By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * * )
Sylvester Stallone has long wanted to to make a movie about the Brazilian Formula One legend Ayrton Senna, who was killed in 1994. He went so far as to write a screenplay. But F1 doesn't have the aura — okay, box-office pull —
in America that it does in Europe, so Stallone's dream has become a collection of wham-bam stockcar pileups, directed by the master of wham-bam, Renny Harlin.
Stallone plays a hotshot driver who's retired but is on the comeback, with Burt Reynolds as the wheelchair-driving owner of a racing team, Til Schweiger as the defending champion from Germany and Kip Pardue as a young star.
On the other side of the bucket seat, Canadian supermodel Estella Warren plays the chick who is dumped by the champ, dates the kid and is taken back by the champ. Gina Gershon is the meanie who dumped Stallone for another driver and Stacy Edwards is a reporter, which makes for plenty of relationships as well as the occasional steel- and iron-bending race.
A feelgood story combined with crashes and MTV-style blinding action. Hugs and champagne at the end.
Running time: 109 mins
Rental: Today
