Benedict Cumberbatch Films Two Bizarre Holiday Ads: for 'World of Tanks' and Amazon

"There are times when World of Tanks feels less like a videogame and more like a giant ad budget looking for something to be spent on," writes PC Gamer. This year, all those huge sacks with dollar signs on them have been thrown Benedict Cumberbatch's way, making him the game's newest "Holiday Ambassador" and the star of an absolutely bizarre Christmas advert. The story has very little to do with Christmas and, frankly, not much connection to tanks either, featuring Cumberbatch as a sort of chaotic, supernatural therapist trying to bring a meek nerd out of his shell with the help of a chaotic crowd of his other patients. It's a good watch, shedding the usual hard man action star vibe of past celebrity trailers in favour of something that feels more like a mischievous one act play.
Cumberbatch also portrayed Smaug and Sauron in The Hobbit films (2012-2014), Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Dr. Strange in six Marvel movies. And now Amazon has also hired Cumberbatch for what its calls its "Cannes-winning '5-Star Theater' campaign... performing real Amazon customer reviews as theatrical monologues." Cumberbatch performed over 15 reviews, including popular holiday gifts like the Bissell portable carpet cleaner, Toto bidet, and SharkNinja blender — showing that Amazon truly does have something for everyone on your list.
Last year Amazon produced a similar campaign starring Adam Driver ("Kylo Ren" from the final trilogy of Star Wars sequels). "The humor comes from the juxtaposition between Cumberbatch's gravitas and the text itself," reports Adweek, adding that the reviews were curated "using internal AI tools, to find the most oddly specific reviews on the platform."

Amazon will stream Cumberbatch's bizarre ads on major platforms including TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Lyft, Uber, Disney/Hulu, Paramount, and Roku, and on several NFL football games.

I remember when Amazon just chose the best funny fake reviews from customers, and then posted them on the front page of Amazon...

âItâ(TM)s a good watchâ(TM)

[ZERO1ZERO]

I highly doubt that. Is this post just an advert for world of tanks?

Re:

[ratbag]

It's an advert for an advert. Adverts all the way down. Advertception.

Re:

[PsychoSlashDot]

I highly doubt that. Is this post just an advert for world of tanks?

This story is an advert for an entertaining 6-minute thing with Benedict Cumberbatch in it. Going in, I was dimly aware that World of Tanks is (probably) a video game. Coming out, I have experienced 6 minutes of amusement and am... dimly aware that World of Tanks is (probably) a video game.

I have no urge or compulsion to learn anything about World of Tanks or - assuming it is a video game - play it.

The video with Benedict Cumberbatch is the perfect advertisement: an interesting but failed one. It is

Re:It is a good watch

[ZERO1ZERO]

Nice try, corporate. But I will not watch it. Cheers.

Funny fake reviews

[Registered Coward v2]

There were some really good ones, for example:

The DIY bariatric bypass kit

Yellowcake uranium where one person complained it was only half as much as advertised

Too bad amazon killed them...

Every time I see him

[Camembert]

I think what an awesome family name he has.

WoT is fun, but there is a trap in there

[gweihir]

Tanks have 10 levels. Playing for free is fine and fun until level 5 or so. Above that, you basically have to pay to win. You stop doing damage with the free ammunition. I stopped playing, but many people seem to be unable to and that is where all their money comes from.

Re:

[citizenr]

You have to really try to suck on purpose to flake out at 5. Average player cutoff is 9 losing money, with tier 8 a wash and tier 8 premium printing credits.

Now to get free Tier 8 Premium you need Bonds, to get Bonds you need to play tier 10, to play Tier 10 you need credits :D

Re:

[gweihir]

Nice idiotic AdHominem you have there. Also, you cannot read. This combination is no surprise.

Re:

[citizenr]

I wasnt even trying to attack you. You really have to try hard to play badly to not make any credits without premium on tier 6-7.

Re:

[gweihir]

Ok, sorry. It did sound like "LOL, L2P!".

The point is really not when it happens, but that it happens. It may have been at 6 or 7, I played last probably 12 years ago or so.

So, someone got a job and hopefully got paid?

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

And this is "stuff that matters"?

AI slop among the AI headlines...

For anyone from the UK who likes this stuff...

[mccalli]

...consider listening to One Person Found This Helpful" [bbc.co.uk], a BBC radio comedy show about absurd reviews for often even more absurd products. Surprisingly good show.

For anyone not from the UK...not sure if you can access it, but even if you can you're going to need to make your way through a full-on Birmingham accent. Godspeed, you brave intrepid souls.

Interesting oversight

[93 Escort Wagon]

Cumberbatch also portrayed Smaug and Sauron in The Hobbit films (2012-2014), Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Dr. Strange in six Marvel movies.

Yeah, let's not mention the role that made him famous - Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock [imdb.com], which was pretty darn good for the first couple of seasons (before it fell off a cliff).

It held my attention..

[invisik]

...all the way to the end. I liked it overall.

Does it make me want to plan tankapolooza? Normally would be a hard no, but I must say I'm intrigued... I might look for headlines or stories about it as it comes online, and see what develops from there.

-m

Re:

[habig]

It just finished it's tenth anniversary as a game, so it's well established - lots of reviews (the video is an ad for their holiday season giveaways). Fun, the higher levels are a bit too pay to win though. But a well done 15v15 tank battler overall.