Powder Keg

I was very surprised after watching the other films from the BMWs films "The Hire", because although all were clever and entertaining, none had the emotional power of this one. Guy Richie's was great but in a humorous way, and more as an homage to BMW's cars.... Powder Keg was about as deep and attaching and emotional and real as you can get in a 7 min film.

Shot in a documentary style way in 16mm, it's a great look at the genius of an upcoming director. 8-1/2 /10

The fifth "The Hire" movie is an impressive little short. It's impressive because of the story, that is helped by its gritty atmosphere.

The atmosphere is wonderful and typically Mexican style like. It really reminded me of "Man on Fire". It's gritty and sets the perfect mood for the story. The great cinematography is from 2 times Academy Award winner Robert Richardson and the music is from the talented composer Harry Gregson-Williams.

The movie and its story know to impress and it has some wonderful dialog, altogether with a powerful ending is what makes this movie a bit of a must see.

8/10

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While all of the other 4 films in the "Hire" series are fine examples of short film-making, they were pretty much nothing more than Clive Owen's fancy driving of the BMW vehicles with a slight back-story thrown in.

This film was from start to finish a stunning, and powerful story. Gripping, gritty cinematography with fine acting. This time the car was the back-story - not the focal point.

A wonderful conclusion to the series, and a must view. It's free and available on bmwfilms.com right now, so what are you waiting for?

Powder Keg has been promoted heavily on cable. The trailer for the very short film is excellent. The irony of the format of the very short film is that the trailer runs for about 1/10 the time of the whole film!

More is left out of the film than is in it. We are shown the short tale of a photojournalist who escapes from a horrific massacre; we aren't shown how he does it. We don't know what war this is, it is a stand-in for all of those nameless skirmishes in Latin America.

Clive Owen of the PBS Mystery series Second Sight stars as the 'Driver'. We don't know anything about him as well.

It's really difficult to make an effective short film, but director Alejandro Inarritu does a very good job. Yes, we've seen the plot before (though not so truncated), but the cinematography is grainy, jerky, and alive. You get a sense of the menace and desperation of the people of this unnamed place in fast glances out the window of the, yes, BMW.

Recommended.

Eliminate the country, the brutal government, most real names, and what you have is a look into the inner sole of what it is to be human. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu does a masterful job with this piece based on a massacre of people and shooting of a war photographer. These BMW Films have all been exceptional. This is true art... when your friends complain about Hollywood, tell them they are not looking hard enough.