Welcome to A-Z Movie Reviews. Every Sunday, for the next several months, I will be posting a review of a film in my home movie collection. How it works is, I will be reviewing movies in alphabetical order until I get to the letter Z (Yes, I do have a film that ends in Z). Now I realize there are many ways to alphabetize a film collection, but this is mine so don’t judge me. This is simply for fun.
Book to screen adaptations are always difficult. The pressure of getting every single detail readers want, can be a very daunting task. This is partly why I think Passionflix was developed and has chosen a serial-like approach for some of their films. Driven, based on the book by K. Bromberg was the first film to be done like this for the streaming service.
What it’s about:
A resilient girl with a tragic past and a heart of gold falls in love with a bad boy race car driver.
As I’ve said countless times, when I first subscribed to Passionflix, I was on the fence about whether or not I would keep it. Some of the films weren’t that great as sad as it is to say. I enjoyed The Matchmakers Playbook, it was cute, but, other films I saw left me disappointed and I didn’t feel they remained true to the book. Driven was the film that made me keep the service.
I know you’re probably wondering why I’m talking about a film on Passionflix when it’s a streaming service, well, it’s because I bought the DVD. Yes, I paid for a DVD when I can easily watch it on Passionflix, don’t judge me.
I think the serial approach worked well for this film even though at times I wasn’t fond waiting for the next episode. I would have been happier if they had done it the way that Gabriel’s Inferno was done by breaking it into whole parts that are longer than just 30 minutes.
I think that Driven may have been the guinea pig so to speak since it was the first film that was broken down this way. I’m actually hoping when part two comes, they do what they have with Gabriel’s Inferno because in my opinion, that worked so much better.
The casting of Rylee and Colton was perfect. I fell in love with both of them like I did when I read the book. Olivia Applegate did a great job of bringing all of Rylee’s emotions out and she made me cry a couple times too.
Casey Deidrick was amazing as Colton. He was able to convey his cocky attitude but also his gentle side. I also thought he did an excellent job at conveying his pain. Colton is a very complex character with some demons that we don’t know about yet and Casey broke my heart in the final scene of the film. I’m sad he won’t be reprising his role for the rest of the series.
While I love this film, it can feel a bit soapy and some of the camera angles are a little annoying but, it’s worth a watch especially if you’re a fan of Romance books. Plus, it may even make you want to read K. Bromberg’s books once you finish watching.
