Driven

It's hard to know where to begin with Driven. As a lover of films and motor sport this manages to insult me on two levels at the same time. Not only is it an abysmal film, which drags out the sorts of cliché's that they didn't think would fly in 'Knight Rider'. The washed up older driver, the young stud, the bitter crippled ex-driver. PLEASE! If not being a script most four years old might reject isn't enough, its also taken Indy car racing and decided its a 'backdrop' and ignores virtual all technical and practical aspects of it for the sake of convenience. So what you have here is a racing film, for anyone who has never watched racing and an action film for people who think very poor CGI slow motion crashes are cool. Anyone who wants to see acting as such wasn't even considered. It was supposedly originally written as an F1 racing story, presumably once F1 had seen the script they chose not to be associated with this moronic enterprise. As far as the cast is concerned, it has to be said that Stallone has made some exceptionally bad choices in recent years regarding movies, and this is yet another. Burt Reynolds always looks to me like his about to crack up - because no on in their right mind would pay anyone to give such performances. The younger drivers all seemed to have come from the 90211 clone farm where they are given blank expressions and stupid hair styles. Bettering them all is Estella Warren, who gives the sort of line delivery which makes the puppet cast of Thunderbirds seem like they were members of the Royal Shakespeare! Is their anything good about Driven? Yes, it convinced me that I won't watch another Stallone movie unless it has five Oscars beforehand.

"What am I, a piece of wood?" "Who cares?" "You should talk less and drive more." "This is horrible." "It doesn't mean anything." "Unbelievable." "Will it hold together?" "Not for long."

All the above are actual lines from Sylvester Stallone's screenplay for "Driven," as if he was predicting the reception this spiritless racing film would get. To be fair, I hate sports and I fail to see what's so exciting about Formula One, Le Mans or C.A.R.T. (the milieu for Renny Harlin's latest opus) - but I still could and should have gotten some sort of thrill from the race scenes.

Instead you have a mass of clichéd characters and poor acting (Burt Reynolds proves that he can actually sink even lower than shilling for British opticians), though since they have to spout dialogue that reminds you why Stallone hasn't had a writing credit since "Cliffhanger" (the last time he got together with Harlin) you can see why they have a hard time with it. Surprisingly, the best actors in this film are the non-professional ones - but some would say there's something seriously wrong with any film where Victoria's Secret/Sports Illustrated stunner Estella Warren and the ESPN announcers give the best performances (just one more reason why I'm looking forward to the "Planet of the Apes" remake).

But that would not be taking into account the bad editing and the ambitious but dreadful digital effects, not to mention the soundtrack (which is as horrible as Estella is gorgeous, and that's pretty damn horrible). It's so sterile it's amazing - even when a driver has a spectacular crash it only seems to have been put in for effect... and not to give away the ending, but don't the three fastest finishers in a race usually ascend the podiums in REVERSE order? (And why do the trucks for the scenes in Germany have "German Grand Prix" written on them in English?)

Returning to the subject of hidden messages, the song credits include one called "Take Me Away From Here." Amen - but the last line of the film ("It doesn't last long.") has to be a mistake, given that it takes two long hours to tell and runs out of gas before the end of the first lap. You'll get more entertainment from any episode of "Speed Racer" or "Wacky Races" (come to think of it, Estella would make a pretty good Penelope Pitstop). Heck, even "Cannonball Run II" is better than this. And that's a sentence I hope I never have to write again.

Well, I had very low expectations to Driven, but it surprised me. The racing scenes is pretty cool, and the overall atmosphere is also good. Sly's acting is better than usual, but the plot is pretty predictable. A fairly good movie, better if you like F1(as I do), but don't expect a great and surprising movie. I would rate it 6/10.

This film is a shining example of why I always like to watch deleted scenes or alternate endings. Stallone actually wrote the screenplay and after watching what was cut (incl. some scenes that were never even finished) I realize Director Renny Harlin killed this film. The cut scenes and commentary show that this was supposed to be a racing version of "Rocky." All kinds of deep dialogue and development of not only characters, but individual relationships was cut because the Director wanted to dedicate more time to the race scenes and slow-motion shots. No wonder this film seemed hollow. Some scenes just made no sense regardless, but I now know that some of them didn't make sense because the backstory that would've made it make sense was cut. I hate when film makers treat the audience like we're all simple minded and need constant eye candy to keep us watching.

This is definitely one of Sly's better movies. He has disappointed us with his last couple of movies but this one is a winner. it has a great plot, good action scenes and a kick ass soundtrack. Definitely ranks up there with Rocky and Rambo 2.