Pennzoil and BMW have been teaming up for exciting, cinematic commercials for awhile now. This latest features a bright yellow BMW M4 CS attempting to “Escape the Ring”. The “Ring” in question is the famed Nurburgring Nordschleife and the driver who’s attempting to escape is none other than Rhys Millen, professional racing driver and drift maestro. And, of course, Millen escapes in a cloud of tire smoke because why not?
The short film starts out with Millen seemingly trying to escape the facility after some sort of heist. He gets a text that says, “Last job! Make it out. It’s all yours.” He responds with “Already inside.” So he’s up to no good. As Millen makes his way down to the garage, he looks for his getaway car. The tag on his key says “86” but the corresponding parking space is empty. So he flips it upside down to realize it’s actually “98”. So he hits the unlock button and hears the car beep. It then cuts to the BMW M4 CS tearing its tires to pieces in a glorious fashion.
What proceeds is a Gymkhana-style video of the M4 CS kicking ass, torching tires and sliding around in such a way that would impress Ken Block. Admittedly, this is heavily edited in a very cinematic fashion, so it’s a lot of flash. They even edited to make it seem as if Millen was driving a manual, even though it’s a DCT. I get it, though, shifting by hand is a lot sexier than clicking paddles.
At the end of the video, Millen’s phone flies out of the window of the car and hits the ground, cracking its screen. There’s an unread message that reads, “Wait. You’re not the only one.” This leaves us on an obvious cliffhanger and hints at a follow up video with another cool car chasing the BMW M4 CS. I’m assuming they will continue to burn through tires at an alarming rate.
I’m not entirely sure what this ad has to do with Pennzoil, but I like commercials that don’t shove product down your throat and just let you watch something cool and fun. This is exactly that.
