Driven (2001)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writers (WGA):

Jan Skrentny (story) &
Neal Tabachnick (story) ...

Release Date:

27 April 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Get ready for the race of your life.

Plot:

A young hot shot driver is in the middle of a championship season and is coming apart at the seams. A former CART champion is called in to give him guidance.

Plot Keywords:

Romantic Rivalry | Teamwork | Car Crash | Automobile Racing | One Word Title

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Sylvester Stallone	...	Joe Tanto
Burt Reynolds	...	Carl Henry
Kip Pardue	...	Jimmy Bly
Stacy Edwards	...	Lucretia Clan
Til Schweiger	...	Beau Brandenburg
Gina Gershon	...	Cathy Heguy
Estella Warren	...	Sophia Simone
Cristián de la Fuente	...	Memo Moreno
Brent Briscoe	...	Crusher
Robert Sean Leonard	...	Demille Bly
Verona Pooth	...	Nina (as Verona Feldbusch)
Jasmin Wagner	...	Ingrid
Chip Ganassi	...	Team Owner
John Della Penna	...	Team Manager
Dan Duran	...	Commentator #1

Also Known As:

À toute vitesse (Canada: French title)
Champs (USA) (working title)
Formula One (USA) (working title)
Into Thin Air (USA) (working title)
Ruutulippu (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language and some intense crash sequences.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA | Canada | Australia

Language:

English | German | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #38169) | Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | South Korea:12 | Australia:M (TV rating) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Brazil:12 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Chicago Motor Speedway - 3301 S. Laramie Avenue, Cicero, Illinois, USA

Company:

Franchise Pictures

Trivia:

Beau Brandenburg races for Target Ganassi Racing, whose owner is played by Chip Ganassi. In reality, Target Ganassi is an extremely successful CART team owned by the same person.

Goofs:

Continuity: After the last race, Joe Tanto takes off his driving gloves, which are clean, and reveals dirty hands meant to be a result of the race.

Quotes:

Carl Henry: What about the fear?
Joe Tanto: It's gone.
Carl Henry: The fear is never gone.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: Driven (#8.3)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Good Time

Not necessarily an arthouse masterpiece, yet nowhere as bad as its rep.

It's been often mentioned by other reviewers that the art of the cornball must have been engineered by Sylvester Stallone; it's just as often forgotten that true tripe goes unwatched merely because it does not go into wide, national release. So guess which movies always receive the worse rep?

Having watched the trailer and anticipated this movie for a while, I knew exactly what to expect beforehand: your typical good guy vs. bad guy, fight for glory, 'win-all-lose-all final confrontation' fare. Surprisingly, I encountered something that attempted to be a little more profound, and while it doesn't exactly hint at the meaning of existence, it explores a facet of human relationships which not many other movies in this genre have touched. The movie's tagline, "Welcome to the human race," does a nice job of encompassing all that this film discusses.

The peculiar thing about the entire setup is that, unlike all other movies in this genre, there are no defined lines. There is no good guy, no bad guy; simply a race for perfection that alludes to the way that most of us wish to live, though the path that we take is an altogether different matter. It's difficult to pick up on, but if enough attention is paid, the idiosyncrasies of each of the characters in this movie speak far more than what their dialogue brings to the table.

Where the film falters, and causes most of the audience to misperceive its message, is in its presentation. It's frenetic, loud, and highly distracting; and yet, tremendously appealing to this particular viewer. The speed with which the director cuts between shots, pans, zooms, spins, spirals, etc., go hand in hand with the feel of the sport in general, and is indeed very creative -- but it is hard to keep up with what's going on. How are we supposed to know what each character is feeling when the scene cuts away before the dialogue is even finished? How are we supposed to be even able to recognize what's happening on the screen when we're not given more than a two-second break between blaringly obtrusive rock songs? Once again, the movie alludes to the sport itself with the commercialization of its soundtrack. And while highly kinetic, and emotionally involving at times (the opening scene with the media was brilliantly executed for a Jimmy Bly point of view), it's just hard to...keep track of everything.

But in the end, the main reason anybody is going to watch this movie for is the racing, particularly the accidents that take place at excesses of 200 miles per hour. And it delivers pretty admirably, truth be told. There are a lot of interesting camera positions and perspectives to make you feel a part of the race, and the special effects could be considered top-notch. Kudos to whoever decided to not give the CG cars and items the cheap, laughter-inducing fluidity of movement that's to be found in just about any other movie with computer graphics (though there were a few scenes with this effect). It's not necessarily realistic, and a little simplistic on the artistic scale, but it reaches a satisfying level of subtlety--and at times, it's fascinating to see some of the things that can be done.

The film is not without its clichés, it sometimes forgets about or fails to discuss a few of its plot points, and the women appear to be portrayed a little 2-dimensionally. But when the crew is watching the race or practice runs from the movie's dramatic camera angles on their small overhead monitor, you simply don't care. The movie takes itself seriously, but it's also intended to be fun; it's merely up to the viewer to interpret how they wish to take it. The first time, it may be a little difficult to swallow, but with subsequent bites, you begin to grow accustomed and appreciate its distinct flavor.

Here's hoping that Stallone sticks to it for a while longer. I'm hungry for more.

8/10