Driven

• Directed by Renny Harlin
• April 27, 2001

A young racing driver strives to win the CART FedEx Championship Series auto racing championship amidst personal struggles. Not much Stallone.

Word is Slyvester Stallone regrets making Driven. Not sure how because despite his name in the marketing and tops of the poster he is not in that much of it. The film itself opens completely devoid of him. I’m not even sure if we get a character mention.

If anything, the story of Joe “The Hummer” Tanto is very secondary to anything going on with the more youthful cast that looks plucked from any YA series then or now being central. Kip Pardue as rookie Champ Car driver James Roman ‘Jimmy’ Bly is the main character with the story focusing on his story with Sophia Simone (Estella Warren), issues with brother Demille (Robert Sean Leonard), and rivalry with Beau Brandenburg (Til Schweiger). Joe has a tepid story going on with Carl Henry (Burt Reynolds), but it is padding rather than important. Joe is making a bit of a comeback after an accident. It’s almost like Stallone was added in after the fact.

Renny Harlin has nothing if not style. Racing scenes are directed almost like a music video. A lot of quick cuts and shaky cameras. Harlan does his best to get the adrenaline pumping yet it fails to pump the adrenaline much in those racing scenes. Harlin is much more interested in presenting stylized drama than it is in excitement.

I was expecting something a bit more macho than what Driven turned out to be. Not necessarily figurative swordfights but something more testosterone oriented. Renny Harlin, Sylvester Stallone, and Burt Reynolds would seem to indicate that. What gets me really is I waited decades to see this Stallone movie, and I got so very little Stallone and something so very boring. My thinking is it would involve adults with maybe Stallone-as-Joe getting his mojo back. The marketing when this came out implied that.

Robert Sean Leonard certainly had talent but he is not main to the main story. Others that lack his ability or Stallone’s screen presence are important. They are milquetoast characters and as by the numbers as they get. It is hard if not impossible to care about them.

At nearly two hours I can’t say very much about this because despite its length there’s not very much here. It’s not a densely packed story. Nothing particularly special occurs. Not much in the way of plot or general changes from the beginning to end. Everybody has a kumbaya by the climax with smiles and life lessons learned.

Driven is a misfire at just about every level. It’s a bait and switch on who you think the main character is going to be with those that actually are featured in a very boring story. Keep moving right past this one.