How disappointing! Jaguar's marketing campaign started out so well with the "F the Meeting" billboards and all those indirect punches thrown at Mercedes. But they stretched it too thinly, and now the art of villainy is about as scary as Batman cartoons for kids.
Still, the latest commercials from the British leaper brand have a few things we like. First, the actors – both Tom Hiddleston and Nicholas Hoult are back. This time, the speckled Hoult is more of a sidekick, assembling dastardly creations to the specifications of Mr. Hiddleston.
The London-born actor who played Thor's evil brother Loki has a beautiful black panther he likes to feed bow ties and stroke over the head.
"It's time for a change. A new plan needs a new boss. "It’s time for something more surprising, more British, more Jaguar. Unleash the cat," he says, as he releases a fleet of XE saloons.
The reason it's so well put together is that Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper is behind the camera. You might know him from 2012's Les Miserables or 2010's The King's Speech.
But somehow, the 1-minute clip feels like it's been stitched together. Neither of the actors ever mentions the name of the car or has a direct conversion with the other. So they could have filmed this a year ago when Tom and Hiddleston and Hoult shot other ads, and then edited the footage.
The F-Type sportscar fits the bedroom wall of every kid in the world, but it doesn't fit the lifestyle of a family man or businessman. That's why we have the XE, a direct rival for the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C-Class. That doesn't make it cool though.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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