History WebVideo / TheHire

A WebVideo series produced by BMW in 2001, 2002, and 2016, starring Creator/CliveOwen. Essentially, this is a GenreAnthology where each episode only has two recurring features: [[EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep The Driver]], and a series of [[ProductPlacement BMW]] [[CoolCar automobiles]]. Each episode featured a different director and guest star, and usually a different model of car. Not to mention [[ToneShift vastly different moods]]; the films range from being intense and dramatic to being comic slapstick.

The videos [[InspiredBy inspired]] the movie ''Film/TheTransporter''.

* BerserkButton: The Driver is generally very protective over the people he's been tasked to protect and it is not a good idea to mess with them. He's even gone against his clients to protect them on more than one occaison.

* DependingOnTheWriter: The tone, style, and even genre of each episode varies wildly, due to each episode having a different director.

** In "The Powder Keg", Harvey Jacobs' bitter reflection over his career as a war photographer move him and he's very shaken by Jacobs' death. When the Driver visits Jacobs' mother, his voice cracks while talking about her son and he's on the verge of tears.

Directed by John Frankenheimer, guest-starring Tomas Milian as the Passenger.

Directed by Ang Lee, guest starring Mason Lee as the Passenger.

Directed by Kar Wai Wong, guest starring Creator/MickeyRourke as the Husband, Adriana Lima as the Wife, and Creator/ForestWhitaker in an uncredited role as the Husband's agent.

Directed by Creator/GuyRitchie, guest starring {{Music/Madonna}}.

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, guest-starring Stellan Skarsgård as Harvey Jacobs, and Lois Smith as Harvey's mother.

Directed by Creator/JohnWoo, guest starring Maury Chaykin as The Kidnapper, and Kathryn Morris as Linda Delacroix.

Directed by Joe Carnahan, guest starring Don Cheadle as the Passenger.

Directed by Tony Scott, guest starring Creator/GaryOldman as the Devil, Creator/DannyTrejo as Bob, and Music/JamesBrown AsHimself. With a cameo in TheStinger by [[spoiler:Music/MarilynManson.]]

* AnAesop: Always wear your seatbelt, [[SpaceWhaleAesop lest your underling hire a professional driver to humiliate you via his reckless driving.]] Also, something about not being such a BadBoss, but it was far too late for the Star to learn that one.

* RuleOfCool: This is the [[JustForPun driving]] factor behind most of what happens in the films. The producers had to actually ''disable'' some of the features on the cars they were showing off to make the driving stunts look more impressive. For example, the cars featured are all designed to ''not'' to do hairpin turns or skids because that's ''dangerous''.

* NotSoAboveItAll: Although the boy is TheStoic and WiseBeyondTheirYears, [[spoiler:the bandage he leaves for the Driver has a picture of Franchise/TheHulk on it, implying he's a fan.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Firing on law enforcement after wrecking your vehicle with no means of escape? In public? They're either facing arrest or death.

* WhatIsOneMansLifeInComparison: "What would you fall on your sword for?"

* PunBasedTitle: The title refers to an unidentified but highly important package contained in a silver briefcase, which must be kept below a certain temperature lest something terrible happen. [[spoiler: It sounds like it could be some kind of bomb, but it is actually a heart, ready for transplant.]]

* AHandfulForAnEye: The Driver does donuts in the dirt, [[CarFu kicking up a huge cloud of dust]], which blinds the AcrophobicBird, causing them to [[HellishCopter blunder into a nearby obstruction]].
* IncrediblyObviousBomb: A digital gauge on the suitcase beeps and starts to count down when the suitcase is pierced. It's actually a temperature gauge, but this trope is implied.
* InMediasRes: How the film opens.

* PursuedProtagonist: The episode opens with the Driver and the Passenger weaving back and forth down the road while bad guys in a helicopter try to shoot them.

* CarFu: Bad guys in an SUV ram the first vehicle that was carrying the MacGuffin.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: After the army starts attacking, the driver panics and thinks his passenger is carrying a weapon of mass destruction. [[spoiler: {{Averted}} since it turns out he is carrying a heart for transplant and it's the ''army'' that is evil.]]

The Driver and his passenger must evade an attacking helicopter and get a mysterious package his passenger is carrying to its destination. The passenger refuses to explain what is in the briefcase, but insists that the case's safe arrival at the destination is more important than his life, and that an entire nation is at stake.

* ArmiesAreEvil: Most, if not all, of the soldiers seen in this episode seem to be working for the EvilChancellor, who is trying to keep the MacGuffin from getting to its destination.
** The red scarves and berets the soldiers wear appear to indicate they are EliteMooks, presumably the Chancellor's PraetorianGuard as he wears the same uniform.

* IWasNeverHere / TreacheryCoverUp: As he's failed to stop the suitcase, the president's men tell the EvilChancellor to back off.
-->"You were not here. This never happened. Tell your men to stand down."

* SunglassesAtNight: When Brown first rings his doorbell, Satan repeatedly shouts at him to put his face to the peephole camera, but Brown's wearing his sunnies in the dark hotel corridor it makes no difference, so Satan just sends Bob to answer the door instead.

The Driver must evade an attacking helicopter and get a mysterious package his passenger is carrying to its destination. The passenger refuses to explain what is in the briefcase, but insists that the case's safe arrival at the destination is more important than his life, and that the fate of an entire nation is at stake.

Directed by Joe Carnahan, guest starring Creator/DonCheadle as the Passenger.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: After an army helicopter starts attacking, the driver panics and thinks his passenger is carrying a {{weapon of mass destruction}}. [[spoiler:It turns out he's carrying a heart for transplant and it's the ''army'' that is evil.]]

* ArmiesAreEvil: Most, if not all, of the soldiers seen in this episode seem to be working for the EvilChancellor, who is trying to keep the MacGuffin from getting to its destination. The red scarves and berets the soldiers wear appear to indicate they are EliteMooks, presumably the Chancellor's PraetorianGuard as he wears the same uniform.

* CarFu: Bad guys in an SUV ram the first vehicle that was carrying the Passenger, gunning down his driver and bodyguard. The Passenger flees into a crop field, pursued by the helicopter.

* AHandfulForAnEye: The Driver does donuts in the dirt, [[SmokeOut kicking up a huge cloud of dust]] which blinds the helicopter pilot's view, causing them to [[HellishCopter blunder into a nearby bridge]].
* IncrediblyObviousBomb: When the suitcase is damaged a digital gauge starts to beep and count down, much to the alarm of the Driver. [[spoiler:In a subversion, it's actually a temperature gauge.]]
* InMediasRes: The episode opens with the [[PursuedProtagonist Driver and the Passenger]] in a car weaving back-and-forth down the road while bad guys in a helicopter try to shoot them.

* PunBasedTitle: [[spoiler:The 'ticker' makes it sound like the briefcase holds a time bomb, but it's actually a heart ready for transplant.]]
* RaceAgainstTheClock: With the car running out of fuel and the briefcase's temperature indicator falling, both due to bullet hits.

* TreacheryCoverUp: As he's failed to stop the suitcase, the President's men tell the EvilChancellor to back off.
-->"[[IWasNeverHere You were not here]]. This never happened. Tell your men to stand down."

* WhatIsOneMansLifeInComparison: On accepting the job of couriering the suitcase on what could well be a suicide mission, the Passenger muses: "What would you fall on your sword for? If not this, then what?"

* SunglassesAsNight: When Brown first rings his doorbell, Satan repeatedly shouts at him to put his face to the peephole camera, but he's wearing his sunnies in the dark corridor so he has to send Bob to answer the door instead.

The Driver and his passenger must evade an attacking helicopter and get a mysterious package his passenger is carrying to its destination. The passenger refuses to explain what is in the briefcase, but insists that the case's safe arrival at the destination is more important than his life, and that an entire nation is at stake.

Directed by Joe Carnahan, guest starring Don Cheadle as the Passenger.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: After the army starts attacking, the driver panics and thinks his passenger is carrying a weapon of mass destruction. [[spoiler: {{Averted}} since it turns out he is carrying a heart for transplant and it's the ''army'' that is evil.]]

* ArmiesAreEvil: Most, if not all, of the soldiers seen in this episode seem to be working for the EvilChancellor, who is trying to keep the MacGuffin from getting to its destination.
** The red scarves and berets the soldiers wear appear to indicate they are EliteMooks, presumably the Chancellor's PraetorianGuard as he wears the same uniform.

* CarFu: Bad guys in an SUV ram the first vehicle that was carrying the MacGuffin.

* AHandfulForAnEye: The Driver does donuts in the dirt, [[CarFu kicking up a huge cloud of dust]], which blinds the AcrophobicBird, causing them to [[HellishCopter blunder into a nearby obstruction]].
* IncrediblyObviousBomb: When the suitcase is damaged a digital gauge beeps and starts to count down, much to the alarm of the Driver. [[spoiler:In a subversion, it's actually a temperature gauge.]]
* InMediasRes: How the film opens.
* IWasNeverHere / TreacheryCoverUp: As he's failed to stop the suitcase, the president's men tell the EvilChancellor to back off.
-->"You were not here. This never happened. Tell your men to stand down."

* PunBasedTitle: The title refers to an unidentified but highly important package contained in a silver briefcase, which must be kept below a certain temperature lest something terrible happen. [[spoiler: It sounds like it could be some kind of bomb, but it is actually a heart, ready for transplant.]]
* PursuedProtagonist: The episode opens with the Driver and the Passenger weaving back and forth down the road while bad guys in a helicopter try to shoot them.
* RaceAgainstTheClock: With the car running out of fuel and the briefcase's temperature indicator rising, both due to bullet hits.

* SmokeOut: Improvised.

* IncrediblyObviousBomb: A digital gauge on the suitcase beeps and starts to count down when the suitcase is pierced. It's actually a temperature gauge, but this trope is implied.

* WhatIsOneMansLifeInComparison: "What would you fall on your sword for?"

* MoodWhiplash: The two comedy entries, ''Star'' and ''Beat the Devil'', can be a bit jarring, considering that they come after ''The Follow'' and ''Ticker'', respectively. For bonus points, ''Star'' is immediately followed by ''Powder Keg''.

-->'''Brown:''' I'm [[Mondegreen Asian Man!]][[note]]I'm aging, man![[/note]]