Thoughts on "DRIVEN". (1 Viewer)

[AaronNWilson]

WHAT HAPPENED? This has to be the most mundane car racing film ever made. I think that this is the worst movie ive seen since Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
I could go on and on about why this movie is bad, but its not even interesting enough to devote that amount of time to it. I didn't even watch the ending for pete's sake, which is something I rarely do.
Aaron

 

[Paul_D]

I agree, Driven is an extraordinarily ungood film. Although IMO, the premise didn't even have any potential.The trailer, which usually has all or at least most of the good moments, was awful - which at the end says it all.
Avoid this anyone that hasnt already suffered.

 

[Carl Johnson]

I thought that it was ok.

 

[Tino]

It was so bad that I did something that I rarely ever do...I fast forwarded...through all the scenes that did not include racing...and it still sucked!

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Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus.

 

[Jeff Adams]

Wow, I am surprised so many people hate this movie. Yes, it is not the greatest story line, way over dramatic, very unrealistic and not an accurate view of Indy racing at all. But neither was Days of Thunder for Nascar. I really enjoyed Driven. I just turned my brain off and enjoyed the movie for what is was. I thought the racing scenes were pretty cool. I really liked the racing through the streets of Chicago.
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"I'm your Huckelberry"

 

[Chuck Mayer]

So it's not exactly Gone With The Wind. I did not see it in the theater. I didn't plan on buying it (until I read the "ref quality" reviews), but $17 at BB sounded OK. You know, it was a typical Renny Harlin film. And I enjoyed it. Yes, the characters were awful, but I knew that going in. The effects were great, but they were decent. Overall, I enjoyed the racing scenes. I know they aren't accurate, but Hollywood NEVER is. It's just lots of eye-candy over and over. It's one of those "so-bad-you-love-it" movies for me.
Chuck

 

[Alex Spindler]

Not a single redeeming thing in it, not even Estella could save it.
Things that jump to mind that I particularly detested:
- The invention of the 'humming' to give some kind of hook to identify natural racing talent
- The race through the streets was poor at best, and didn't really even approach the level of creativity that could have been possible with the ridiculous concept
- Over reliance on computer effects when practical effects could have been just as good or better
- My most hated portion was the Speed Racer moment when Speed and Racer X stop racing to save someone from CGI fire. Who knows where the track safety people are who should be doing this. Must have left the theater at that point, which is what the audience should have done.
One of the poorer movies to have come out recently. Fast and the Furious was worlds better, and it was only OK.
BTW, I had long since turned off my brain. Trust me, this was bad to the core. Bad Stallone. Bad.
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Bombardment Society - Member
[Edited last by Alex Spindler on September 22, 2001 at 05:51 PM]

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Put me in the "O.K." camp on this one. I know in the other thread, it was being called a DEMO disc, but I didn't see that. The video was sharp but not THAT sharp. Some of the scenes were extraordinary quality wise, but others were just a bit off. The audio wasn't nearly as aggressive as I thought it would be. I expected some sub threatening bass, and I don't recall anything that really tasked my subs. As for the film itself, it bordered on unwatchable at times-the whole rescue scene in the pond-but for the most part, it went by fast enough and had enough action to hold my interest. Lastly, this is NOT a racing film. The racing that occurs in it is not realistic or interesting.
Bruce
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Welcome aboard the Satellite of Love

 

[AaronNWilson]

I found that the video was very sharp on this movie. However the sound was rather disappointing. The surrounds weren't all that active and there wasn't a lot of bass hits. The engine sounds of F1 cars can sound absolutely aweinspiring, this movie made them sound like muted scaletrix cars.
BAD, Stallone. BAD

Aaron
[Edited last by AaronNWilson on September 22, 2001 at 08:58 PM]

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Boy, i'll tell ya, I would watch a movie about dirt as long as Estella was in it, but this film is so empty and shallow that it doesn't even qualify as surface tension!
Audio was very subdued, I wanted this film to ROAR through my theater but alas it did not, and the visual effects looked too video gameish if I may use such a term. This is actually the very first Renny Harlin film that I did'nt care for, my favorites in order are...
Die Hard 2
Cliffhanger
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4
Deep Blue Sea
Prison
Adventures of Ford Fairlane
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God bless the USA and the men and woman of our military and their families!

 

[Brad_W]

I find the fact that Renny Harlin did this film is sorta... different. With Nightmare 4 and The Long Kiss Goodnight, it just seems odd that he would team up with Sly and do a racing film. But, hey, LKG isn't exactly Freddy Kruger slashing people and so on and so forth. Anyway, I'm making a small attempt at supporting Sly in his comeback so I'll prolly rent it (for free that is, my wife managing a Hollywood Video while she goes to college and all: perks, perks, and more perks).
P.S. I hate racing (people drive in a circle really fast for a while, then they stop... exciting.) but am willing to see this movie.
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"I was born to murder the world." -Nix (Lord of Illusions)
My Home Page http://www.geocities.com/masternix/DVD.html

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Brad, coming from someone who loves auto racing, NASCAR in particular, if you just let yourself get into it, it's probably the most exciting and action packed sport on earth! I have a friend who thought that exact same thing that you said, but now he absolutly loves it. Go to a live race just once and tell me that it's not absolutly heartstopping!
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God bless the USA and the men and woman of our military and their families!

 

[Brad_W]

Go to a live race just once and tell me that it's not absolutly heartstopping
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John, when I lived in Detroit I went to the Grand Prix and... still nothing. But, keep this in mind: I'm just a guy who hates sports, so nothing will really prevoke my interest - ever. Oh well, I'm one of the few men who hates that stuff... my wife loves me for that though. I guess she'll never be the wife ignored by her husband watching sports. Instead she'll be ignored by me watching movies.
LOL?
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"I was born to murder the world." -Nix (Lord of Illusions)
My Home Page http://www.geocities.com/masternix/DVD.html

 

[Gordon Moore]

Thoughts:
1. Cardboard characters
2. Horrible dialogue (pee u!)
3. Over the top crashes (which actually was okay visually, but even my wife called out "bullshit" and she doesn't know or like racing.
4. Visual quality was good. Surround placement was great but the low end lacked that "certain something".
5. No one is going to 180 in the middle of a race to help a driver (it would be suicide).
6. An okay renter, but once is all I need.
7. I could have written a better script (believe me, this is the ultimate slap in the face)

 

[Sean Oneil]

I think that this film was just too cut down. It was cut in such a way that it really had no focus, and played out more like a daytime soap then a feature film.
If you get a chance, you may want to look into the deleted scenes with the Stallone commentary tracks. There is really quite a bit more going on in those scenes which were cut as far as character development goes then there is in the ones which were left in.
This movie may have played out better if it were to run 3 hours or so and leave all of the important character developmental scenes intact. But obviously, in general, nobody would have sat through this movie at 3+ hours in length.
Could have been much better. Perhaps in a future directors cut (aaak!)

[Edited last by Sean Oneil on September 27, 2001 at 02:44 AM]

 

[Paul Walther]

With fear and trepidation I join this post! After watching this one last night I must say I enjoyed this one for the "park your brain and have fun" aspect. I was prepared for a horrible experience based on what I'd read but I enjoyed it for 4 reasons.
1. Stallone avoided writing a typical "bad guy" driver into the script. All the drivers show at some point a redeeming value or two and some degree of nobility- even Brandenburg.
2. Stallone wrote down his character- (spoiler ahead) he doesn't win in this one. He is usually underspoken rather than over-the-top, and allows his character to be "used" to advance others.
3. On my 55 inch Toshiba the video was usually of reference quality.
4. Using Paradigm 90p fronts (with built in 200 watt subs), NAD power amps, and Bose surrounds it was one of the most enveloping, pulse pounding multi-media experiences I've had in my home-theatre.
After reading Roger Eberts review, I think even he enjoyed it more than he wanted to admit (received 2 1/2 stars.)

 

[Thomas_A]

Gee....I watched it the other day and rather liked it. It was not the greatest movie in the world... but very entertaining to me at least. I found my self realy wrapped up in the movie....
The surround could have been better yes- but all in all I have seen worse movies this year (best of show comes to mind)...then again..not every movie is for every one either
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So far, So good, So what
Link Removed
http://thomas2307.homestead.com/thomasworld.html

 

[Brian Bowles]

Their idea of passing someone in a race is to shift down a gear and hit the gas. This is hardly realistic. The plot was poor too. I am sorry I paid to rent it. Worst film I have seen this year. I am a race fan too so I was hoping for a film withe same quality as Grand Prix from the 1960's.

 

[Terrell]

I don't even go near stallone movies anymore. My last one was Cop Land. He was great in that.

 

[MikeAW]

I understand from someone who bought the DVD that Harlin says in the commentary the film's first screenplay draft delivered by Stallone was four hours long !!!!!

This is the kind of indulgence that killed Stallone's career and made him a dinosaur, FAST!!! Where is this guy's head these days ? I haven't seen this film, but imagine this or any film of this type, lasting for 4 hours ? Also apparently some studio honcho's memory doesn't remember Steve McQueen's racing film mega Dud, that finally did him in as a box office superstar ?

Elsewhere Harlin states that in this film, it was the first time that driving these race cars in the rain was done...

shows that Harlin hadn't done his homework and is just one more lacky in the Hollywood filmmaking machine! Considering his box office days have wained considerably, what's up with him too ?

It must be some gooooood drugs or the usual La La Land space cadet mentality! Truly AMAZING!!!!!