Sly's attempt to supercharge his career with "Driven" was unsurprisingly not a hit with the critics but the evidence of a potentially better movie exists on the DVD release.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture If there's one aspect of this film that didn't get mauled it was the superior visual effects, and they look stunning on the pristine transfer.

Sound Here's a 5.1 mix that will push your amp to the limits. Not only do you have the relentless music score by BT challenging your bass levels, there's also the rip-roaring effects swirling around your speakers in a constant storm of sound. In common with most Renny Harlin films, the technical quality of the audio and visual composition is excellent, and this DVD reflects that well.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary Renny Harlin is a big fan of the DVD format, and his commentaries are always technically informative. As usual, he provides a breakdown of how key shots were achieved in very simple terms.

Making of Featurette The pace of the film is very fast and clearly this featurette intends to outdo it for speed. Fast cuts mix with quips from the cast and crew, and at some point you'll learn something about the film, but not in any great detail. There are plenty of behind-the-scenes shots of the crew grabbing vital windows to film in during real race conferences. There's one classic Harlin moment to watch out for. Some assistant is saying to him "It's impossible", only for Harlin to immediately dismiss him with, "No, it's possible". It's like a whole episode of ER in one brief moment.

Conquering Speed through Visual Effects Special effects dissections on DVDs are nothing new and rarely interesting. This featurette works quite well though, as they don't lumber through the stages, rather they show the effects merging into the unfinished footage to produce the result you see on screen.

Deleted Scenes with Commentary "Driven" runs at nearly two hours, yet there's 51 minutes of deleted footage on this DVD! A major criticism levelled against the film was the utterly shallow script, but then let's get real - this is about racing right? Thing is, watching these deleted scenes, you'll see where the other two dimensions of the characters disappeared to - the cutting room floor. Harlin is often criticised for sacrificing proper story development over effects, and certainly facets of the film begin to make greater sense once you view this material. As Sly wrote the script, he's here on hand for a genial commentary where he explains the relationships that sadly were a complete mystery in the film.

Additional Extra Features Theatrical trailer and a trailer for the console game.

Region: 2
Chapters: 34
Ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Technical Features: Scene selection, multiple languages and subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.