LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

bob the moo Having executive produced many of the glossy, star-featuring, BMW-funded short films The Hire, it appears that Tony Scott wanted to make sure that it was his that stuck in the mind. While some of the films have featured slick thriller concepts, Scott's Beat the Devil goes a different way by having the Driver having to drag race in exchange for a renegotiation of the contract that exists between James Brown and Satan. It tells you a lot when my one line summary of the plot does nothing to covey how excessive and OTT the film is.Instead of delivering this plot in a tense way where the drama gives way to a high-stake, high-tension race, Scott decides to turn everything up to 11. There is no point in talking about plot, visual, score, performances, editing etc as if they were different things here, because they are not – they are essentially all delivered in the same way – which is frantic. Subtitles appear on the screen, freeze-frames are everywhere and generally the design of the short film is all about impact and frenzy. The Devil's lair is weird and the dialogue sequence with him is just madness with loads of stuff going on whether it works on not. This excess may please many but for me it came over as a bit silly and it became the entire short film – again, awesome if you like it, a problem if you don't.For me the biggest downside to this is that the car and the race become just another hyper-edited mash of rapid images without any content or base. The race isn't exciting or impressive technically and indeed it just seems to exists to allow the Devil to be excessive. Ironically for the Hire short that I would rate low, Beat the Devil actually managed to have the strongest finish and it is a punch line that I really enjoyed. The cast have a choice to buy into the frantic aspect or not. Owen doesn't really do it since his character is on the outside and, as a result he almost feels unnecessary in his own film. Brown is good but a little hard to understand and perhaps gets carried by the hyper delivery rather than owning it. This is made more obvious by how completely Oldman goes for it. The last thing I saw him in was Tinker Tailor (a very impressive performance of restraint) but here he is balls-out crazy in his delivery – I didn't like the approach but I have to give it to Oldman for what he managed to do within it; no doubt it is his film.Overall then a very OTT and excessive short film that really goes all out for spectacle over content. Those that love hyper and ridiculous action sequences (think Crank but moreso) will eat this up – but in the context of the other shorts, I was rather missing a bit of actual excitement or drama featuring the car at the centre of the short.

MartinHafer This is a very surreal film. James Brown (yes, THAT James Brown) goes to see the Devil (Gary Oldman) as he's getting older and wants to make another deal with him--a deal to restore his youth. Brown has brought a driver along with him (Clive Owen) and proposes an auto race to ..either give him the youth or to give him Owen's soul this time.It's obvious that a lot of money was put into this short, as the star power of the three principle actors is impressive. Plus the stunts and fancy camera tricks didn't come cheaply. In 2000 and 2001, BMW commissioned a series of 8 films directed by world-famous directors like Ang Lee, John Woo and, in this one, Tony Scott helms this short. I must admit that I have only seen one other film in this series, so comparing it to the rest isn't yet possible. However, compared to the fabulous short made by John Frankenheimer, "Beat the Devil" came up a bit short. One of the biggest reasons for me is that it just looked like too many disparate story elements were shoved into this film--almost making it an assault on the senses. While Frankenheimer's film WAS intense and packed a lot into a short, this one went many steps beyond that. In addition, the whole idea of a battle against the Devil is a bit clichéd--as it's been done many, many times in the past. Still, for a major adrenalin junkie, perhaps you'll love this film. It certainly was interesting--even if I wasn't bowled over by it.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews When you've got Gary Oldman wearing a red spandex and red lipstick in the role of the devil and James Brown, godfather of soul himself, complaining that the deal he got with the prince of darkness needs to be renegotiated because he's gotten too old to do splits, you know you've divided everyone who hears about it into two clearly marked, separated groups; those who reject it and those who are intrigued. Those that belong in the latter category probably wind up watching this commercial, are once again divided into two groups; those who love it and those who hate it. This is a clear-cut short film; either you love it or you hate it. But that doesn't mean that it's bad... just that it's limited. I don't know exactly why, but I'm thankful it is. Maybe it's because that allowed it to be what it wanted to be, what it had to be. What is that, you ask? Well, bizarre as hell, first of all. But also funny and stylish, not to mention quite intense. The race in the commercial is cool and exciting. The humor is very good... again, limited, but very good if you're into exactly that sort of thing... and I am. To an extent, at least. I laughed out loud at the 'twist' in the end. The editing and cinematography is very stylish, very typically Tony Scott. I liked all of the puns and jokes, both those concerning the devil himself and those concerning James Brown. The acting is good. Clive Owen once again delivers a perfect performance. All in all, just a very weird and bizarre yet entertaining little commercial. I recommend it to any fan of the commercials or any of the actors... and possibly fans of Tony Scott. 8/10

BigJim5021 You just can't beat Gary Oldman... it's that simple. All of the BMW films are fun little romps, and this one is no exception. And as for the guy that posted before me about the explosions not making sense... It was the Devil in that amazing exploding car, so maybe you should a) suspend disbelief... or b) imagine it as if those explosions are a result of the Prince of Darkness losing a race... I mean... there is a lot of fire in Hell.On a side note, both Brown and Manson were hilarious, and Owen was as charismatic as usual. Not to mention that I enjoyed seeing Danny Trejo in it, even though you can see him in basically every movie made in the last 10 years.yippie/10