An earlier S550-generation Shelby Mustang Widebody Super Snake. The Mongoose uses the current S650-based car. Photo: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2017_Shelby_Mustang_Widebody_Super_Snake_(44608226584).jpg">Sicnag</a> / CC BY 2.0
A movie called The Mongoose puts its hero behind the wheel of a car called the Super Snake. Whether that’s a wink or a happy accident, it’s the best thing about Liam Neeson’s next action movie on paper. The Mongoose opens in limited release on October 30 through Samuel Goldwyn Films. Neeson is 74 and still running from the cops. This time he’s doing it in a car with up to 830 hp and a $175,885 starting price, which is a bold choice for a fugitive.
Neeson plays Ryan “Fang” Flanagan, a decorated Special Forces veteran. According to Everything Action’s trailer breakdown, a fight with his ex-wife’s new husband ends with the man accidentally killed. Flanagan grabs a Mustang and runs. What follows is a televised, cross-country car chase. His old Army buddies run interference, a lawman stays on his bumper, and a TV audience starts rooting for the fugitive.
Marisa Tomei plays the ex-wife, Tara. Ving Rhames is Tanker, Flanagan’s old war buddy. Michael Chiklis plays Pope, the lawman chasing him. Thompson Evans wrote the script. Rotten Tomatoes lists the runtime at 96 minutes.
Watch the trailer
Here’s the official trailer. Watch the wheels and hood vents; they matter later.
The car: a Shelby Super Snake
Flanagan’s getaway car is a red Shelby Super Snake. It’s built on the current S650-generation Ford Mustang GT, and both Jalopnik and SlashGear identified it from the trailer. It’s not a gentle choice for a man trying to stay off the radar.
- Engine: 5.0-liter Coyote V8; optional 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger
- Output: 480 hp standard; 830-plus hp on 93-octane fuel with the optional supercharger
- Gearbox: six-speed manual or automatic
- Hardware: aluminum hood with carbon-fiber extractors, wider fenders, Borla exhaust, bigger brakes, forged 20-inch wheels
- Production: 300 cars for the U.S.
- Price: $175,885 MSRP to start per Shelby American; $176,835 for a manual car, per Yahoo Autos
That’s a lot of money to throw at a chase scene. Jalopnik points out it isn’t clear whether the crew used a real Super Snake or a regular Mustang dressed up to look like one. Productions often build look-alike copies, since hero cars tend to get wrecked. Keep an eye on the wheels and hood vents on October 30.
What else shows up in the chase
The Shelby isn’t alone. SlashGear spotted a blacked-out second car in the trailer, plus a quick appearance by a Chevy “Square Body” pickup. Police cruisers and helicopters fill in the rest of the pursuit.
There’s also a twist for car spotters. The “cross-country” chase was filmed around Melbourne and regional Victoria in Australia. Locations included Bacchus Marsh, Castlemaine, Frankston and Melbourne’s CBD, standing in for Arkansas, Texas and Kentucky. Mustangs are sold right-hand drive in Australia, so a U.S.-set chase means finding left-hand-drive cars and American-looking cop cars. Watch the background for anything with the steering wheel on the wrong side.
The director is Neeson’s longtime stunt double
The Mongoose is the first feature directed by Mark Vanselow, who has been Neeson’s stunt double and stunt coordinator for more than 20 films. That list includes the Taken trilogy and both Ice Road movies. He was also stunt coordinator on The Naked Gun with Neeson.
Stunt people have a history of making good car movies once they get the director’s chair. Hal Needham was a stuntman before he directed Smokey and the Bandit. That crowd tends to want real cars doing real things in front of the camera, not pixels.
Does the chase hold up?
The two early reviews we found are positive. Mulderville gave it 7 out of 10. The review praised the practical stunt work and said the cars feel like real, physical machines rather than digital effects. Budomate said much the same, calling it an easy pick for a one-night action watch. It also credits Vanselow’s stunt background for giving the driving real weight.
Not everyone is convinced. Koimoi’s trailer review said the trailer had so many quick cuts it felt like a fan edit. That’s a fair worry. Choppy editing has ruined plenty of good stunt driving. As of this writing, Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t have a critics’ score yet.
Our take: a wrongly accused driver, a long police chase across the country and a public cheering him on is basically Vanishing Point (1971) with a supercharger. The TV-coverage angle will remind plenty of people of O.J. Simpson’s white Bronco in 1994. And yes, a man in a Mustang running from the cops will get Bullitt comparisons. The real test is whether 96 minutes of one chase can keep changing the roads, the stakes and the cars. A stunt coordinator directing a car chase is the one résumé that makes me less nervous about the editing.
The Snake vs. the Mongoose, again
Drag racing fans already know this matchup. In the 1970s, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen built one of the sport’s most famous rivalries, with Hot Wheels as a sponsor. It even got its own movie, Snake & Mongoose, in 2013. If the film means it as a nod, nobody involved has said so.
More scene-stealers are on our list of the most famous TV and movie cars of all time.
The Mongoose opens in select theaters October 30. Real Super Snake or a dressed-up GT? Pick one, and tell us if you’re counting hood vents on Oct. 30.
Sources: Everything Action trailer breakdown; Jalopnik; SlashGear; Yahoo Autos; Shelby American; Mulderville; Budomate; Koimoi; Rotten Tomatoes.
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