I should have known when it said that Sylvester Stallone had written this movie that it really wouldn't be worth watching. Well, ok I did know which is why I had no intention of watching it until someone came wandering into one of my labs late last night with the movie burnt onto a CD...gotta ... Read review
Motorsport movies have a lousy track record, so it's not surprising thatDrivenjoins the ... more
ranks of previous race-car clunkers likeGrand Prix,Le Mans,Bobby DeerfieldandDays of Thunder. To varying degrees, all of these films offer spectacular racing footag...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Top Racing Driver Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue - Remember the Titans), is having trouble ... more
performing on the circuit. To try to improve the situation, car owner Carl Henry (Burt Reynolds - Boogie Nights), calls in Joe Tanto (Sylvester Stallone), a former racing...
Motorsport movies have a lousy track record, so it's not surprising thatDrivenjoins the ... more
ranks of previous race-car clunkers likeGrand Prix,Le Mans,Bobby DeerfieldandDays of Thunder. To varying degrees, all of these films offer spectacular racing footag...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Motorsport movies have a lousy track record, so it's not surprising thatDrivenjoins the ... more
ranks of previous race-car clunkers likeGrand Prix,Le Mans,Bobby DeerfieldandDays of Thunder. To varying degrees, all of these films offer spectacular racing footag...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
The on-track excitement and off-track romantic pursuits of race-car drivers form the ... more
revved-up heart of 'Driven' starring and written by Sylvester Stallone. He plays a talented veteran driver who confronts the lost potential of his past when called o...
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Didn't the Arnold Schwarzenegger tough-guy role become outdated way back in the mid-90s? ... more
Aren't audiences tired of all this stuff by now?Collateral Damagewould have you believe not. Within minutes we see the Austrian Oak in fire-fighter's uniform running to the rescue in cheesy slo-mo. Arnie's two-dimensional character seems a little archaic and so does the revenge-for-the-death-of-his-wife-and-child plot. Someone apparently thought that applying the politics of terrorism addressed inProof of Lifeto the Arnie shootout genre was a good idea. Yet here even the Colombian bad guys' motivations seem muddled and hastily obscured under bullet-quick exposition. It's also no good trying to show the muscle man in a different light: so what if he mopes about with a tear in his eye for 20 minutes, we all know he's going to take the law into his hands soon enough. This he does with familiar gusto, of course. Fights and explosions ensue. Johns Leguizamo and Turturro provide comical cameos but add nothing more. The film's release was delayed so as not to offend anyone in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Who were they kidding? No-one ever took an Arnie movie seriously, least of all this one.On the DVD:Collateral Damageon disc has a couple of documentaries that try to embellish the idea of Schwarzenegger's new on-screen persona, but neither succeed. The additional scenes deserved to be excised. The commentary from director Andrew Davis certainly hints at greater aspirations, but makes no apology for the lack of pay-off. There's supposed to be a DVD-ROM-only commentary from Schwarzenegger, too, but this reviewer couldn't find it anywhere. --Paul Tonks
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Production Year: 2003 - Action/Adventure - Director: Jonathon Mostow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristinna Loken, David Andrews
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
I should have known when it said that Sylvester Stallone had written this movie that it really wouldn't be worth watching. Well, ok I did know which is why I had no intention of watching it until someone came wandering into one of my labs late last night with the movie burnt onto a CD...gotta love the internet. Anyway, work forgotten(as usual) a group of us crowded around a terminal to watch Stallone et al. doing the Rocky thing all over again... ... ...this really was like watching Rocky again. Sylvester Stallone seems to have one script idea and just keeps changing the locations. There is not one original idea in this movie and when its not ripping off his own movies it is ripping off other people's namely Grand Prix and Days Of Thunder in this instance, although without such things as plot and character development but with CGI crashes aplenty to keep us interested. It doesn't work. But first ... more
I should have known when it said that Sylvester Stallone had written this movie that it really wouldn't be worth watching. Well, ok I did know which is why I had no intention of watching it until someone came wandering into one of my labs late last night with the movie burnt onto a CD...gotta love the internet. Anyway, work forgotten(as usual) a group of us crowded around a terminal to watch Stallone et al. doing the Rocky thing all over again...
That is no word of exaggeration, this really was like watching Rocky again. Sylvester Stallone seems to have one script idea and just keeps changing the locations. There is not one original idea in this movie and when its not ripping off his own movies it is ripping off other people's namely Grand Prix and Days Of Thunder in this instance, although without such things as plot and character development but with CGI crashes aplenty to keep us interested. It doesn't work. But first the plot before I rip into this movie in the way it so richly deserves:
What little plot there is goes a little something like this...
Joe Tanto(Sylvester Stallone) is an ex-race car driver who is called out of retirement to be mentor for up and coming young rookie driver Jimmy Bly(Kip Pardue) in his quest to become master of the international CART circuit. His main rival is the stereotypically big-headed German driver Beau Brandenburg(Til Schweger) who comes complete with necessary blonde hottie girlfriend Sophia...well actually she kind of gravitates between the two main guys. Of course this wouldn't be enough to base a whole movie around would it so we add a few more complications. Jimmy's brother Demille(Robert Sean Leonard) is also his manager and is obsessed with making him a household name and we also throw in Burt Reynolds(audible groan at the sight of him) as the paraplegic owner of Jimmy's CART team. Ummm the whole plot is the racing and nothing else really, just a bunch of melodramatic subplots which are instantly forgettable...and I have instantly forgotten them. :oP~~
To say that this movie is awful would be to do it a dis-service. It is not that it is completely awful, but rather that it has its market to appeal to and I just happen not to be it. That said, none of the 10-15 other people I watched it with happened to be it either...
Its an action movie, its nothing more than that but the problem is that if you are going to base an entire movie solely around action then you have to make that action good. There are surely thse of us who watch motor racing just to see the crashes and that is basically what this movie provides as entertinment. You get lots of in-car shaky camera views which are meant to get the adrenaline pumping and then spectacular crashes resulting in massive explosions and flaming chunks of twisted metal flying everywhere. All this is accompanied by a raging heavy metal soundtrack and a general cachophany of noise and colour which rather than getting the heart pounding and the adrenaline pumping has you reaching for the volume control. Its all way too over the top to be watchable and for the effects to actually work they have to look a liitle bit 'real'. CGI animation is fine in some places, it looked good in things like Jurassic Park, but looked attrocious in An American Werewolf In Paris, there are just some things that the technology does not work well with. Here is another place it does not work well and you feel as if you are watching someone play a video game rather than watching a movie half the time as a result of it. When these scenes are what the entire movie is hinged upon it is not a huge leap of the imagination to see tat the rest of the movie is going to fall flat as well.
I have to say too that there is not one moment in this movie where you look and think, "wow! I never saw that coming!". In fact, you'll probably sit through the movie with a distinct sense of deja vu because it literally rips ideas from other movies left, right and centre and does so mercilessly. It also rips idea from BAD movies rather than good ones half the time, taking an already tired derivative bunch of plot lines and hackneyed dialogue and meshing it all loosely together to fill in the spaces between racing scenes. There is little, no, there is ZERO character development here, just a flat bunch of sterotypes who look rather good going through the motions of a tame, unoriginal script. Our beloved director obviously didn't feel the need to do anything but show us the racing and the rest is superfluous. We do get a silly little subplot where both main guys fight over the same girl and another involving Stallone's ex-wife which seems to have nothing to do with anything and literally goes absolutely nowhere, like they forgot about it or something. Oh, and Burt Reynolds in a wheelchair shouting at people with a plastic face...the hows and whys of why he is in that chair are never explained...
I fail to see who this movie is going to appeal to but I suppose it has its niche somewhere. Its certainly NOT going to appeal to racing fans if some friends of mine are to go by, they were disgusted at the number of inaccuracies and how blatantly unrealistic it all is, and the general action fan will find little of appeal because the action looks so...unreal! I lost count of the number of times we saw an airplane take off to show they were changing location, the city skyline to show they had got there, visors being lowered, suits being zipped up engine being revved...arrgghh! Its rubbish, it has no appeal at all, its the worst movie Stallone has ever done and thats saying something and hopefully it'll bomb when it hits our cinemas...
Advantages: good action, great racing scenes Disadvantages: some dodgy acting, a few script howlers
Driven was the film that briefly stopped the box office slump of Sly Stallone in the USA. Alright it was only for a week and the film just scraped over $30 million eventually but hey it's a start.
The film has got mixed reviews everywhere, none saying it's fantastic, some saying it's entertaining and some saying it's just plain awful. Well you have to bear in mind that some reviewers have a standard reply to anything featuring Sly Stallone. Even ... ...are - mindless entertainment.
Driven takes place in the world of CART racing which bares some similarities to Formula One with a large popularity over the world. Team owner Carl Henry (Burt Reynolds) has a young rookie diver Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue) who is fast catching up to the champion Beau Brandenberg (Til Schweiger) but is losing some composure with all the pressure. Henry brings in ex-driver Joe Tanto (Stallone) to help Jimmy get some control ...
utero 17.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Driven (DVD)
Advantages: Must have missed them. Disadvantages: Everything
Driven was the kind of film that promised much, but delivered nothing. OK, forget the fact that Sylvester Stallone was the starring vehicle, but how could a film about the high powered world of racing be boring? Director Renny Harlin certainly found a way of turning an exciting sport into a dull, lifeless event on the big screen.
There were aspects of the film that were so far fetched they made me laugh. The joy ride through the streets in their ... ...the only half decent track on there. If I can advise cinemagoers out there, it would be to avoid this like the plague and go and see 'The Fast and the Furious' instead. That film has all the elements that Driven lacked, and definitely takes my chequered flag. ...
Caru 08.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Driven (DVD)
Advantages: Loads of racing action/great for kids Disadvantages: Just plain daft
This film sucks!
This has got to be the corniest, cheesiest and most predictable film ever made. How can films like this ever get made. Whoever read the script and agreed to spend millions of dollars making this film must be barking mad. There is a scene when one of the drivers crashes and flips upside down into a swamp. The rescue team are too far away (why?), so in order to save his buddy, but lose the race he turns his car around and drives along ... ...just laughed so much. This is the sort of thing that was done in racing pre 1970 and would never happen now. There really are too many scenes like this that make you think “duh”!
This is all such a shame as it could have been a really great film if only they had taken out the Hollywood cliche้s. The film would have been better if it was set in the late sixties/early seventies (see: Robbie Williams/Supreme video). It would have added more passion, ...
Scott 28.05.2001 (14.10.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Driven (DVD)
Advantages: You Can Switch It Off Disadvantages: Its Sad To See Stallone Sink Even Lower
...owner of a copy of Driven through a joke £1 bid on ebay. There was a day left on the auction, surely I would be outbid. Surely. But no, my bid won, I couldn't believe it. Why would the seller even accept such a low bid, I didn't care, I'd got one over on him. Little did I realise he was probably laughing all the way to the bank with his shiny little pound. I should have guessed something was up when no-one else put in a bid. They knew something I ... ...since Sylvester had started turning up in the paddock at every F1 meeting about 7 years ago. He was planning to make a movie about F1, applying the good old rocky formula, racer is coming to end of career, racer gets his chance, mean German/Brit/Scandinavian gets in his way, racer overcomes him as he overcomes his own personal demon and roll titles. Another Stallone triumph in the bag, surely.
Then I found out he'd had a wee row with the F1 people ...
cokane 13.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Driven (DVD)
Advantages: Good special effects during the racing scenes Disadvantages: resembles a PC driving game
Why oh why did Sylvester think that the story of Cart racing driver would be of interest to the discerning film going public? Give him his dues, there is photographic evidence that he was assisted in making this “gritty” film more realistic and character based by getting insights from Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve and the like. OK Sly, so what happened?
Sylvester Stallone’s reason for making this film was that he loves ... ...approach Sylvester, you were offered sh*tloads of money so you took it! This is no Fast an the Furious (you can see my opinion on that if you so choose).
Director: Renny Harlin. (Die Hard 2, so quite frankly should’ve known better)
Written By: Sylvester Stallone
Cast:
Sylvester Stallone plays Joe Tanto Til Schweiger plays Beau Brandenburg Kip Pardue (Remember the Titans) plays Jimmy Bly Burt Reynolds plays Carl Henry Robert Sean Leonard ...
choklatgirl 03.10.2001 (11.10.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Driven (DVD)
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Advantages: None, well a few laughs Disadvantages: Everything
As I am a fan of Peter Kay I was really looking forward to seeing this DVD which states on the back that it is hilariously funny. I was so disappointed with it.
The main feature is a 25 minute short film called Two Minutes. This features Peter Kay playing the role of the getaway driver in an old knackered car. He has his two friends with him who are carrying guns and planning to rob a pub. They spend a lot of the time making their way to the pub and talking about how they found the information about when the takings are banked and how there will be no one in their.
Upon arriving at the pub Peter?s two friends tell him to keep the car engine running as they will only be 2 minutes but when two minutes passes and the men have not returned Peter starts to worry and the car then breaks down. Inside the pub the two men are finding that ...
Advantages: Funny Feature Disadvantages: One hour of cornation street
The main feature of this dvd comprises a 25 minute situation comedy which was first aired in 1997 as part of the 'New Voices' comedy show, which showcased new talent.
The story is of three men planning an armed robbery on a pub.
Kay plays a naive get away driver, who rather than stealing a get away car has purchased on with money borrowed from his mum. Much to the chagrin of his co-conspirators he needs to sell the car afterwards to pay the money back.
As for the actual hold up. We you quickly get the impression that these boys are novices and haven't really got the stomach for the job. They soon get bullied out of going through with the robbery by the wierd and wonderful locals.
Staring alongside Kay are :
Alexei Sayle as a depressed, slightly phsycotic regular.
Paul Shane, Matthew Dunster, Pearce Quigley and Lynda ...
Advantages: excellent ensemble, beatifully crafted songs, wholesome family entertainment Disadvantages: none that I can think of
This should be on the top of all musical classics!
The Sound of Music (SoM) released in 1965 remains to this day an unrivaled film masterpiece by Robert Wise infused by the original music of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Needless to say, it is perfect for the whole family and for all people, young and old (unless of course, if you don't like a melody-driven music, catchy lyrics, and beautiful story, which is seldom the case for "normal" humans).
The DVD preserved the music that inspired many generations the world over. From "Do Re Mi" to "My Favorite Things" to "Edelweiss" and many others. These are classics on their own. Interlaying these wonderful songs to the engaging storyline (that centered on the impending take-over of Austria by Hitler's Nazi) provided a unique viewing experience.
Wise's direction was simply marvelous along ...
Audio Commentary, Additional Scenes, The Making Of, Conquering Speed Feature
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1
Professional reviews
Review
"...[The] auto races in DRIVEN have a jazzy fatalistic surge....The racing scenes hold you in their death-grip..." (Entertainment Weekly, p.44, 04/05/2001)
"...Crisp, slick and kinetic enough to make even pit stops look thrilling..." (Los Angeles Times, p.4, 27/04/2001)
"...The race sequences here are expertly done..." (Sight and Sound, p.46-7, 01/12/2001)
DVD Description
DRIVEN takes viewers into the world of automobile racing with Sylvester Stallone playing a retired expert who coaches a young racer. Stallone's Joe Tanto is brought out of retirement to mentor Jimmy Blye (newcomer Kip Pardue), a rising young superstar in the racing circuit. Featuring amazing racing action and crashes, DRIVEN knows how to deliver.
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