I remember seeing a very short version of this film when it was adapted to be an "event" commercial on UK television. If I recall correctly there was a bit of a fuss back then about a "film" being made to sell a car as the approach by BMW making shorts to be able to make commercials was unusual. Skip forward a decade or so to a time when we generally are more aware of advertising and it seems refreshingly honest of BMW to make a film for this purpose rather than the product placement of car companies frantically bidding to have their newest model being driven by the hero in the upcoming summer blockbuster. So the fact that this short film was made primarily to sell me on the idea of buying a BMW was no problem for me.
What Ambush does is essentially give us a very contained chase sequence that gives tension while also showing the car going through its paces. There is little story beyond Owen is a professional driver who has to evade a heavily armed hijacking while on the move. The chase is well directed and delivers lots of squealing tyres and movement from the two cars and there is a genuine sense of pace and danger to it, despite having no vested interest in the scenario or the characters. Owen is coolly enigmatic of course (this was before he was the bankable star he is today) but the real star is the car and the work of the stunt drivers, as it is here that the film works.
It may well be a commercial for a car I can't afford, but at least it is honest in that goal while delivering an engaging and exciting little chase sequence; some blockbusters out there could stand to learn these qualities from this short.
