" The first thing you notice physically about this lady is her eyes. Bright blue eyes, " whispers Clive Owen, the hero of Star, the fourth installment of BMW’s The Hire film series available online at www.bmwfilms.com. But aside from his quiet commentary, Owen remains a complete mystery to us — we don’t know his background or where he's been. He's known only as "The Driver," and although he's not exactly as studly as James Bond, he does drive comparably awesome cars.

Yet the first thing you notice about Star (as with any of the members of The Hire) isn't Clive Owen (despite his elusive identity); it's the film's celebrity power. Guy Ritchie directs his wife, Madonna, who plays the blue-eyed lady that also happens to be an egomaniac pop star (a role she handles quite convincingly). Armed with video cameras and boasting a small militia of the world's most influential filmmakers, BMW has taken the art of advertising into a different realm by commissioning five edgy directors to shoot five-minute online films, thus becoming the first car company to shift gears (pun intended) in merging TV ads and online movies.

The short films feature, of course, the BMW (a different model in each film) and the calmly composed Owen, both a super-cool enigma and the pilot of the automobiles. Directed by a variety of notable directors — including John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, Ritchie, and latest addition Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu — the films follow Owen's adventures as he chauffeurs his clients (varying from the aforementioned Madonna to a diamond thief to an 8-year-old Tibetan boy) to various destinations.

Understand that we don't make it a habit to promote the Web sites of hugely successful German car companies, and this isn't necessarily an endorsement for a car. It's the films themselves that kick major ass and stand alone. If five of the most talented filmmakers in the world thought the project was cool, who are we to argue?