Driven
Starring:
Sylvester Stallone
Burt Reynolds
Kip Pardue
Gina Gershon
Til Schweiger.
Directed by: Renny Harlin.
Produced by:
Elie Samaha
Renny Harlin
Sylvester Stallone.
Written by: Sylvester Stallone.
Driven's story revolves around four drivers. Pardue, a talented young racer but has problems with concentration; Reynolds, a legend crippled by racing; Schweiger, the Schumacher-like champion of unsurpassed poise but has problems with commitment; and Stallone, the bad boy of racing who was asked to help Pardue by co racing with him. This is a good depiction of the racetrack, glitz and glamour with enough budget to portray track mishaps resulting to injury and other forms of mayhem you can imagine happening to very very fast things. Though in the film, crashing, exploding and flying cars with non-star drivers were regarded as highlights and added entertainment. There was also racing in the streets ala Charlie's Angels. This was cool as glass windows burst, magazine stands swoosh and skirts fly! But when this took place more than it needed to, it became irksome.
Rocky Balboa was young, promising and Stallone gave this character to Pardue. In the film, he was a rookie driver contending for the championships. In real life, that rarely happens. You win with experience. You master your car's capabilities after you go through it with different tracks often posing a high level of difficulty for the brash and inexperienced. The movie could've made sense if there was no rookie. It could have been more intelligent if a fading champion was the one rescued from a permanent slump by Stallone. I guess we should't expect that much from dear old Sly. But next time, when his comedy comes out (also written by him) I'd have to read reviews first.