I too am glad Stallone month is over! You're right Matt, the special effects really are crappy and the physics defies all logic . Stallone tried to make everything over the top and it ended up beeing pointless and unimpressive. And the excessive camera shots, seriously! XD

The physics are actually somewhat realistic. At last, not as far as the most commonly-cited physics failure -the crashes- are concerned. 90% of the crashes shown are not only POSSIBLE in those cars, but similar crashes have actually occurred at various points in open-wheel racing history(either in F1, CART/Champ Car, or IndyCar). The only one real questionable is the Memo Moreno crash. Beyond that, the only thing unrealistic is for so many such crashes to occur in a single season.

If you don't believe this kind of stuff is possible... I present to you an incident from EARLIER THIS SEASON: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=r4CCWoF-DCU

Even looking to other aspects of physics fail, much of the "failures" have at least a basis in theory so the creators weren't being COMPLETE morons...

Well, I'll admit it's quite impressive but I'm fairly certain none of these cars have been launched out of the fucking stadium into a nearby lake.

It seems like a lot of the crashes were overblown to near hyperbole. Sure the cars go flying, but they don't get quite the height or airtime we see out of nearly every crash in Driven.

"but I'm fairly certain none of these cars have been launched out of the fucking stadium into a nearby lake."

Like I said: The only one real questionable is the Memo Moreno crash. And given how close some tracks are to the water it is possible for a car to end up in a lake under some circumstances. It did in fact happen to Alberto Ascari in Monaco back in the 50s - long before the cars could get airborne so easily, so getting over the barriers back then was quite a feat.

As for height and airtime, Mike Conway came damn close. As does Dario Franchitti in 2007: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=du2A7jnqWz0

It's all physically possible, but unlikely.

If you don't believe this kind of stuff is possible... I present to you a one-in-a-million incident that still bears no resemblance to anything seen in this film.

Perhaps you should actually WATCH the videos before you make such a statement. If you can't see the similarities, then you are blind.

Additionally, it's far from a one-in-a-million thing. You generally get one or two crashes like that per year in this type of racing.

I can, in fact, recall no less than FIVE incidents off the top of my head that either resemble crashes seen in this film or which are FAR WORSE than anything shown in the film. There are the two previously linked videos, plus Ryan Briscoe in 2005, Kenny Brack in 2003, Katherine Legge in 2006. Of these five incidents, only Katherine Legge and Dario Franchitti(previously linked) did not suffer a serious injury of some type.

Formula Fox, if they had actually done what happened with Franchitti with Memo's crash (also caused due to a clip between two tires), I would have believed it a hell of a lot more.

As for the crashes, you said it yourself that these are fairly unlikely. What makes them more unlikely is that seem to occur with amazing regularity: in Detroit, there are so many crashes that it seems like half the field was taken invovlved in one.

Combine this with the [i]terrible[/i] special effects which not only look too shiny, but have that odd CGI thing about physics in that the cars don't seem to have any weight to them - something that would be made believable if they used real cars in the crashes. The physics is just painful: how does the tyre in Detroit crash fly up over the barrier when the hit was [i]against[/i] it? And wouldn't someone care about the spectators nearly getting crushed (as in those sad accidents where spectators lost their lives)?

There's nothing wrong with crashing, but the film's depiction is hyperbolic in the extreme.

"What makes them more unlikely is that seem to occur with amazing regularity"

That was pretty much my point - the regularity was the only thing unrealistic(that and Moreno's crash).

"how does the tyre in Detroit crash fly up over the barrier when the hit was against it?"

Ask Adrian Fernandez. In 1998 at Michigan International Speedway one of his tires broke off when it hit the wall(and got crushed between his car and the wall), got over the fence, and killed two spectators - injured three others.

"And wouldn't someone care about the spectators nearly getting crushed (as in those sad accidents where spectators lost their lives)?"

Well... The races continued to their conclusion in both situations. Though it was nearly done before anyone was really aware of how bad things were. That information doesn't come through very quickly in most situations. Carl Edwards flip in NASCAR at Talladega last year injured a few spectators(nothing life-threatening) and nobody knew until a few hours after. Yeah, people care, it's just a matter of we often don't find out for a while for various reasons.

I should point out that none of those videos had even half the height of the majority of the crashes seen in 'Driven'. Some of the scenes in that movie had them 12 feet in the air"

There have certainly been some incredible crashes on Formula 1 and Indy 500 races, but these ones are still very over the top by comparison.

Still, on the plus side there's plenty of 'cheesecake' in this movie. Though, when that's the only good thing in a movie, it's a sad day for cinema.

The cars dissipate too much energy to get that high. Driven chose to go for height on the crashes rather than show what they really tend to end up resulting in. Why? I don't know, but physically it's still possible. The energy of these crashes is more than enough to get that much air - the ONLY reason it doesn't happen is because of how much energy the cars dissipate in the initial impact.

That said, it's also worth noting the cars in the linked videos are SLOWER than CART machinery was. Think about that for a moment...

Haha, I loved the review!

Keep up the good work Film Brain. =D

Man, I thought you were going to do Stop or My Mom Will Shoot!

I was expecting "stop! of my mom will shoot" as well. either that, or "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over".

clearly these movies are worse.. also i never even heard of any of the movies Filmbrain has reviewed. But i've heard of the ones you mentioned.

I expect Nostalgia Critic will take on "Stop or my Mom Will Shoot!"

Sorry to disappoint you, but I picked this month carefully so that whilst I had solid reviewing material, the Nostalgia Critic could have a month of his own with no overlap. I believe that the Nostalgia Critic is much more capable of handling [b]Stop or My Mom Will Shoot![/b]

AH yes, Driven, The film that killed Champ Car's reputation that in 2007-2008 Champ Car would merge back with Indy Racing League.

Actually, Driven caused the CART bankruptcy in 2003. The merger occurred for other reason(not the least of which being Champ Car finally found it in a position to start regaining ground if they didn't fuck up).

I know. But, think of it as a domino effect. Driven caused CART to collapse, CART is renamed Champ Car, IRL started getting more of Champ Car's tracks[and went from all oval to oval and road courses], some more stuff happens, then Champ Car and IRL merge, while a split weekend made history as Will Power won the last Champ Car Era race at Long Beach while Danica Patrick made history at the Twin Ring Motegi by becoming the first female to win an IndyCar race. So, while it didn't cause the merger, Driven was the beginning of CART's downfall.

On a side note, to anyone who wasn't entertained by Driven's gags, go look on YouTube for the Highlights from the IZOD IndyCar race at Edmonton, and see Helio Castroneves' temper boil over the decision of the race. You'll get more kick out of that compared to Stallone attacking coins with an open wheel car.

[Special Congrats to Chip Ganassi for making history by winning the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, and the Brickyard 400 all in the same year.]

I actually thought this movie was based upon the video game Driver when I first heard about it.

Ironically, [b]Driven[/b] has a video game adaptation. With the same crash physics as the film, no less.

God this was such a bad movie! HUM IF YOU BELIEVE!!! An I don't hum, I whistle. (Whoops!)

Well done review, Dude! I was laughing my arse off the entire time.

Those crashes were way to lame. No suspense whatsoever. It was more or less, "Who will crash next??" xDD Sad. Just all around lame. Thank god you got through this one, Film Brain. *highfives* YOU LIVED to tell the tale!

Wow I'm surprised you know a lot about racing, Film Brain. More than the producers that's for sure (not that's a stretch). Are you a racing fan, Film Brain?

Great review, though.

So, Stallone month ends. Well, it was an entertaining run, going through some of the worst Stallone has to offer. Nice job Matthew. =)

All these movies are similar in so many ways, and, as such, share nearly all the flaws present in any one movie. The action is simply absurd in many of them, although this one obviously has the worst case of it. Those crashes simply got to be too dumb for words. =_=

Because of Stallone month I'm starting to like this show more and more. keep up the good work

This movie is even more absurd than "The Fast and the Furious" IMO.

Wait, was that wilson from house? So we've got Wilson, Dr. Cox last time, how many medical drama characters are we going to have? XD

You actually yelled this time instead of your strainy voice yell! Awesome!

Oh, The review was good, too. My only lingering question is why are all the races done so close to the damn water?

I'm a huge fan of car crashes but my God, these were unrealistic and badly put together. Plus, the plot is a total mess.

Thank you for Stallone Month, Matthew Buck! Keep beating down bad movies everywhere!

“This doesn’t say that racing is sexy, it says the director is a leering bastard.” Hehe.

“I was raised by frogs.” Not fish? Or dolphins?
=D

Hehe, great review, Film Brain! This one does look particularly bad. However as bad as it is, it cannot stop me from loving Robert Sean Leonard as much as I do! :love:

Great job! =)

Amen. I am glad this month is almost over too. I refuse to watch this movie and now I see why. It was a waste of money to make.

Well hello, Dr. Wilson, fancy seeing you here. How odd to see him yelling and growling angrily when I'm used to him being so calm on House.

There is nothing... NOTHING worse then Driven.

I was BEGGING Mat to bash this movie... because I was dragged to seeing this shit in theaters.

I remember a trailer for The Fast and the Furious coming on beforehand and thinking how much BETTER that movie looked.

I'm not the type to find full negativity in movies but this shit had NO redeeming qualities. (Ok [i]maybe[/i] the soundtrack wasn't that bad. It had my favorite song by Filter on it.... during the WORST FUCKING SCENE)

Side speaking of that scene, do you have any idea how many IDIOTS I was sitting near commenting that those cars "TOTALLY COULD" shatter the glass on that bus stop (which are more often than not, plexiglass) or pull up a [i]FUCKING MANHOLE COVER[/i] AND [i]TOSS IT BEHIND LIKE A PIECE OF FUCKING PAPER[/i], or the fact they're driving nearly 200 MPH, low to the ground, WITH [b]NO FUCKING HELMETS ON[/b] AND NOT EVEN SO MUCH AS [i]SQUINTING[/i] AGAINST THE WIND AND DEBRIS OF A INNER CITY STREET! GOD I HATE THIS FUCKING MOVIE SO DAMNED MUCH!

...so yeah, thanks for that.

The manhole cover has a basis in reality. On street circuits, manhole covers and drains have to be welded into place. The underbody suction can dislodge them and cause problems due to how low to the ground the cars are run(plus the sensitivity of the tires). Most incidents involving unwelded covers are caused by the ultra-sticky tires dislodging them(that's what happened to Rubens Barrichello at Monaco earlier this year), but the level of suction IS theoretically capable of sucking off a manhole cover. THROWING it like that is another matter.

As I said in another comment, most of the physics fails are at least based in reality. They're simply stretched WAAAAAY too far.

Ahh I remember this film. I actually saw in theaters with my dad. I think the only part I enjoyed was the short scene of the stock cars racing through the city streets... just for outrageousness' sake. *shrugs* I was young then and the feeling only lasted a few seconds.

At least Stallone month is finally over. About the only films of his I really liked were Cliffhanger and Daylight.

Renny Harlin, lol. All of his movies suck.
This movie is retarded

Now, I want to redirect to you to this:

[img]http:// charmcitycurrent.com/brd/ files/2010/06/ ConwayHunter-Reay-2010- Indy-500-crash.jpg[/img]

That's more devastating than any of the crashes in Driven. And remember, this crash took place IN REAL LIFE. And, the driver was lucky. Yes he did get some injuries and is recovering, but to survive a wreck like that is a miracle.

And, the Bly-Bradenburg fued is preschool compared to Edwards-Keselowski.

I linked to actual video of that crash in response to the first poster.

Other real-life crashes more devastating than Driven: Kenny Brack in 2003, Ryan Briscoe in 2005, Katherine Legge in 2006, Greg Moore(RIP) in 1999... Not to mention the spectators killed by errant tires in 1998 and 1999.

"the Bly-Bradenburg fued is preschool compared to Edwards-Keselowski."

Or: Senna/Prost, Senna/Irvine,Villenuve/ Pironi, Prost/Mansel, Hunt/Petrese

In all honesty, I actually like Driven... But I'm not no impressions that it's good. It's utter crap. I like it only as something for which I can shut off my brain and enjoy some eye candy - whether automotive or otherwise.

Driven is a prime example of what I refer to as a "weirdly entertaining bad movie." A movie you know is bad. Not So Bad It's Good, just bad. And you're under no delusions about this fact. But for some weird reason you enjoy watching it anyway if you're in the right mindset. Everyone has a few movies that fall into this category. Driven is one of them for me.

I think it may be in part because I've actually raced CART cars myself. Not in the actual series, mind you, just at vintage formula races.

BTW: Regarding the prototypes being started without an external starter - In 2007 when Champ Car brought in the amazingly beautiful(both in design and on-track action) Panoz DP01, they experimented with onboard starters. They worked, save for one big flaw: Even though they'd cold-start the engines just fine(Champ Car's turbo V8s didn't have to be pre-warmed like an F1 engine), they wouldn't work once the engine was anywhere near operational race temperature. So they were scrapped. Since the prototypes were, well, prototypes, it's not stretching things to assume they might have experimented with onboard starters. So that part of the scene can be forgiven.

The rest of that scene(and the majority of the movie) on the other hand... Yeah...

Best. Bad Movie Beatdown. EVER!!!!!!!!

This has got to be open-wheel racing's equivalent to Herbie Fully Loaded.

Wait a minute... Oh, Film Brain...

This was a great episode FilmBrain.

I second "Herbie: Fully Loaded." Hey, if nothing else, you'd have permission to make lots of Lindsay Lohan and Disney jokes.

I wasn't aware they made Burnout the movie. Shame they only used the crash mode as inspiration. And setting it in a proper race??? What were they thinking!?!? Where's the buses? The trucks? Ah well at least they kept the Aftertouch feature in the film.


[size=small]Seriously anyone else reminded of this game watching this review?[/size]

Watching the crashes the first time I saw this movie only made me think: "Wow. Bad season for CART."

As has been outlined already, most of the crashes are well within the bounds of reality. Go see my reply to the first commenter for further details.

Christian de la fuente is mimo lol he isn't gay xD but in this movie he sure is XD

Question if he mimo had no problems with tanto=by the way "great names" XD= then what the hell is that cunt's of ex wife care jesus sometimes female characters piss me off...hey what happened to luke....aka stallone's love interest? :kawaii:

Re: Luke, the short answer is that she pretty much disappears into the background.

Well mine are more mixed. On the one hand, I like music['I'm not driving anymore' and 'Are you having a good time' being my favorites.], and it's a racing movie.

However, I dislike everything else. If it focused on the cars and the actual real drivers I think it would be alot better[that and not making everything look like a poor man's version of a racing game crash compilation.

As for the safety team in the film, it reminds me a little bit of an incident that happened during a SBK race at Nurburgring in 1999.

http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=_08p-414uGY& feature=related

I like the part when one of the commentators threatens to walk out of the booth. That and rider Colin Edwards' reaction.

As crazy as the crashes were, I've seen many that were just as crazy as those. Yes, the later crashes do not make any sense but there are a lot of crashes in Formula One and Nascar. In fact, many people actually watch racing just to see crashes.

Driven is a terrible film. I think that Stallone's script got butchered sometime during production and thats why its so bad. Keep in mind, this is the man who wrote First Blood and Rocky.

Acting: Not terrible
Story: Had potential but the characters were under-developed and uninteresting.
Action: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Overall: A terrible movie that utterly fails to capture the intensity of the sport.

He also wrote [b]Cobra[/b], mind you. ;)

With the way how the crashes played out, I half-expected this was actually intended to be a movie about Podracing.