You might have noticed that Josh Brolin stars in the inaugural Mercedes-Benz work by London-based agency AMV BBDO. But meanwhile, hiding in the shadow of Mr. No Country is this considerably better spot from the new campaign. Not only does it feature a downright hypnotic voiceover by the relatively unknown Lucy Holt, but I also love that director Joe Roman uses gritty shots of old Vegas instead of taking the obvious route of showing more modern attention-grabbing locales. There’s something very 1980s crime cinema about the whole shoot. I should disclose that I occasionally write print ads for Mercedes-Benz’s U.S. operations, but that doesn’t make me any more disposed to liking car commercials. And to be frank, I’m not a big fan of the payoff to this spot. But I could listen to Lucy Holt read the entire E-Class owner’s manual, so I’m willing to forgive quite a bit.

—Posted by David Griner