In this second slate of films from the BMW "The Hire" series of shorts, the Driver finds himself delivering a ransom to a kidnapper. When it all gets weird he finds himself in a race across town to get to the hostage before she dies.
I had high hopes for this short film mainly because it was directed by John Woo – a name high on the list if you're asked to get a high-profile director to deliver a glossy action sequence that makes your car look awesome but also provides some Hollywood thrills. In this regard the film is actually OK because the half of the film that is a race across a city being pursued by police is quite glossy and, while not heart-pumping, at least looks good and has good motion as an effective soundtrack helps. Oddly it does feel a little lacking in ambition and the impacts seem a little tame, but it is still OK. The bigger problem is the other 50% of the running time. The very early sequences have mystery to them and there is an unhinged villain in the traditions of Hollywood, but quickly the mystery gives way to plot holes.
The Driver seems to know where to head with very little information; the police gives chase of the "stolen" car even though it is the Driver's car and even though law enforcement are involved in the job and could call them off; the Driver appears to get down off a bridge in about a second – and so on. None of them are massive problems, but many of them could have been avoided by a line of dialogue, a slight change of location or some other device just to block the hole – instead the holes are just mostly ignored and it did sort of distract from the action to be thinking "hang on a second, how does...what, I..." and so on. The conclusion to the short is also a bit cryptic (being kind) or confusing (being honest) and, while I appreciate them trying to make a story here, I didn't think it worked and would have preferred a conclusion that fitted with the urgent, action side of the film rather than a side of the film that isn't there in the first place.
Overall a solid little short film thanks to the slick car action – shame that this only makes up less than half of the running time and, while I appreciate what they tried to do with the other half (condensing a film down to 7 minutes) it didn't work and only produced empty narrative and plot holes galore.
I had high hopes for this short film mainly because it was directed by John Woo – a name high on the list if you're asked to get a high-profile director to deliver a glossy action sequence that makes your car look awesome but also provides some Hollywood thrills. In this regard the film is actually OK because the half of the film that is a race across a city being pursued by police is quite glossy and, while not heart-pumping, at least looks good and has good motion as an effective soundtrack helps. Oddly it does feel a little lacking in ambition and the impacts seem a little tame, but it is still OK. The bigger problem is the other 50% of the running time. The very early sequences have mystery to them and there is an unhinged villain in the traditions of Hollywood, but quickly the mystery gives way to plot holes.
The Driver seems to know where to head with very little information; the police gives chase of the "stolen" car even though it is the Driver's car and even though law enforcement are involved in the job and could call them off; the Driver appears to get down off a bridge in about a second – and so on. None of them are massive problems, but many of them could have been avoided by a line of dialogue, a slight change of location or some other device just to block the hole – instead the holes are just mostly ignored and it did sort of distract from the action to be thinking "hang on a second, how does...what, I..." and so on. The conclusion to the short is also a bit cryptic (being kind) or confusing (being honest) and, while I appreciate them trying to make a story here, I didn't think it worked and would have preferred a conclusion that fitted with the urgent, action side of the film rather than a side of the film that isn't there in the first place.
Overall a solid little short film thanks to the slick car action – shame that this only makes up less than half of the running time and, while I appreciate what they tried to do with the other half (condensing a film down to 7 minutes) it didn't work and only produced empty narrative and plot holes galore.