Blame MTV. This one-of-a-kind channel, created supposedly as alternative entertainment, is finally showing its ugly head. Janet Jackson and NFL half-time shows aside, MTV has caused our attention span to dwindle. Whereas movies such as Aliens and Terminator would have considered as adrenaline-packed and fast-paced, now it takes Vin Diesel and some fancy slow motion camera tricks to grab a typical thirteen year-old kid’s attention.
What’s more, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Although consumerism is at an all-time high, hard-selling marketing gimmickry such as product or feature comparisons, Internet pop-up ads and buy now phrases are considered as no-nos. That’s why aside from detergents, stuff such as shampoos, cellular phones and even fast food try to connect with consumer’s emotions. Convey images of lifestyle with fancily done photography, cute girls and handsome guys. Of course, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to discover that this kind of product treatment has already been overused and abused thereby turning off the consumers they’ve wanted to grab.
So, what’s a company to do? Blatant product placement in television programs or movies may seem like a good step, until of course, it’s become obvious that this avenue’s been well saturated already. With a bit of creativity and a lot of guts, BMW of North America has suggested a different idea: launch a series of high-quality short films starting their cars. However, during the creative process, it’s been agreed that it won’t be something like having Steven Spielberg direct an ad for the 7-series. There would be a real story with real characters and real style; but still enough to inject a scene or two with a BMW vehicle. Thus, The Hire was born.
A series comprised of eight short films produced by Tony Scott and Ridley Scott (The Gladiator), The Hire was immensely popular among the automotive circle. The basic premise is this: Clive Owen stars as The Driver, much like a mercenary-for-hire, but this time he uses his car sliding instead of gun slinging. Of course, The Driver is thrown into either voluntarily or involuntarily into doing a mission and in the process; the watcher is given numerous interpretations of the compound verb, “car chase”.
Of course, having to download 30MB worth of video is a turn-off, especially on a dial-up connection. At the same time, watching The Hire on a 15-inch LCD with pipsqueak speakers like watching a porn video through a peep hole—it just doesn’t cut it. Be glad that BMW of North America finally released this acclaimed series on DVD, and get this—it’s free. The only payment necessary is handling and postage.
The asking price and car chases aren’t the only allure. The Hire contains a cast of directors that would typically be seen walking on Oscar’s Red Carpet. At the creative helm of each of these short movies are names such as John Woo (Broken Arrow, MI:2), Tony Scott (Top Gun, Crimson Tide), Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), Guy Riche (Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and John Frankenheimer (The French Connection, Ronin). Of course, all of these legendary names gave their own unique touch and twist to each fifteen minute episode.
Watching The Hire over and over again makes obvious that there have been two distinct treatments done: artistic and dramatic. Among those in the first category are “Chosen”, “Power Keg” and “The Follow”, and rest, “Hostage”, “Ticker”, “Beat the Devil”, “Ambush” and “Star” gravitate more towards the second.
“Hostage”, directed by John Woo, is particularly interesting as it brings back the Hong Kong action director to what he does best: guns, dirty money and betrayal all wrapped in a dramatic manner. Here, Clive Owen drives a BMW Z4 3.0i and has to find a kidnapped executive before time runs out. On the other hand, Tony Scott’s “Beat the Devil” brings the sporty roadster face to face in a do or die drag race on The Strip against The Devil. In this case, Gary Oldman effectively plays the creepy evil incarnate, while James Brown and rocker Marilyn Manson play as themselves. “Chosen”, helmed by Ang Lee, features a ballet-like parking lot chase sequence pitting the 540i versus a couple of DaimlerChrysler cars including an old Mercedes-Benz E-class.
For pure artistry, “The Follow” and “Power Keg” stand out. In both episodes, foreign directors take control of the camera, Wong Kar-Wai and Alejandro Gonzàlez Iñárritu, respectively. The look and feel of these two are completely polar, as the first film is slow with a very sensual nature, while the other is gritty and realistic. “The Follow” is an especially good midway break if watching all eight films back-to-back is in order.
The overall conceptualization was done by a staff headed by David Finch, and although it’s indeed hard to cram a lot of events in just fifteen minutes, the treatment wasn’t too overwhelming to cover up the well thought-of plot (most having nice twists in the end) and excellent sets of characters.
Speaking of twists, will BMW’s gamble in plopping down money for these films do them any good? It’s too early to tell, especially since these films were just recently completed. Careful analysis may suggest that in the end, BMW was probably not after the publicity and the marketing. Perhaps, it’s simply because BMW automobiles are good works of art. As sculptures and paintings are best enjoyed in surroundings that suit them, the same is true for cars. Seeing them in museums, showrooms and magazines are certainly nice, but in the end, showing what they can ultimately do truly makes them masterpieces.
By Ulysses Ang Screen Captures By Ulysses Ang
Movie Property of BMW Films
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