Cars and Crashes Swifter Than Stallone’s ‘Driven’ Script

The most sophisticated thing about “Driven,” the new film about professional auto racing, is its title. See, it’s not only the cars that are driven, the men who drive them, they’re driven, too. Get it? If that doesn’t sound all that sophisticated a concept, you should see the rest of the film.

Actually, that’s a little unfair. True, this is an earnest, formulaic, unintentionally silly motion picture set on the international racing circuit, but there is something else sophisticated about it--its visuals.

That’s because “Driven’s” director is Renny Harlin, an acknowledged actionmeister whose credits include “Die Hard 2,” “Cliffhanger” and “Deep Blue Sea.” His visuals (shot by Mauro Fiore and edited by Stuart Levy and Steve Gilson) are crisp, slick and kinetic enough to make even pit stops look thrilling.

In fact, pages and pages of “Driven’s” press material are devoted to the enormous pains taken to shoot races all around the world and then meticulously combine them with computer-generated images to capture both high-speed driving and the spectacular crashes that sometimes go along with it. Too bad that much care wasn’t taken with the script. But with producer and star Sylvester Stallone as the screenwriter, maybe no one wanted to bother.

Stallone, who reportedly spent years researching the racing circuit, perhaps even changing oil and checking tires for all we know, has centered his script on a battle for the championship between a veteran champion and a hot young contender.

The veteran is Beau Brandenburg (German actor Til Schweiger), an icy type who lives only to win. Or at least that’s what he thinks. When he starts feeling pressured on the track, he decides that his main distraction is his dishy fiancee Sophia (model Estella Warren) and he boots her out of his life.

The pressure on Beau is coming from hot young rookie Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue of “Remember the Titans.”) Though he doesn’t look old enough to drive a Tinker Toy, Jimmy is a genuine phenom with natural talent to burn.

Unfortunately, he’s also got a brother, DeMille Bly (Robert Sean Leonard), an overly ambitious racing promoter who wears black to remove all doubts about his character. DeMille is so intent on turning Jimmy into a money machine that he puts as much pressure on his brother off the track as on it. But when the going gets tough, Bly’s boss, the equally driven, wheelchair-using car owner Carl Henry (Burt Reynolds), knows just who to call. That would be none other than savvy veteran Joe Tanto (Stallone). The former wild man of the circuit, Tanto has calmed down and tamed his inner demons and Henry wants him to do the same thing for young glasses-wearing Jimmy, who looks like he’s cramming for the SATs when he does pre-race planning.

As characterized by Stallone’s script, there’s as much emotional danger off the track in this Peyton Place on wheels as there is physical danger on it. Joe’s bitter, acerbic ex-wife Cathy (Gina Gershon) is still hanging around, married to his handsome rival and good friend Memo Moreno (Cristian de la Fuente). And no sooner does Beau discard the beautiful Sophia than opportunistic Jimmy takes up with her. Talk about Hot Wheels.

Fortunately, Tanto (played by Stallone as a man deep into his wisdom years) is up to all these challenges. He dispenses romantic advice, emotional insights and racing tips with equal aplomb, even finding time to romance an attractive novice journalist named Luc (Stacy Edwards). With uplifting skills like these, maybe a biopic about the Dalai Lama will be next on Stallone’s schedule.

In truth, most of “Driven’s” intended audience will not even notice, let alone be concerned with, the nuances of the film’s plot or whether it even has any. They will care more about the high-speed chase filmed on the streets of Toronto and Montreal using real race cars that hit speeds topping 160 mph. Or they’ll be distracted by the film’s numerous shots of hot women in sexy clothes, apparently a racing staple around the world.

For the rest of us, though Harlin’s skill compensates for a lot of narrative preposterousness, even it is overmatched this time around.

* MPAA rating: PG-13, for language and some intense crash sequences.

Times guidelines: Numerous spectacular crashes without anyone losing their life.

‘Driven’

Sylvester Stallone: Joe Tanto

Burt Reynolds: Carl Henry

Kip Pardue: Jimmy Bly

Til Schweiger: Beau Brandenburg

Gina Gershon: Cathy

Estella Warren: Sophia

A Franchise Pictures presentation, released by Warner Bros. Director Renny Harlin. Producers Elie Samaha, Sylvester Stallone, Renny Harlin. Executive producers Andrew Stevens, Don Carmody, Kevin King. Screenplay Sylvester Stallone. Cinematographer Mauro Fiore. Editors Stuart Levy, Steve Gilson. Costumes Mary McLeod.Music BT. Production design Charles Wood. Running time: 1 hour, 57 minutes.

In general release.