Driven (DVD) > Reviews > Driven to despair

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Indifferent to it
Story	Very weak
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Average

Advantages:	Good special effects during the racing scenes
Disadvantages:	resembles a PC driving game

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

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 Cart racing. Frankly that is no excuse! Try the honest 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 plays DeMille Bly

Estella Warren plays Beau Brandenburg’s fiancée Sophia

Gina Gershon plays Joe’s ex wife, Cathy

Short circuit: Aging has-been Carl henry employs Joe Tanto as a mentor for Jimmy Bly. So begins the battle for the Carting World championship, between a veteran champion and a hot young championship contender.

Long circuit: Joe Tanto is a retired race car driver who is recruited by wheelchair-bound former driver Carl Henry to coach up-and-coming young CART driver Jimmy Bly; who has a great chance at winning the world championship.

The main rival for the title and odds on favourite is the po-faced Beau Brandenburg. If this wasn’t hard enough, Jimmy, also has the problem of his pushy brother, Demille. Demille wants to make money from Jimmy’s success, feeding him lines such as "in five years, you'll be a brand name." The love interest in the movie (see, there is something for everyone!) is provided by Sophia who flits between Beau and Jimmy like a boomerang.

What gets you racing? As you’d expect from the Director of Die Hard 2, the action scenes are exciting and leave you gasping - until someone opens their mouth to speak, the film does keep you entertained. Watch out for Gina Gershon’s over acting! If you are a pure motor head you will enjoy this film.

What slows you to a stop? Well, despite what you may think I quite like Stallone, I just don’t believe that he can act. If his speech pattern sets your teeth on edge, then this script will throw you into a self induced coma. The script is so simplistic that it becomes banal at. Every plot development is a cliché take this line for example: “You're going down in flames and you're not taking me with you!"
Sylvester has tried hard to build a Cart racing story around characters and it just does not work, the result is a wooden and charisma free film.

Length: 109 first gear minutes