Beat the Devil

I loved this short. My family has always been BMW enthusiasts, and I've always been a Clive Owen enthusiast, so it is to be expected that I would enjoy the film. Extra treats for me were Gary Oldman who has always been a favorite of mine ever since his moving portrayal of Beethoven. He can do anything. He makes the perfect "Prince of Darkness". James Brown is an unexpected surprise and a great bit of flavor against a dark backdrop. Las Vegas aka Sin City is the perfect battle ground. I even enjoyed Marilyn Manson's cameo. He only added to the clever and wonderfully weird cast. The whole thing is great and I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys drama, hot British guys, and fast cars.

The final chapter of the BMW film series The Hire and a very interesting change from all of the previous chapters. While the previous episodes were mostly just straightforward action and driving, this one takes a turn for the supernatural, with a story that involves James Brown (played by himself), who literally sold his soul to the devil for fame, negotiating his contract. Naturally it all ends with Clive Owen causing havoc in his fancy BMW.

Definitely more my style, and my personal favorite of the series.

There's also a pretty comical end scene.

9 out of 10

You just can't beat Gary Oldman... it's that simple. All of the BMW films are fun little romps, and this one is no exception. And as for the guy that posted before me about the explosions not making sense... It was the Devil in that amazing exploding car, so maybe you should a) suspend disbelief... or b) imagine it as if those explosions are a result of the Prince of Darkness losing a race... I mean... there is a lot of fire in Hell.

On a side note, both Brown and Manson were hilarious, and Owen was as charismatic as usual. Not to mention that I enjoyed seeing Danny Trejo in it, even though you can see him in basically every movie made in the last 10 years.

yippie/10

To BMW Film's credit, it seems to me that much work is put into making each film as independant as possible. Sure there are parallels, mostly with subject matter, but stylistically each one stands apart from the others.

Beat the Devil is, in my opinion, the weirdest of the films. The subtitles, the car chase, everything is heavily stylized. Accusing this film of being unrealistic is like saying the ninja turtles aren't human. Duh, they're not supposed to be. That's a poor analogy but you get the idea.

The whole thing is also thick and complicated. The dialogue is often unintelligible and I'm still not quite sure why The Driver would bet what he did...but does it really matter? I mean, Gary Oldman plays the Devil and James Brown is in it.

Another episode in The Hire-series. It looks different from what we have seen so far but again it is pretty good. James Brown as himself sells his soul to the devil, a great performance by Gary Oldman. The Driver has to race the devil and his driver, played by Danny Trejo. If he wins James Brown gets another 50 years to live. Clive Owen stars as the driver again and there is a nice ending with Marilyn Manson.