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Reviews:
Car
crashes, Car chases, Car racing: Driven
by
Christian De Matteo
Solid
I expected silly, senseless fun.
The film is rated PG-13, starred a
young guy and was about car racing.
I was looking forward to an enjoyable
B-film.
And I got a damned awesome ride instead.
Written by Stallone, the film is
about a young not
hotshot racer you actually like from the
beginning (a real change for Hollywood) who
may or may not be losing his touch behind
the wheel.
Burt Reynolds (Smoky
and the Bandit, Boogie Nights) calls his
old driver, Stallone, a once revered racer
now regarded as a has-been waste, to shape
the boy up.
The plot ensues.
The film is one of those rare gems where the director
knows his material, and knows what level of
film he’s going for, instead of getting an
ego trip and trying to make a car crash
flick into an art house entry.
Director Renny Harlon (Deep
Blue Sea, The Long Kiss Goodnight)
studied his source to the point you
sometimes think his racetrack crowd footage
is documentary; he studied his audience.
The result is a Man’s Movie, it’s
a guy’s date revenge for a viewing of Miss
Congeniality, where cars blow up, the
babes look hot, guys give each other
advice… and then fight, and the races are
more exciting then they ever really are.
The movie contains one of the greatest mid-air car
crashes ever and an excellent city street
race car chase with all the fun moments,
like newspaper stands getting blown away and
cop speed radars busting.
It also contains one of the most
realistic sports good-guy/bad-guy situations
I’ve seen on film.
Sports movies often tend to vilify
the main character’s competitor, as though
it were a clear-cut good vs. evil fight
(Rocky IV is a prime example).
Driven makes sure you know all
the characters are good people but are
competitors.
Harlon and Stallone respect their
audience enough to know they don’t need a
mustache twirling baddie, to enjoy the race,
but will thrill on the spirit of
sportsmanship alone.
The movie is undeniably Solid, in the best
possible way: just intense enough to have
emotion and still be fun.
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