Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

TinsHeadline Touches You

ThiefHott Too much of everything

Console best movie i've ever seen.

bob the moo I remember seeing a very short version of this film when it was adapted to be an "event" commercial on UK television. If I recall correctly there was a bit of a fuss back then about a "film" being made to sell a car as the approach by BMW making shorts to be able to make commercials was unusual. Skip forward a decade or so to a time when we generally are more aware of advertising and it seems refreshingly honest of BMW to make a film for this purpose rather than the product placement of car companies frantically bidding to have their newest model being driven by the hero in the upcoming summer blockbuster. So the fact that this short film was made primarily to sell me on the idea of buying a BMW was no problem for me.What Ambush does is essentially give us a very contained chase sequence that gives tension while also showing the car going through its paces. There is little story beyond Owen is a professional driver who has to evade a heavily armed hijacking while on the move. The chase is well directed and delivers lots of squealing tyres and movement from the two cars and there is a genuine sense of pace and danger to it, despite having no vested interest in the scenario or the characters. Owen is coolly enigmatic of course (this was before he was the bankable star he is today) but the real star is the car and the work of the stunt drivers, as it is here that the film works.It may well be a commercial for a car I can't afford, but at least it is honest in that goal while delivering an engaging and exciting little chase sequence; some blockbusters out there could stand to learn these qualities from this short.

Angry_Arguer The Hire series should start changing some perspectives towards advertising. I've taken a profound interest in watching how each director manipulates the topic of BMW and Clive Owen with their own personal touches.From the East we have Ang Lee, Kar Wai Wong, and John Woo. The dedicatedly Western Tony Scott and John Frankenheimer. The last group can be classified as the "new blood" with Alejandro Inarritu, Guy Ritchie, and Joe Carnahan. I can say that Frankenheimer takes the most pedestrian route with his work, his lack of cinematic prowess is displayed in the second half of the chase, but it still is the most powerful in creating a mood. The Eastern influence tries too hard to make poetic overtures in their collective work and, despite their respective differences, they're all the same.So, Frankenheimer is solely in search of entertainment here. Not as good as Inarritu's, but more focused than Carnahan's.

HypnoticEye John Frankenheimer was hired for this probably due the impressive car chases he filmed for RONIN rather than the last film he did the mediocre REINDEER GAMES. Fortunately he's in top form for this short film. In a mere 6 minutes we get an lean, mean vignette about how Clive Owen, as an unnamed driver-for-hire, does his best to escape from a van full of masked gunmen out to kidnap and kill the driver's passenger: a diamond smuggler who swallowed his precious cargo. While later films in the BMW series would get more ambitious in scope, it's AMBUSH that lays the groundwork for the later films to work from.The film's style and approach to action is hard-edged, the actual car chase is exciting, and Clive Owen gives a sense of man who gets out of dangerous situations by a mixture of complete professionalism and ruthless self-interest. Only in later films do we begin to see a more human side to his character.

poogus What a cool little short! I happened to catch this on IFC one day and was blown away when I saw John Frankenheimer, Andrew Kevin Walker, and Clive Owen in the credits. The story is simple, a man carrying diamonds (presumably stolen) is being driven by Owen. Along the way, they are ambushed by a van full of terrorists who are after the diamonds. This being a Frankenheimer film, the chase that ensues is spectacular. Owen has got to be one of the coolest cats out there. He brings such a confidence to the screen that it's impossible not to feel awed in his presence. A very cool film, due mostly to Owen's super-cool persona. Note the little homage to "Marathon Man."