Long chase scene better than Bullitt or French Connection

It also had some humor in it. Just before he drives down the stone steps, he says something like, "There's a bump coming up."

Not really. The film wasn't using CGI for the car chase sequence. But the entire film went over budget because of continual conflict between the studio and the director/writers, resulting in lots of rewrites and reshoots. Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia article about the filming of the car chase:

"The acclaimed car chase sequence was filmed primarily by the second unit under director Alexander Witt. The unit shot in various locations around Paris while Liman was filming the main story arc elsewhere in the city. The finished footage was eventually edited together to create the illusion of a coherent journey. Liman confessed that 'anyone who really knows Paris will find it illogical,' since few of the locations used in the car chase actually connect to each other. Liman took only a few of the shots himself; his most notable chase sequence shots were those of Matt Damon and Franka Potente while inside the car."

Although probably expensive, the chase wouldn't have come close to costing more than 10 times the cost of the other two films combined. Here are the approximate inflation-adjusted costs for each film in 2002 dollars:
Bourne Identity = $60 million
Bullitt = $25,520,000
French Connection = $15,312,000

It reminded me of The Italian Job.


"You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"

The Seven Ups chase see is very good and probably equal to Bullitt. French Connection, the original Gone in Sixty Seconds and Vanishing Point (which is almost entirely a chase scene) are also excellent.

Bullitt is my favorite. Steve McQueen actually drove the Mustang. It gets points from me for that. Plus, the music stopping when the chase starts is brilliant. The sound of the engines and McQueen double clutching is the best soundtrack.

I wasn't ranking the chase scene relative to other parts of this movie. I was ranking it vs. some other movies' chase scenes. It's too bad that the music from a film that wasn't made until two years later ruins this chase scene for you.