Clive Owen has to drive for his life to deliver a very special young woman to a boat while a government entity and a private militia try to kill them both. No, it’s not Children of Men. It’s the return of the totally suave short film series produced by BMW to show off their latest models.
The series has been going on since 2001, with Owen a constant presence as “The Driver” (look how young he was!) and a bizarre list of cameo appearances by James Brown, Madonna, Gary Oldman, Don Cheadle, and more. It’s also boasted a slew of talented directors like Tony Scott, Ang Lee, and Wong Kar Wai, and now Neill Blomkamp can be added to the list.
“The Escape” is more straightforward than older entries of the MTV cinematic generation. The short features Dakota Fanning as a living Wikipedia who was cloned using human DNA. She’s the package The Driver has to deliver with his heavily-armed babysitter (Jon Bernthal) riding shotgun, but after talking with her a few moments, The Driver has a life-threatening change of heart.
It’s a hyper fun short film with just enough story meat on its bones to elevate it from a director’s action reel to art. Fanning is endearingly strange, and Owen his usual rough-edged-but-charming self. As a bonus, we get a few seconds of Vera Farmiga (who seems to be doing science onboard a cargo ship in a futuristic poncho) and an answer to the age-old riddle: how do you bring down a helicopter using only a mid-size luxury car?
If you can afford a 5 Series, can you buy me one, too? Let me know in the comments.
Sigourney Weaver talks her upcoming Alien film, directed by Neill Blomkamp
Image: BMW
