Movie Review: Driven

One of the fastest and dangerous sports today is car racing. The new movie "Driven" takes the audience behind the scenes of this fast paced industry and shows us what it's all about.

Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue) is a talented rookie who's been surprising everyone by becoming one of the contenders for the championship. Jimmy's main opponent is Beau Brandenburg (Til Schweiger.) Beau is the top racer in the circuit and since Jimmy appeared he has decided he must put all his focus on racing, which means his fiancée Sophia (Estella Warren) is out of the picture.

Carl Henry (Burt Reynolds) is a car owner who realizes that Jimmy needs help focusing so he calls in his old friend and driver, Joe Tanto (Sylvester Stallone).

"Driven" is a fast paced movie. The characters are dynamic and the racing scenes are wonderfully shot. Director Renny Harlin puts the audience into the driver's seat several times during crashes and rain giving us the anticipated thrills.

A lot of the scenes were done over nine races in five countries. Each track has accidents displayed by the camera at angles not normally shown on ESPN. Very cool.

As a person who has never watched racing before, I was intrigued and appalled at how the sport is run. These guys go at alarmingly fast speeds of 200 miles an hour, enduring dehydration and G-forces while handling the wheel for at least two hours at a time—now that's what I call stamina. What appalls me, you ask? Putting your life at risk just to win a trophy.

I felt "Driven" had some unrealistic scenes. The biggest 'as-if' came when Jimmy and Joe race their cars through the streets of Chicago amongst regular traffic. It was a great scene visually, but come on, it would NEVER happen. Plus "Driven" really didn't have a protagonist or antagonist. The characters you think are bad turn out to be good and vice versa. It's certainly a different approach from almost every other movie script out there.

"Driven" is a film most moviegoers will like. If you're a racing fan, you should love "Driven." If you aren't a fan, the camera angles, plot, and high pace will keep you in your seats.

And girls, Kip Pardue, Til Schweiger and a very strong-bodied Cristian de la Fuente will keep your eyes on the screen. So don't make a fuss if your date wants to take you to "Driven."

Gentlemen, start your engines!

I give "Driven" 3 out of 5 stars.

I invite all of you to write what you think of "Driven" below in the comment box.