Entertaining and surprisingly deep!

Rating: 10/10 (5 September 2001)

What I hear you say, 'Surprisingly deep'? Indeed, you may not notice it underneath multiple layers of MTV-esque cuts, a thumping and ear-shattering soundtrack, interesting CGI-scenes, scantily clad pitchbabes (probably there as eye candy for the male viewers ;-) ) and well, Sylvester Stallone. It is probably still hard to see anything else in him besides Rocky, although he is not all that bad an actor, just check out Copland!
Anyways, as I said, I was surprised by the story. Driven could have easily become an 'all-action-no-character-development'-movie. But a lot of work has gone into creating somewhat complex characters. And what's more, there are no distinct bad or good characters.
Jimmy Bly: Kip Pardue did a nice job as a rookie driver ... tough, vulnerable, insecure, focused, hurt - just a few stages the guy goes through, without ever annoying me! Usually I tend to think 'just get on with it, forget about the whole 'inner-struggle'-thing'. But not this time ... loved the way Pardue handled the role.
Beau Brandenburg: First off, I have to confess I have been a Til Schweiger fan for ages. So seeing him in this movie was pretty cool! And I loved what they did with the Beau-character. Instead of portraying him as the bad guy, which they could have easily done, they showed us a guy who's willing to sacrifice a lot to win a race (even dumping his long-time girlfriend!). Luckily, this didn't happen. We got to see quite a complex guy, who may behave as a complete a*****e, but deep within is a good guy. Wonderful! And I love Til Schweiger showing his vulnerable side ;-)
Joe Tanto: Ah, Sylvester Stallone, for a long time I could not stand the man. Must have been the Rocky/Rambo overdose! But since Copland I have had to adjust my opinion and I like him in this film as well. Never too present he does a nice job as the veteran driver. Obviously, he has a number of issues to deal with, but he does this gracefully, without drawing attention to these issues and using them for gratitious Oscar-moments. Instead, as the movie progresses he seems to come to terms with some of the things that trouble him, although he never quite airs them. He is there to play the role of the father, sort of taking the other, younger drivers by the hand. He helps them or tries to anyway, to avoid the pitfalls that lead to his own demise. And in this process he probably heals himself as well! Well done!
Carl Henry: I am not sure, but this to me looks like one of Burt Reynolds' best performances. Carl Henry is a b****rd! I apologize for the profanity ;-) but it probably describes him best! An easy character to hate, but somehow they pulled the unimaginable off, I still liked the guy! Not an overly complex character I must say, but Reynolds did a great job! And that is not something you will hear me say often about Reynolds!
DeMille Bly: played by Robert Sean Leonard. Well, the manager from hell, and probably the most stereotypical character in this film. Correct me if I am wrong! If one character deserved some underplaying, this was the one. Now I was slightly annoyed and frankly, what kind of brother is DeMille?! Sure, he took care of Jimmy, but that is not something one really deserves extra credit for. You are supposed to take care of family!
And then the female characters. Sophia, Cathy, Luc. They tried to make the male characters as complex as possible, but forgot to do the same for the female characters. But okay, I suppose the ladies are not the focus of the film so I can live with it. The ladies are a bit bland at times, only Cathy (Gina Gershon) manages to show some 'bite'. But well, you could put Gina in a movie without giving her lines and she would still be a presence.

All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. Fast, funny, exciting, romantic at times. Great acting. Do not forget the cool CGI-effects! The driver's point of view during races is memorable. Sure there are some things that could have been different. Maybe a less loud soundtrack, although I did not really mind all that much, I will probably end up buying it ;-). Maybe the cuts could've been a bit less MTV-esque, but it sort of fits and gave the film a special feel. It reminds me of a live racing coverage, the USPN kind that is and I got into it after a while.
And to imagine I nearly missed out on this movie ... my friends and I were not quite sure whether we should go to Driven or Animal. Think we got the better deal with Driven! So go check it out! Depending on your location: buy it, rent it, or check it out at the cinema ;-)
I gave it a 10/10 in the poll, the low 5.3 rating is just undeserved! My real rate would be 8/10, just so you know!