Ambush

Plot

When a driver-for-hire (Clive Owen) is confronted by hijackers, he must decide whether to surrender his passenger (Tomas Milian) or attempt to flee. The first of the five films in the BMW promotional series, Ambush was directed by action film veteran John Frankenheimer and written by Seven scripter Andrew Kevin Walker. ~ Rovi

Review

Featuring some of the best stunt driving since Vanishing Point (and re-creating one of that classic's most memorable explosions), Ambush is a tense, stylish action short that manages to create subtly interesting characters despite its scant six minutes or so of story content. Both Clive Owen, as the driver, and Tomas Milian, as his passenger, use gestures, glances and other nonverbal acting to give a human texture to what would otherwise be a merely well-produced car chase. Director John Frankenheimer and editor Robert Duffy expertly intermix shots of the actors with high-speed external viewpoints of the vehicles, satisfying both corporate sponsor BMW's purpose of showcasing their automotive product, and the audience's purpose of being entertained. Ambush was partially filmed in the diamond district of Los Angeles, adding location verisimilitude to what was already a finely crafted film. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi

Cast

Tomas Milian - Passenger; Clive Owen - Driver

Credit

Jay Vetter - Art Director, May Routh - Costume Designer, John Frankenheimer - Director, Robert Duffy - Editor, David Fincher - Executive Producer, Michael Z. Hanan - Production Designer, Newton Thomas Sigel - Cinematographer, Aris McGarry - Producer, Robyn Boardman - Producer, Charlie Picerni - Stunts Coordinator, Andrew Kevin Walker - Screenwriter

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