DRIVEN (DVD)

I paid to see this movie in a theater about a month after it was in general release, after having read both a good number of the doubtful pre-release reports in the racing press as well as the post-release reviews by legitimate film critics. In other words, I went in expecting to be disappointed, but afterwards, I left pleasantly surprised and happy.I'm a racing fan. I followed CART with strong interest for a long time until last year when I finally got so fed up with watching its "management" crash it into the wall over and over again that I eagerly switched to NASCAR. That said, I still hope new boss Chris Pook can get CART back on track. I have two points to make from that little bit of autobiography - I know something about racing and its business, and I know "Driven" does not convey the reality of either of those two things very well at all.But it doesn't have to, nor should it. "Driven" is a fictional movie, not a documentary. Those people who know how exciting real open-wheel racing can be - and who also then know how it often isn't - who yearn for this movie to be only a highlight reel of great moves and passes will be disappointed. The folks who know and care that burning methanol fuel produces no visible flame will be upset to see visible fuel fires here. In short - those people looking for racing reality will not like this movie, and apparently a lot of people who reviewed the film on this site, were.But again - it's a MOVIE, and this one does very well what movies are supposed to do: provide entertainment. If you go into this movie looking for that you'll find plenty of it. Enjoy the drama, the suspense, the action, and heck, the T&A - there's a cute blonde for the young guys to ogle, and Stacey Edwards' reporter character for older guys like me to appreciate. Also, Stallone actually uses some acting range in this picture. Contrary to some reports, there is a plot and it's actually a pretty good one. Not contrary to other reports, Burt Reynolds is simply awful in this movie - never before has 10 minutes (at most) of a single actor's screen time been so hilariously bad.This film could have been a sleeper hit when it was released. It's too bad then that when the racing fans who saw it didn't get the high degree of reality they wanted, they bad-mouthed it to death. I think it's a good, entertaining movie, worth buying, and I'm certainly doing just that.

I love this movie

Sylvester Stallone was phenomenal in this movie. One of his best and love to watch the exciting races.

It was good but so cheesy. Lol. My boyfriend loves it.

First: I met the gentleman who developed Driven with a chemist at the San Diego county fair. I purchased the whole line. Then I actually followed the directions & suggestions on each label.Result?: Even though the car always looked “nice”, my associates at work thought I had my car painted. The products perform as written and even though I no longer have the 2001 BMW 530i, I am NOT giving up Driven. Because the Way an Individual takes care of themselves and what they drive reflects who they are and how they think.

I saw this movie both on the theater and when I purchased this DVD. The following is why you might be interested in this DVD if you skipped the movie after reading the reviews, or saw the movie and were disappointed by it.My perspective on all this is that CART is arguably the best racing series in the world. I've been to the races, talked to the drivers, and know a lot about the sport on many levels. I was excited when I heard this movie was to be made. On the other side, I was scared that it would become another laughingstock like the racing community feels "Days of Thunder" was in terms of realistically depicting the sport. I also knew I was going to have to accept some "Hollywood" because most people don't understand enough about what goes on in CART to appreciate it at "full realism" setting. Thus the need to have cars knife through the competition on any patch of road that's open (the laws of physics be hanged).The movie was very entertaining to me as a CART fan, and ignoring the cliches, the underdeveloped characters, the sometimes iffy acting, etc. The special effects were almost always well done, and enough real footage was used to provide the thrill ride you'd want.My wife's take was ho hum because of the fact that the characters were not developed in spite of Sly's promises that this would be about the PEOPLE in the story as much as the racing.The DVD confirms that Sly wasn't lying, it's just that the parts that made this a good character movie were left on the cutting room floor. Through several scenes that were either edited down or omitted entirely, several of the characters' backgrounds were fleshed out, allowing us to empathize with them more, often see better acting. After I was done watching the DVD and watched these omitted clips, I found myself ANGRY that a good movie was actually SHOT, it just wasn't RELEASED. If the people behind the movie and DVD version had any brains at all after reading the reviews they got, they would have done like Terminator 2 did and folded the edited/omitted scenes back into the picture, and actually FINISHED the film, knowing the DVD audience wouldn't mind seeing a movie longer than 2 hours. But since the theatrical release could never compete with T2 because of its flaws, I doubt we'll ever see a 'platinum release' of this DVD with that stuff back in. But it *IS* worthwhile to see if you want to see how the people in charge of cutting the movie to size can cut out its heart, leaving the special effects to carry the movie, which rarely happens anymore unless it's a Star Wars movie.The Visual Effects documentary on the DVD is very interesting, in that although I quickly identified some CGI work in the movie, I was amazed at how much got past me. I swore I was looking at an actual car going around a corner from a camera behind it, and it turns out it was a CG car. They are just getting too darned good at this stuff!The video transfer quality was on par with other DVD's, but the sensation of being in the car is definitely hurt by the small screen. (I have a 36" set, and of course this is letter boxed).The audio (no dts here...another screw-up), hits the subwoofer pretty hard, enough that I checked a few times just to be sure that I had the "bass boost" turned off. Some people may need to lower that. I don't remember the theatrical release having that much bass, so maybe it's a bad mix (With Dolby Digital, anything is possible....).Anyway, if they could have folded back in the missing footage as a viewing option, the actual movie would be a much better addition to the library, but for many, it will simply serve to answer unanswered character questions and demonstrate how a 4 star movie can get dropped to 1 or 2 stars on the cutting room floor.I'll keep mine because it's still a CART movie and the Effects are still worth it (and yes, manhole covers DO really get sucked up by the underbody vacuum if not welded down).

Burt Reynolds, Sylvester Stallone make this movie very entertaining & enthusiastic to watch.

BEING AN INDYCAR RACING FAN I FOUND THIS FILM COMPELLING AND EXCITING TO WATCH FROM THE RACING POINT OF VIEW.I ESPECIALLY LIKED WHEN STALLONE PICKS UP THE 3 COINS ON HIS TYRES WITH PINPOINT ACCURACY! GOOD RACING SEQUENCES ALTHOUGH THE STREET RACE IS A LITTLE FAR FETCHED.THE CRASH SCENES HAVE GOOD EFFECTS AND MAKE YOU APPRECIATE THE DANGER INVOLVED IN DRIVING THESE CARS.IF YOU ARE A PETROLHEAD YOU'LL PROBABLY WATCH THIS FILM AGAIN AND AGAIN,BEST DONE BY WATCHING THE SELECTED SCENES,THEN YOU DONT HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE PLOT AGAIN. NICE WOMEN THOUGH.

Great film for easy watching

Good gear well pleased

Very good thanks

Used to love this film when I was younger. One of the films that got me into racing. Forgot all about it for a good while.