Crappy film

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It is still not as good as the first series as the original is the original true. But it is good with usually bad guy Gary Oldman who has since reformed as the Commissioner of Gotham City and Machete's Danny Trejo against Clive Owen and the late, great James Brown.Brown feels that his soul has been corrupted by the devil aka Oldman. And wants to have the Driver win the race against the devil and Trejo doing the driving on the Vegas strip.In order to have his career back. As it is non-stop action in the seat of your pants thriller. As the Driver for him, it is just another day on the job for him. But for Brown it is do or die.

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.

I've never seen so much action poured into 9 minutes of film. I had to watch it again to see what I missed the first time. It has Gary Oldman doin' his thing. (NOBODY can do 'outrageous' like Gary Oldman can) His devil is wild! James (I Feel Good) Brown who supposedly actually DID sell his soul to the devil.(that's between them, I'm not getting into that) Clive Owen looking all serious and observing the goings on around him. (I think Gary made him a bit nervous) Mr. Brown has sought out the Devil to re-negotiate his contract. The Devil enjoys a wager, but likes the concept of winner takes all. The wager? Drag the Strip at dawn. The Devil: Cool! The race is on. So what we have is Gary Oldman, James Brown, Clive Owen, a 1976 Trans Am and a BMW Roadster drag racing down the Sunset Strip, and what a ride.

So that's how James Brown did it..."Beat the Devil" is worth 8 minutes of your time. If you are interested in watching Gary Oldman in a "Darkness" type suit on with wacky hair and makeup, this movie is for you! Of course Clive Owen plays the mysterious type really well, and as always looks good in a BMW. And then there is James Brown. He has some pretty good lines and he had a good pace...not a bad actor. It is actually pretty funny if you think about it... I mean James Brown wanting to renegotiate a contract with the devil! And since the only way the devil likes it is "winner take all", then they have to race down through Las Vegas and the desert. If this movie were made into a normal length film, I would definitely see it.