Driven (2001)

You won't be disappointed!

How sad is this?

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

If you can get through the first five minutes of this dope, I applaud you. Between the distorted images, upside down, the infernal flashes and inverted editing, the cinematography is as good as any bottom feeder could have made it. This thing, is so poorly filmed it's atrocious. Did the producers look at it at some point before ever releasing it ? Because it's bad. It's about as bad of shot movie as there is alongside phone-filmed 2016 Ben-Hur. The plot, is absent. The characters are stereotyped, the dialogues have no substance, the racing is science fiction, at no point is the movie ever really about racing and I'm not sure it was about anything. It's not about relationships, not about business, or laws of gravity, it's just a silly flick I guess is aired around 11 pm. The names of the protagonists look like they were stolen out of a you know what kind of R-rated movie.Jesus could you find more tacky than Jimmy Bly and Joe Tanto ? The cast is awful, either too old or too inexperienced, too difficult to understand as well -- hey here's a thing, if you're hiring a german actor, can you actually find one that SOUNDS english ? I'm sorry but you can't hire an actor with an english as bad as Til Schweiger, poor guy could hardly speak. Stallone, look, I don't understand what he's saying. I really can't. I have no idea what he saying half the time. But between the flying cars (which would immediately postpone the race), the drivers saving themselves from a car accident in a lake, seeing fans on a podium and then seeing them again on a podium in Tokyo (what? the chick was hot, not hard to recognize even at the back), go-fast around Chicago in a champ car without a helmet on and infested with subplots that go nowhere to a disjointed ending. This is why you can't hire an acting crew and think you're going to kick-butt because they're all good looking. Guess what ? They're all good looking in the movie business ! You cannot direct a movie this way. You need actors who have charisma, know their role and can act. Driven doesn't provide that and instead proceeds itself in laugher. We know the theme, the old veteran who grooms the young kid, that was done years ago in Bull Durham. The movie is built too much around clips, quick shots of car girls, overview shots, because the content is too poor and goes missing. The CGI are obvious, champ cars do not crash like that or float over water by the way. The champ car staff is so awkward, there doesn't seem to be a trainer in there, only agents and girlfriends and again too many shots of beautiful women it's an invasion. None of these actors really show any skill or belief in their part, haven't heard Pardue do anything since that, Stallone did additional garbage and the rest vanished off. You don't understand the purpose in this junk, wether relationships or sportsmanship, you don't get i. Between that and the horrible soundtrack picked by a teenage 13 year old, you don't get it. The ex-wive comes off as spiteful but apparently everybody in the movie points to Tanto being the loser and the sabotage artist. You don't get anything from this movie. At least it's great for advertising.

Not one of Stallone's best films, but certainly not his worst (anyone remember Oscar?). The problem with this film is focus. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians, too little focus on the characters, questionable racing scenes that focus little on actual racing (which would seem to be a little important when making a film about racing). Take your pick. Stallone comes off too "Rocky" in many scenes, although his brief scenes with the lovely Stacy Edwards are well done. Burt Reynolds plays the role of the hardcore team owner without once cracking his signature smile, which is not only disappointing, but disheartening. Til Schweiger discussing emotions with Stallone? In real life, perhaps, but as two tough guys and champions having a tea and sympathy moment? It just doesn't work. Estelle Warren as a love interest works, with her lithe and lovely manners and obvious beauty, but her emotional level doesn't rise to the part. Perhaps the most unbelievable scene in the film is the emotional moment when Kip Pardue and Sly are racing about the city of Chicago in two experimental cars, violating every traffic law on the books, and endangering hundreds of lives, and yet receive no more than a $25,000.00 fine and no suspensions. In all, the characters are two dimensional at best, the superficial at worst, and the film is a waste of just under two hours of your precious time. Rated PG, not collectible, and certainly not one to rent unless you enjoy being bored.

I saw the whole movie, it has been over ten years but now I can finally speak about it. I watched the whole movie because I wanted to see if the ridiculousness, stupidity and tripe of the first ten minutes could be topped, it was over and over throughout the entire run of the waste of celluloid (using the term "film" could be misinterpreted as having a certain degree of art in it). I understand why Formula 1 sent them packing, they read the script. C.A.R.T. on the other hand was so desperate they never read the script before then after the movie was out they were so embarrassed for taking part that they shut the series down and hid from public scorn. This movie was so stupidly bad that I cannot even recommend it for viewing as a bad movie, there is no fun in watching it, just pain.

"The street track is very dangerous!" In the dangerous world of drag racing, Jimmy Bly (Pardue) is an up and coming drag racer. He is always battling fellow racer Beau Brandenburg (Schweiger) to be number one. When Bly falls into a slump, Carl Henry (Reynolds) hires old salt Joe "The Hummer" Tanto (Stallone) to mentor him. There is a lame romantic subplot involving Sophia Simone (Warren) and it causes more animosity with Beau and Bly.While this is not a straight to video release, it sure looks like one. For example when Tanto is racing, he runs over CGI quarters that look awful and it is hilarious. The racing sequences leave a lot to be desired and apes "Days Of Thunder" (1990). There is pervasive product placement throughout the movie. It is basically a 2-hour commercial for Nextel and Target.com among many others.There are numerous dialogue scenes between Tanto and Beau which are nigh-unintelligible because Sly slurs his speech and Til has a heavy German accent.This nonsense was written by Stallone (including all the funny names) and a lot of plot items make no sense or are not fully thought through.I guess Carl has a past with Joe Tanto and he forces him to mentor Bly with the line: "We go back, you and me. We go way back. You owe me Joe.". We never know the past between them. There is the prerequisite scene where Bly gets in over his head and Tanto yells: "You don't know who you are anymore!" The most annoying about the movie is that it is geared towards the ADD\ADHD generation. Every scene has lame rock music from the 3-CD collection "The Edge" (not sold in stores!) "Driven"? more like Drivel! For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com