Driven Rating: 3 out of 6
Driven is a movie set in the middle of a Cart motor racing series. Cart Racing is similar Formula 1, but with a more raw focus. They race on a variety of types of tracks, have a more humanistic focus, and limit technology so as not to distract from the man driving a machine formula. The movie centers around a few plots intermingled with the main cast involving love, racing politics, humility, as well as the development of the racing championship itself.
The movie was filmed around the reality of Cart racing, and a number of racers and people involved in Cart have small parts or references. The race tracks used in the movie well represent the range of ovals and courses that Cart races are held on during each season.
Although it's not an emotionally deep movie, Driven delivers more depth than expected. Most of the characters develop beyond their initially stereotyped typecasting, which supplies a surprising depth of storyline (for a Hollywood movie. Don't expect too much). Cart Racing tends to be a more human focused series and the personality of each racer is there to imbibe to the fan, unlike Formula One. With this in mind (although done in a Hollywood way), the extreme variety of characters in the movie seems to fit right.
Stallone for the most part plays his character well, and he plays a fairly well written character who can think clearly about life. Most of the characters have some sort of growth or fear involving ego and pride (hence the name 'Driven'), which is a big part of this movie and gives it some of surprising depth for a Hollywood action movie.
If youre a Cart Racing fan (or a racing fan in general), youll be delighted with the racing scenes. About five races are shown during the movie and they are ample enough in length to decently develop. Although naturally any racing fan would want these scenes to be longer and less interrupted, they are long enough to be ample. The races are also well directed (apart from the last one, which is mentioned below) and include angles and race cams not used in actual Cart Racing coverage, and vision from the racers viewpoint.
Cuts to the steering wheel and pedals of the cars while racing are badly done and one of the letdowns of the movie. Another great pity is that often the computer graphics are badly used. They are of a high enough quality that they are not greatly noticed when fleetingly interspersed with racing scenes, but in some scenes they are utilised for way too long and badly used. The result is that you suddenly feel like youre watching a video of a Playstation game (which considering the advertising placement in the exact same scenes, seems to possibly be what was actually done).
However, these disappointments are only fleeting compared to the disappointment of the last race. The last race feels like it was directed by a 6 year old child playing with Matchbox cars. It has gratification in such unrealistic and childish ways that its impossible to enjoy. It presents situations as intense when they are anything but. Considering how well the other races are done, it is a massive letdown and notably worse.
None-the-less racing and crash scenes, while overcooked, are for the most part excellently done. The commentary is good although simplistic, but necessary for non-racing viewers.
A definite if youre a racing fan and if youre not, good enough to see if you like the shorts.
Things to look out for: "Somebody put in your mind that youve got to be perfect, or youre a failure. Get that shit out of your head."
Negative: Seeing racers driving in normal cars, not wearing seat belts. For people who know the value of safety, it seems strange that they would perpetuate the norm in America of not wearing seat belts.
|
