The Hire was/is BMW's pet film project. They get big-name filmmakers to write and produce a short film. The series revolves around a getaway-type driver who is hired by various people, played by Clive Owen. The only other requirement to the directors is that the movie feature a BMW automobile. One of them didn't even feature a car chase, only a slow-moving tail.
By and large, they've been very interesting and entertaining, with the possible exception of (you guessed it) the Guy Ritchie/Madonna one. It just doesn't stack up to the rest. For one thing, it tries to be a comedy, and it just doesn't quite work, IMO. Then add to that the fact that Madonna simply
cannot act, and you've got a recipe for disaster. Okay, it wasn't a disaster, but I attribute that as much to Clive Owen as to Guy RItchie's direction.
If you haven't seen them, I'd suggest you check them out. They're very cool. BTW, they're directed by John Frankenheimer (almost his last film
), Ang Lee, Kar-Wai, Wong, Guy Ritchie, Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Woo, Tony Scott, and Joe Carnahan, and variously feature such actors as Don Cheadle, F. Murray Abraham, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick, Gary Oldman, Danny Trejo, Maury Chaykin, Stellan Skarsgård, Lois Smith, Mickey Rourke, and Forest Whitaker. The project was actually conceived by David Fincher, too, and was produced by him, and, for the most recent ones, also Ridley Scott.