History WebVideo / TheHire

* NoNameGiven: The protagonist is never referred to by name, and the script only refers to him as The Driver. Likewise with some of the other characters, such as the unnamed Passenger in "Ambush".

* TheStoic: The Boy can match the Driver when it comes to his deadpan response to dangerous situations.

* BackStory: One of the rare bits of it for The Driver. He mentions that he is not married anymore, but no explanation is given as to why (divorce, widow, etc.), nor any details about his wife.
* DomesticAbuse: The movie star who asks the Driver to tail his wife, as the Driver learns while following the wife.

* IncrediblyObviousTail: It does seem odd that the wife does not notice the same black BMW right behind her the whole way to the airport, but this is somewhat [[LampshadeHanging acknowledged]] and [[HandWave explained away]] in the narration, which explains that you keep moving around, changing lanes from time to time, getting a bit closer, a bit farther, moving into their blindspot if you end up too close behind them, and most of all that the best way to avoid detection is to know their patterns, so you can predict what they will do next.

* MistakenForCheating: The movie star thinks his wife is having an affair.

* UnreliableVoiceover: The Driver describes in detail that the Star has gorgeous blue eyes, strong, feminine hands, and a billion dollar voice. Meanwhile, we see her adjust her sunglasses, then a close-up on her gloved hands cleaning said sunglasses, then a closeup on her mouth as she opens it... to cough.

* SlipperySkid: The BMW drives across a sheet of ice that makes a couple of pursing vehicles crash.

* IncomingHam: The Devil, [[EvilIsHammy of course]], who comes charging into the room driving a motorized wheelchair in a blaze of lights and sound.

* GetOut: The Driver to Holt after taking his gun off him. When Holt insists on taking it personally and chases after the Driver, the latter is fully prepared to run him down until Lily talks him out of it.

* AdamWesting

* LargeHam: The Driver is obviously enjoying this job ''so much''.
** The Star is basically playing a hammy {{Jerkass}} version of herself.

* GunAccessories: The robbers have torches mounted on a Desert Eagle pistol and a light machine gun. Justified as it's nighttime and they need to see into a dark car interior.

* TreasureChestCavity: Faced with a professional heist team armed with a squad automatic weapon, The Driver tells the Passenger to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm just hand over the diamonds]] as he has no intention of getting killed for someone else's merchandise. He only relents when the Passenger pleads that he swallowed the diamonds, and the thieves will cut him open to get them. [[spoiler:Or so he claims, but the end implies it was a lie so he wouldn't have to hand the diamonds over like the Driver wanted.]]

Directed by Tony Scott, guest starring Creator/GaryOldman as the Devil, Creator/DannyTrejo as Bob, and Music/JamesBrown AsHimself.

* AgeWithoutYouth: James Brown is getting too old to do his famous James Brown Split, so he uses this to argue that the Devil hasn't kept his side of the bargain, thus entitling him to a new contract.
* AsHimself: James Brown

* TheCameo: [[spoiler:Music/MarilynManson]]
-->''Can you keep it down, I'm trying to ''read!''

* DealWithTheDevil: Music/JamesBrown sold his soul for fame and fortune, but wants to renegotiate, based on a [[LoopholeAbuse loophole he found in his contract]].

* HorrifyingTheHorror: [[spoiler:Music/MarilynManson freaks out even the Devil.]]
* IncomingHam: The Devil, [[EvilIsHammy of course]].

* RoadBlock: With the gunmen, with the cooperation of what appears to be a police officer, set up an impromptu roadblock to stop the Driver before he reaches the border. When the policeman tries to shoot Jacobs, the Driver deflects the gun [[FriendOrFoe causing the bullet to hit the gunman opposite]] and giving him a chance to go off the road and cross the border that way.

* TheMadHatter: "If I had known it would be this easy I would have lost my mind a long time ago." He also has a RoomFullOfCrazy.

* MoneyToBurn: The hostage taker gets a briefcase of over 5 million dollars, which he tells the driver to throw on a lit barbecue grill. Turns out this is the money he figures he was owed; taking into account his salary, bonuses, profit participation, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking power lunches he had to pay for]].

* RescueRomance: Averted; the DamselInDistress looks quite grateful to the handsome Driver who saved her life, but after [[BitchInSheepsClothing Linda taunts the dying kidnapper]] she turns around to find he's walked out in disgust.

* GameOfChicken: As they race across the desert they find a train is approaching the intersection ahead. The Driver puts his foot down and makes it, whereas the Devil chickens out and shouts for his driver to stop, causing a spectacular crash.

* SlipperySkid: The BMW crosses a sheet of ice that makes a couple of pursing vehicles crash.

* CameraSniper: A sound-only version as we hear a camera's motor drive whirring and Jacobs' nervous breathing as he watches gunmen line up peasants and shoot them.

* BittersweetEnding: The Driver gets the photographs across the border, but Harvey Jacobs dies of his injuries, receiving a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his work.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Jacobs is shot, a closeup shows his dog tags are in Braille. When Jacobs is asked why he became a photographer, he says his mother "taught him to see". Later the Driver [[DueToTheDead delivers the dog tags to Jacob's mother]] and discovers that she's blind.

* RoadBlock: The soldiers at the roadblock are not impressed with the Driver's American Embassy credentials. When one of them tries to shoot him, he manages to deflect the gun, resulting in the other soldier being shot and giving him a chance to go off the road and cross the border that way.

* TooDumbToLive: Jacobs antagonizes a border guard by taking photos of him. [[spoiler: Justified in that he was dying of blood loss, and probably delirious.]]

* BananaRepublic: Nuevo Colon.
* BittersweetEnding: The Driver gets the photographs across the border but Harvey Jacobs dies of his injuries, receiving a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his work.
* DiplomaticImpunity: {{Averted}}. The Driver knows [[OhCrap they are in trouble]] when the guards don't care one whit that he is working for the American Embassy.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Jacobs is shot, a closeup shows his dogtags are in Braille. When Jacobs is asked why he became a photographer, he says his mother taught him to see. When The Driver delivers the dogtags to his mother, it's revealed that she's blind.
* ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin: The reporter gives his film to the Driver so he can get them out of the country.
* IntrepidReporter: [[NominalImportance Harvey Jacobs.]]

* JustAFleshWound: Jacobs is shot by a solder after photographing the mass execution, but is still able to make his escape. [[spoiler: He succumbs to his wounds during the escape.]]
* KickTheDog: The first thing we see the local soldiers do? Shoot a bunch of civilians.
* MacGuffin: The film.

* ArmiesAreEvil

* BittersweetEnding: The villains' actions are revealed, and Harvey Jacobs wins the Pulitzer Prize for his work [[spoiler: posthumously.]]
* ChekhovsGun: The dogtags.

-->'''Harvey:''' None.

* TitleDrop: The Driver asks Harvey what is on his film, and he is told that the film contains the Powder Keg, the story about what is going on in Nuevo Colon.

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: "Buckle up."

The Driver must protect his passenger from a van full of heavily armed jewel thieves, who want the diamonds that his passenger is smuggling. One problem: The Passenger swallowed the diamonds to get them through Customs, and these men will not hesitate to cut him open to get at them. Directed by John Frankenheimer, guest-starring Tomas Milian as the Passenger.

The Driver meets a boat at the pier and picks up his passenger, a young Asian boy who is considered very important by the monks entrusting him to the Driver. He must evade a group of armed men trying to capture or kill the boy, and get him to the safe house where the monks can protect him. Directed by Ang Lee, guest starring Mason Lee as the Passenger.

The Driver is hired by a paranoid movie star's agent to follow the star's wife, who the star suspects is having an affair behind his back. Though hesitant, the Driver agrees to the mission, and explains [[MrExposition via narration]] how to tail someone, all while he learns more about [[TheWoobie the young wife]]. Directed by Kar Wai Wong, guest starring Creator/MickeyRourke as the Husband, Adriana Lima as the Wife, and Creator/ForestWhitaker in an uncredited role as the Husband's agent.

The Driver has been hired to provide transportation for The Star, a massively talented, extremely famous, and [[BadBoss intensely abusive]] singer. As they depart for the venue, the Driver receives a call from the Star's manager, Glen, who reminds him to take his time, and to give the Star everything the Manager has paid him for. The Driver proceeds to [[BreakTheHaughty take the Star down a few notches]] as he [[DrivesLikeCrazy speeds across the city]]. Directed by Creator/GuyRitchie, guest starring {{Music/Madonna}}.

[[IntrepidReporter Harvey Jacobs]] has just taken the most important photographs of his career, but is wounded in the process. The American government hires The Driver to go in and extract him, bringing him and [[MacGuffin his pictures]] out of [[BananaRepublic Nuevo Colon]] so that the government's crimes will be brought to light. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, guest-starring Stellan Skarsgård as Harvey Jacobs, and Lois Smith as Harvey's mother.

The Driver arrives at a small house carrying a BriefcaseFullOfMoney in order to pay the ransom for a CEO who has been kidnapped and hidden away by a deranged former employee. When the hostage taker proceeds to [[DrivenToSuicide shoot himself]] to avoid arrest, the Driver must rely on the handful of clues he was given to locate and rescue the kidnapped woman. Directed by Creator/JohnWoo, guest starring Maury Chaykin as The Kidnapper, and Kathryn Morris as Linda Delacroix.

The Driver and his passenger must evade an attacking helicopter and get a mysterious package his passenger is carrying to its destination. The passenger refuses to explain what is in the briefcase, but insists that the case's safe arrival at the destination is more important than his life, and that an entire nation is at stake. Directed by Joe Carnahan, guest starring Don Cheadle as the Passenger.

The Driver has absolutely [[OutOfGenreExperience no idea what he has gotten himself into]]. He accompanies his client, James Brown, for a meeting in a penthouse apartment in Las Vegas, only to learn that their host is evidently the Lord of Darkness, {{Satan}} himself. James Brown makes a wager with the Devil, a drag race down the Las Vegas strip at dawn, James Brown and his Driver versus Satan and his. If the Driver wins, James Brown gets his youth back, and if the Driver loses, Satan gets his soul. Directed by Tony Scott, guest starring Gary Oldman as the Devil, Danny Trejo as Bob, and James Brown AsHimself.

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The Driver peeks into a window of the safehouse and sees the real monks BoundAndGagged. He then stops the fake monk injecting the boy with a syringe of sedative or poison, knocking him into a prayer wheel.]]

* NotSoAboveItAll: Although the boy is TheStoic and WiseBeyondTheirYears, the bandage he leaves for the Driver has a picture of Franchise/TheHulk on it, implying he's a fan.]]

* {{Seer}}: How did the boy know the Driver would require a bandaid?

* SoundtrackDissonance: The music in the car chase on the docks makes the Driver dodging the pursuing cars seem like a vehicular ballet.

* SpotTheImposter: [[spoiler:The Driver safely delivers the boy to a safehouse where an amiable monk expresses his gratitude and coaxes the boy upstairs with him. The boy however refuses to let go of the Driver's hand, wordlessly indicating that the monk is wearing cowboy boots under his saffron robe.]]

The videos inspired the movie ''Film/TheTransporter''.

* BigDamnHeroes
* BoundAndGagged: [[spoiler: The monks at the safehouse.]]
* CarFu: In the alleyway between the containers on the dock.

* TheChosenOne: The boy.
* FacialDialogue: The boy silently signalling to the Driver that [[spoiler:the man they are addressing is not really a monk]].

* MacGuffinEscortMission
* {{Seers}}: How did the boy know the Driver would require a bandaid?
* SpotTheImposter: Monks don't [[spoiler:wear cowboy boots]].

** When the old man simply laughs when the Driver asks him if he really swallowed the diamonds, he seems amused and nearly cracks a smile. The same goes with the ending of "Chosen", when the Driver finds out that the gift that the boy gave him was a bandage for his grazed ear.

* AtTheCrossroads: In a variation, a young James Brown is shown making his DealWithTheDevil where the road intersects a railway track, foreshadowing the GameOfChicken later on.

* IncomingHam

* TechnologyMarchesOn: A scant few years after this film was made, Harvey probably would have been able to email his photos from a safehouse without having to smuggle the film across the border.

* AllStarCast: Both in front of the camera and behind it.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Was not included in most versions of the UsefulNotes/{{DVD}} collection, and it was removed from the website. Rumor has it that this was due to contract issues with guest star Creator/ForestWhitaker.

-->'''Satan:''' That's ''terrible!'' [[HoYay You don't know what you're missing!]]
* OhCrap: Satan gets one during the drag race when his car almost collides with a semi truck. And again when his car ''is'' about to collide with a train.

* RamByBraking: How the Driver disables his pursuers' headlights.
* RoadBlock: At the entrance to a road construction site.

* WronskiFeint: The Driver plows through the roadblock after smashing the headlights of the other vehicle, and then leads them on a chase weaving through the equipment until the bad guys blindly crash into a bulldozer [[StuffBlowingUp and explode.]]

* KnowWhenToFoldEm
* MacGuffinEscortMission: In this case a MineralMacGuffin of smuggled diamonds and their courier.

* TreasureChestCavity: [[spoiler:Or so the Passenger claims, but the end implies it was a lie so he wouldn't have to hand the diamonds over like the Driver wanted.]]

* NoNameGiven: The protagonist is never referred to by name, or only as [[EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep The Driver]].

-->'''Passenger''': Yeah. *[[FunnyBackgroundEvent buckling his seatbelt]]*
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: The bad guys talk to the Driver through his Car Radio. They had to show him their walkie talkie and use hand signals to tell him what frequency to tune to, however.

* MacGuffinEscortMission
* MalevolentMaskedMen
* MineralMacGuffin: Smuggled diamonds, which the Driver's passenger swallowed to get past Customs. [[spoiler:At least, that's what he claimed.]]

* RoadBlock: At the entrance to the road construction site.
* TreasureChestCavity
* VanInBlack
* WronskiFeint: The Driver plows through the road block after smashing the headlights of the other vehicle, and then leads them on a chase weaving through the equipment until the bad guys blindly crash into a bulldozer [[StuffBlowingUp and explode.]]