Driven

December 10, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 127 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Driven delivers exactly what it promises. If you’ve seen the commercials or the trailer and thought it looked cool, you’ll likely enjoy the movie. On the other hand if you cant name a Sylvester Stallone movie that doesn’t feature either Rocky or Rambo and names such as CART, IRL and NASCAR mean nothing to you, I suggest you stay home and watch whatever is on Lifetime.

Driven

There is a story here to tie together all of the race sequences. A talented rookie, Jimmy Bly, is well on his way to a series championship when the pressures of stardom start to get to him and his performance starts slipping. His car owner, played by Burt Reynolds, brings in wiley old veteran Joe Tanto, played by Sly Stallone, to help whip the rookie into shape. Along the way we have a couple of rivalries develop along with some strange love interests and relationships with the characters. But let’s face it, if you’re going to see this movie, it’s because of the racing.

It’s when the cars are on screen that this movie really works, and fortunately that is very frequently. There are technical inaccuracies by the ton that may try the hardcore CART enthusiast crazy. And there are definitely some sequences that will test your ability to suspend your disbelief not the least of which is continuing to go 200 mph thru corners with a totally broken right front wheel. However, there is eye candy by the ton on the screen during the race scenes and these sequences are very enjoyable.

I particularly enjoyed a scene where two race cars end up driving thru the streets of Chicago. The interaction of the race cars with the regular traffic as well as many other things on and around the street is a brilliant sequence. I was totally entertained and that scene alone makes this movie worth the price of admission.

We give this movie 4 stars, and I’m glad it was released early. This is the type of movie that would get lost in the shuffle with all of the big summer blockbusters. Yet it should really be seen on the big screen to be appreciated. If you like racing of any type, you need to see this movie. Even if you do not, I suspect this is going to make a killer DVD later on.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Burt Reynolds, Gina Gershon, Kip Pardue, PG-13, Sylvester Stallone, Theatrical, Til Schweiger