Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Beaks is everywhere. Beaks sees everything. Fear Beaks, because he is watching...
Last year, the folks at BMW stumbled onto a pretty nifty idea: what better way to sell their latest automobile than by showing how well it handles in a series of extended, balls-out chase scenes directed by a handful of the world’s best directors? Thus was born THE HIRE, executive produced by David Fincher with individual installments directed by the late John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, Guy Ritchie and Alejandro González Iñárritu; all of which featured CROUPIER’s Clive Owen as The Driver.
Well, it’s back. This year, THE HIRE has been handed over to RSA (Ridley Scott Associates), who’ve stuck to last year’s MO by rounding up two veterans (John Woo and Tony Scott) and a relative rookie (Joe Carnahan) to deliver the hard drivin’ goods. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to catch all three films last week at a special premiere hosted by BMW and Vanity Fair, and though there’s no getting around the fact that these are very slight, ultra slick commercials for a car well out of most people’s price range (including mine), THE HIRE remains a shamelessly invigorating excuse for top action directors to stage some ludicrously exciting car chases.
Up first, and available as of this week, is John Woo’s “Hostage”, featuring Owen squaring off against sleazy kidnapper Maury Chaykin as he races against the clock to save a woman trapped in the trunk of a submerged car. Since it features the most prolonged and straightforwardly shot chase sequence of all three (the Z4 sliding to a halt on the drawbridge is classic Woo), “Hostage” is the perfect short with which to kick off this year’s series, though I found it to be the weakest of the three conceptually. That said, it’s an immutable cinematic law that Maury Chaykin = quality (and I don’t need some smartass talk backer posting the guy’s filmography; I *know* he was in TURK 182!)
The second film – “Ticker”, from NARC director Joe Carnahan – starts off with bullets strafing the Z4 along a mountain highway, and never lets up. Featuring the most impressive supporting cast of the series (Don Cheadle and F. Murray Abraham, among others) and lensed by TRAINING DAY cinematographer Mauro Fiore, Carnahan’s is the only short that dares to go at all beneath the surface (which shouldn’t be a surprise, since he wrote the episode, as well). As with NARC, there’s a real bursting visual inventiveness in every shot, along with an impressively textured sound design, suggesting a gifted director eager to prove he belongs in such impressive company. By the end of the short, which will be many viewers’ first glimpse of this up-and-coming filmmaker, there should be little doubt in anyone’s mind that Carnahan has earned it. Bonus points are awarded the director for bringing on Clint Mansell to do the score.
The series finishes with “Beat the Devil”, wherein Tony Scott imagines a showdown between Ol’ Scratch (Gary Oldman) and the James Brown, both of whom elect to settle the matter of the Godfather’s eternal Soul in a drag race down the Las Vegas strip between Owen and Danny Trejo. Though it’s goofy as all hell, I think any film forced to cleverly subtitle Brown’s frequently indecipherable dialogue, while pairing him with one of the best actors of our generation is on a collision course with high-camp brilliance. There’ll be no middle ground on this one; you’ll either love it, or pray for THE FAN 2: RAIN DELAY.
There’s little else to say here except that if you loved last year’s series, expect more of the same. I hope you have a fast internet connection because these are *huge* files (I’m on a 56k dial-up and all I can say is that I’m glad I saw them on the big screen ‘cuz I won’t be spending six hours of download time to watch them again).
So rev up your T1 connection and head on over to BMW Films for John Woo’s “Hostage”.
Faithfully submitted,
