Monday April 23 1:02 AM ET
from 
Driven (Auto drama, color, PG-13, 1:57)
By Todd McCarthy, Daily Variety Chief
Film Critic
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - There seems to be no escaping
the inherent cliches of auto racing pictures.
Almost invariably, they fall into the same predictable
pattern of pretty people moving from one track to another, drivers
competing with each other in cars by day and over available young
women after hours, with the constant spectre of sudden injury
or death looming over all concerned.
``Driven,'' a souped-up, big-canvas actioner
with a notably cheesy look to it, represents the latest manifestation
of the genre's apparent built-in limitations. The box office
for pics set in this milieu is normally reliable but unspectacular,
a pattern that should continue with this Warner Bros.
release.
Written by Sylvester Stallone with a decided
lack of ego and insistence upon centrality where his own character
is concerned, ``Driven'' flits around the globe by private
plane as it delineates a Championship Auto Racing Team season
dominated by German world champion Beau Brandenburg (Til Schweiger)
and Yank circuit rookie Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue). Natch,
these two handsome blonds are in a tussle over another blond
beauty, Sophia (Estella Warren), who runs off with Jimmy
after Beau decides he needs to concentrate exclusively on his
driving.
This triangle, which fills the requirements for some
youthful, internationally flavored eye candy, is surrounded by
an assortment of nearly-as-attractive and equally one-dimensional
characters with heavy agendas of their own: Stallone's
Joe Tanto is a former racer brought back to help the immature
Jimmy by tough guy team owner Carl Henry (Burt Reynolds),
once a driver himself but now confined to a wheelchair; Joe's
tart-tongued ex-wife Cathy (Gina Gershon) turns up as
the new wife of another of Carl's drivers, sexy Latin Memo Heguy
(Chilean thesp Cristian de la Fuente); Lucretia Clan (Stacy
Edwards), a comely journalist whose total access to racing
participants seems to extend further with Joe; and DeMille Bly
(Robert Sean Leonard), Jimmy's cutthroat brother and manager.
As the action (documented in peripatetic second unit
work that's effectively joined to Canadian main unit locationing)
moves from Long Beach to Toronto, Miami, Tokyo, Chicago, Sydney,
Rio, Detroit and Germany, Jimmy, who initially delights in snaring
Sophia the moment Beau drops her, goes into a spin with one wrong
turn after another. Slipping behind Beau in the rankings, he
can't hold on to his new girlfriend, bottoms out by furiously
tearing through the streets of Chicago in his race car at 195
mph, closely pursued by Joe in his, then infuriates Carl by performing
the humanitarian deed of quitting a big race to rescue team partner
Memo from certain death.
Abandoned by his boss and even by his brother, the
callow youth must rise to the occasion to prove his worthiness
as a man and a professional, with predictable results.
With all sorts of new technology, from mini helmet
cameras to digital effects, at his disposal, director Renny
Harlin has unfortunately adopted a let's-try-anything attitude
that translates into a chaotic and unattractive visual style.
Employing casual-looking set-ups and overcutting like crazy,
Harlin's approach is much more mannered and uncertain
than it was on ``Die Hard 2'' and ``Cliffhanger''
nearly a decade ago. Nor are matters helped by a few poor CGI-style
shots, notably an idiotic one that follows an errant tire's trajectory
off its axle far up into the air and then down into the stands,
and, in hilariously gratuitous material that one can imagine
producer Elie Samaha did not discourage, endless babe atmospherics
of suggestively clad sexy chicks lovingly consuming hot dogs
or cinnamon sticks.
The races themselves are shot with a considerable
degree of variety and verisimilitude, but their effectiveness
is undercut by the lack of sustained visual point of view and
the dramatic participation of only two serious and well-identified
competitors for nearly all the races. A couple of times, Stallone's
Joe is allowed to get back into action, but only to run interference
for Jimmy, not to plausibly compete for the checkered flag.
Yet another downside is provided by the blaring and
grating score by BT, the current chosen credit of electronic
musician Brian Transeau. Given the jolting decibel levels
of racing itself, a composer could choose to either shout over
the noise or undercut it with a cooler but still exciting techno
sound; unfortunately, BT went the former route, to numbing
effect.
Thesps are mostly OK given the constraints of their
roles. Stallone is agreeably relaxed as a mentor figure
who doesn't need to show off or always be the center of attention.
As a fierce competitor constrained by his limited physical mobility,
Reynolds gets to utter some of the script's most dramatic
lines, but the thesp's fine new toupee, probably his best ever,
is offset by the unfortunate new look of his eyes, which now
appear slanted.
Major German star Schweiger cuts an entirely
convincing figure as a successful Euro racer, Pardue lays
the constipation on a bit heavily as the lucky freshman and Warren
swims beautifully as This Year's Model whose acting abilities
may be tested at a later date. Edwards' role as the journo
seems so truncated that it's never clear whether she ends up
in the sack with Joe or not.
Joe Tanto ................ Sylvester Stallone
Carl Henry ............... Burt Reynolds
Jimmy Bly ................ Kip Pardue
Lucretia ``Luc'' Clans ..... Stacy Edwards
Beau Brandenburg ......... Til Schweiger
Cathy Moreno ............. Gina Gershon
Sophia Simone ............ Estella Warren
Memo Heguy ............... Cristian de la Fuente
Crusher .................. Brent Briscoe
DeMille Bly .............. Robert Sean Leonard
A Warner Bros. release of a Franchise Pictures presentation.
Produced by Elie Samaha, Sylvester Stallone, Renny Harlin. Executive
producers, Andrew Stevens, Don Carmody, Kevin King. Co-executive
producers, Rebecca Spikings, Tracee Stanley.
Directed by Renny Harlin. Screenplay, Sylvester Stallone,
story by Jan Skrentny, Neal Tabachnick. Camera (Deluxe color,
Panavision widescreen), Mauro Fiore; editors, Stuart Levy, Steve
Gilson; music, BT; music supervisor, Debra Baum; production designer,
Charles Wood; art director, Chris Cornwell; set designer, Grant
Van Der Slagt; set decorator, Gord Sim; costume designer, Mary
McLeod; sound (Dolby/DTS/SDDS), John J. Thomson; supervising
sound editors, Christopher Aud, J. Paul Huntsman; visual effects
supervisor, Brian M. Jennings; digital effects, OCS/Pixel Magic,
Pacific Title Digital, Digital Dimension, Tigar Hare Studios/Kickstart
Prods.; line producer, Mike Drake; associate producers, Leeza-Maria
el Khazen, Michelle Davis; stunt coordinator, Steve Lucescu;
race sequences coordinators, Andy Gill, Steve Kelso; assistant
director, Myron Hoffert; second unit director, Spiro Razatos;
second unit camera, Igor Meglic; casting, Heidi Levitt, Monika
Mikkelsen. Reviewed at the Chinese Theater, L.A., April 16, 2001.
Reuters/Variety REUTERS
- Craig Zablo (April 23, 2001) |
