Driven

Rating:
Summary: A great movie
Review: First of all, people should understand that it's a MOVIE and the main goal of a movie is entertainment. Stop whining about this or that. It's not supposed to be exactly like in real life, when you tell a story you always embellish things to make them "bigger or better" than they actually were. Same applies here, the crashes are over the top yes, but it makes it more exiting. And it's not like there's 300 spectacular crashes in the movie, there's 3 major crashes, so don't push it.

The true essence of the movie is relationship between people and the racing stuff is the theater of it.

I really enjoy this movie, I've seen it a dozen times and it doesn't have the pretention to revolutionnize the film industry, but it's certainly a very good entertainment. The actors are all great. Plus the DVD is packed with a lot of extras, Renny Harlin audio commentary, two featurettes and over 50 minutes of deleted and/or longer scenes with Stallone commentary for each of these scenes. For all the Driven haters: maybe you should listen to those extras to understand this movie better.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely horrible
Review: I was afraid even before watching this movie that the degree of realism was going to be on a par with Days of Thunder (cars slamming into each other constantly, wrecked cars winning races, etc) and it only took a few minutes of viewing for me to realize this movie was far, FAR worse. Aside from the fact that none of the actors could perform their way out of old paper bags, the movie moves at such a rapid pace that it almost makes you dizzy.
And now for the degree of realism. I understand that not all car races are electrifying, but I see no reason for there to be a spectacular crash every single race. And I have never in 18 years of watching IndyCar races seen a car go flying off the track and into a water hazard. THAT'S WHY THE BARRIERS ARE THERE. Also, those IndyCars are aerodynamically designed so that if the track turned upside-down, the cars would stay glued to the course, yet they fly off the ground in this movie like they were made out of tissue paper. And good lord, the joyride through Chicago was THE stupidest scene in the whole movie. It would be an interesting scene aside from the fact that INDYCARS CAN'T START BY THEMSELVES. And even worse, neither one of the drivers even gets in trouble about it......don't get it. This movie makes Days of Thunder look like a masterpiece of cinema. If you want to watch a racing movie, rent that. Not Driven. ABSOLUTELY NOT DRIVEN.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible, fake, sleazy, cheap disappointment
Review: I must admit that when I heard this movie was in the works, I was giddy with excitment. When I heard that Stallone was writing it, I became a little less excited, but still optimistic. Being a huge CART fan, this was going to be the movie that helped define the league.

How unfortunate that this movie turned out to be a steaming pile of cow manure! The 'plot' is ridiculous. The 'action' is not even remotely close to real life. The 'special effects' look worse than most 1980's video games. I've never seen a movie with more potential go so horribly wrong. It's too bad that CART ended up going bankrupt after this movie. Who knows, maybe if the movie was halfway respectable, it could have helped CART's financial woes? If you are a racing fan, I would advise that you watch this movie, only so that you know how laughable it is. Also, you will then know how NOT to make a movie.

Rating:
Summary: Gave it 1 start because 0 wasn't available
Review: This movie would only be watchable by people who know NOTHING (and I mean nothing - like less then my wife - who I might add thinks that Formula 1 is abrand of baby formula). It is filled with absolutely laughable impossibilities (dozens . . . maybe hundreds) like being able to jump into an IndyCar, turn the key (connected to the non-existent built-in starter), and take off down city streets at 200+. A complete and side-splitting comedy for any race fan who was unlucky enough to buy (or rent) this piece of rediculous junk thinking they were about to watch a "Real Racing Movie". It get's my vote for the "Top 10 Worst" movies list.

Rating:
Summary: Full Speed Ahead
Review: Oh, come on guys; "Driven" was a good little sports-action movie, with a cast that fit perfectly in every role. Sylvester Stallone (who also wrote and produced) plays Joe Tanto, a retired Grand Pix race car driver. He is called out of retirement to help his former crew cheif (Burt Reynolds) train the new hot shot racer, Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue), who has a lot of talent but little disciplin. Believe it or not, the movie is really about Bly, he is the one who changes through out the movie. In fact, the movie is really just a passing of the torch kind of material. But I think it is done well, a macho man's emotional buddy movie. Stallone is great as the world weary racer, those droopy eyes serve him well. Burt Reynolds is also excellently cast as the tough father figure. Gina Gershon is basicly making fun of her on screen persona here as a, well, horrible woman. Kip Pardue is excellent as the cocky young gun with a heart. Tig Schwiger is the cheif competetor against Bly, and he is good as the rival, not to be confused as the bad guy; he isn't. The rest of the cast is trivial. I guess I had a few minor problems with the movie. 1) Like I said before, the actors were perfect for their roles; maybe too perfect, like maybe the characters were written for the actors. 2) There is an accedent about half way through that looks way too bad for anyone to realisticlly get out of. 3) None of the characters seemed all that mad at each other. The end was resolved too easily. But for all that, "Driven" was cool, with lots of exciting race scenes (especially through Chicago), genuine respect between each other, and I liked how all the characters made up at the end, even if it isn't realistic.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie with all elements!
Review: A love story yes, but also a story of life. Two lessons to be learned in this film.. Love and Determination!