they travel on the subway, crucially missing the moment that a tall, blonde figure attacks. Well done, everybody.
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The Dark Knight Rises
On the trail of Bane (Tom Hardy), Batman (Christian Bale) and Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) head into the subway to find his lair.
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The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three
The entire film takes place on a hijacked train, so we could have picked just about any scene here, but let's go for the moment Blue (Robert Shaw) first holds the passengers to ransom.
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The Bourne Ultimatum
Most of this scene takes place above ground, as Guardian journalist Simon (Paddy Considine) tries to evade an assassin (Edgar Ramirez) with the help of Jason Bourne (Matt Damon). Simon stuffs it all up, dies, and Bourne chases the killer onto a packed commuter train.
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The Warriors
A rare quiet moment in Walter Hill's gang movie, this scene gives a view of the human side of the Coney Island gang.
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Minority Report
Even in a super-fancy future where adverts know your name and the police can fly, people still have to travel to work on a crowded tube.
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Die Hard With A Vengeance
YouTube doesn't have a decent copy of this excellent scene from the third Die Hard movie, but you can see much of it in the trailer. John McClane (Bruce Willis) is told that a bomb will detonate on the M train. He rushes to diffuse it, which goes...not brilliantly.
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King of New York
After a long battle, drug kingpin Frank White (Christopher Walken) and the cop who's been chasing him confront each other on the subway. Guns drawn, it's not going to end well for one of them. Or maybe even either.
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The Italian Job
The 00s remake of the Michael Caine favourite was surprisingly quite good, with some very well made car chases, particularly this one.
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Underworld
Before it became a blur of indistinguishable sequels, Underworld was quite an enjoyably silly battle between vampires and werewolves; Twilight with guts. It was hokey, but the action was solid, like this subway fight right here.
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Crocodile Dundee
Having witnessed his life in the Outback and then persuaded Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan) to come to New York, journalist Sue (Linda Kozlowski) finds herself growing attracted to her subject. After he witnesses Sue's fiance proposing to her, Mick wanders sadly off. Sue tracks him down to a subway station and declares her love. Well, she has the crowd declare her love because train stations are crowded and people don't let you through.
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Pi
As he starts to wonder if he's being passed messages from God, Max (Sean Gullette) begins to have hallucinations and strange episodes, particularly memorably in this scene on a deserted train platform.
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The Devil's Advocate
Kevin's (Keanu Reeves) new boss Milton (Al Pacino) is a powerful man. Because he also happens to be Satan. In this scene, he shows his skills when the two men are approached by some potential muggers.
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Knowing
There wasn't a lot good about Knowing, the daft Nic Cage apocalypse movie, but this train chase/train crash scene was a high point.
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V For Vendetta
Freedom fighter or terrorist depending on your view, V agrees a meeting with the chief of the secret police in his underground based and is swiftly betrayed and shot by his men. Rather dramatically, he fights back.
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