Driven (2001)

(In theaters, April 2001) Let’s establish right away that for a racing film, the crashes are good enough. Renny Harlin is known for his action set-pieces, and Driven exhibits plenty of those, in fact enough to give the film a marginal recommendation for action film fans who might be starved for some ‘splodin’. Unfortunately, Harlin isn’t known for the quality of the scripts he chooses to direct, and Driven‘s vanity-project history shows through the story, which blends the worst sport clichés along with a special implausible showcase for Stallone. Few surprises, and even fewer original moments. The quick-cutting gets tiresome after the first few moments, and the consistent bad writing really grates, especially when considering the caricatures that pass off as female characters in this movie (there’s a Babe, a Bitch and a Brain. Why even give’em names?) As long as you go see Driven fully expecting what you’re going to get (some action without much thought), you should be satisfied.