It's been a while since we've seen a movie dealing with auto racing. I think the last high profile flick on the sport was the Tom Cruise vehicle Days of Thunder. Driven comes courtesy of star Sylvester Stallone (who also wrote the screenplay) and director Renny Harlin (who collaborated with Stallone on Cliffhanger). It's been a rough couple of years for Stallone. Things seemed to be looking up with his outstanding work in Copland. Unfortunately, he went on to do junk like Get Carter. Harlin, on the other hand, has had a rough career. Of his whole resume, I really only liked Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger. Driven is definitely a step down for both film-makers.

Stallone isn't really the star of Driven. He plays the wise old mentor to a young driver (played by Remember the Titans' Kip Pardue), who seems to be struggling with all the pressures that come with his newfound glory.

Stallone has tried desperately to make Driven about character. Too much character in fact. There are far too many supporting players in Driven, and most of them are underdeveloped and completely unnecessary. You've got Burt Reynolds as the crotchety, wheelchair bound, ex-pro. You've got Gina Gershon as Stallone's bitchy ex-lover. Plus a plethora of other characters that serve no purpose in this picture. Stallone also injects obvious shades of Rocky. In fact, his character to Pardue, is much like the relationship he had with Burgess Meredith in the Rocky pictures, only the roles are reversed. Did I mention that there's also a love story? It doesn't matter because it's hardly interesting.

Stallone is surprisingly solid in his role, but Pardue can breathe any kind of life into his performance. In fact, that is a huge problem with this movie. I never bought into this guy as a race car driver. He's got a pretty boy look and never seems to exude any sense of adventure. The rest of the cast is completely wasted.

You'd think what would be left are expertly handled car chases, right. You'd be wrong. Harlin, who usually excels at this action stuff, creates zero tension in the racing scenes. Even the special effects look like special effects. The digital trickery in this picture does nothing but draw attention itself. Perhaps if we cared about any of the characters, the racing scenes would have provided more of a punch. As it stands, this is pretty boring stuff.

Driven is edited together like a big, loud music video complete with a BT score. In fact, I don't think there is one moment in this picture where there isn't a song blazing in the background. This technique is obviously used in hopes that it will cover up this ridiculous movie.

Stallone and Harlin seemed to be out to make a film that shows the life of a race car driver, and the turbulent world of auto racing. This film does nothing to get me interested in the sport. If anything, it's driven me away.

As stated in my Get Carter review last year, it saddens me to see Stallone self destructing like this. He's obviously a major talent and has the longevity to prove it. Copland was great because it didn't feel like a Stallone vehicle. It was just a good role that the actor jumped into. He needs to take more chances like that. Look a Bruce Willis. He's been looking at the part and not the film. I think Stallone needs to do the same. If he keeps doing junk like Driven, his career will be over.