DRIVEN ------
When former racing star Joe Tanto (Sylvester Stallone) gets a call from team owner Carl Henry (Burt Reynolds), he's not being asked to win races. Henry needs an old pro to act as a blocker for his rising star, rookie Jimmy Blye (Kip Pardue, "Remember the Titans"), who's giving CART world champion Beau Brandenburg (Til Schweiger, "Judas Kiss") some serious competition in "Driven."
"Driven" reunites the writer/star (Stallone) and director (Renny Harlin) of Stallone's last hit "Cliffhanger," but the pairing is less successful this time around the track.
Stallone once again casts himself as a sensitive, damaged pro although we're never really clued into the trauma of Tanto's past (something about almost getting killed in a race). He's brought in to mentor Blye, but has his access to the young racer blocked by Blye's ambitious brother/manager Demille (a one-dimensional Robert Sean Leonard).
Branderburg, needing to refocus after losing one too many races to a rookie, dumps his fiance Sophia (Estella Warren). Still part of Beau's crew, Sophia starts up a friendship with Jimmy which Jimmy hopes will turn to romance. When Beau approaches and rewins Sophia at a racing event, Jimmy sets off in a pique, taking a racing car into the streets of Chicago. Tanto follows and cools the hotheaded Blye off so everyone can get down to driving cars.
Stallone, who won an Oscar for writing "Rocky" back in 1976, serves up some real dreck with "Driven." This is the kind of flick that finds two racers seriously endangering the city streets only to have a Yoda/Luke moment and walk away without so much as a police warning. There's too much stupid speechifying ('Faith is like a good disease - it's contagious.'), too little character development, and too many reality-defying moments. Director Harlin appears to be trying to cop Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday" style, but instead achieves a empty flash. CGI effects are so overused that you'll feel like you're inside a video game.
Even so, Stallone works in a couple of good bits, such as Tanto's talent for picking up quarters on the racetrack and the hilariously witchy exchange between Tanto's ex-wife (Gina Gershon, "Showgirls") and new love interest (Stacy Edwards, "The Next Best Thing"). Harlin also does put his audience inside a race car travelling at speeds of 240 mph, hurtles crashed car parts at us with glee and turns his sound levels up to 11. Newcomer Cristian de la Fuente is a find as good-natured driver Memo Moreno, Joe's old buddy who just happens to have married his ex-wife. Also promising is model/synchronized swimmer Warren.
Overall, "Driven's" a pretty silly movie, but it does offer some emtpy-headed thrills.
C
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