Movie Review

Death Race

“Death Race” was written and directed by Paul W.S Anderson, a filmmaker who's toiled away trying to make the perfect movie based on a video game. I’ll give you a few moments to process that before I say…yeah, that’s right, he’s made some really terrible movies. “Death Race” actually looks sort of fun though, definitely a racing film that will erase the memory of the “Speed Racer Technicolor Dream-Coat” at least, and Jason Statham is usually so good in movies like this that he’d make “Fast and the Furious” look like “Beach Blanket Bingo” all by himself. This may be Anderson’s first real entertaining movie, but there has been some question as to whether it really is his movie. Writer Adam Stone says Anderson stole his work, leading to some speculation of plagiarism and possibly to a denied wide release. So there are two questions, one of course will be answered if your reading this review and the other will be is this movie even worth stealing in the first place?

Statham stars as Jensen Ames, a former professional racer turned Steel-mill worker. It’s the future, 2012, and work is hard to find. Ames is laid off from the steel-mill and when he comes home, his wife is murdered by a masked assailant and he is framed for it. Months later he finds himself in Terminal Prison, the bitch to a domineering warden named Hennessey (Joan Allen). Since the prison system has become overcrowded, the prison participates in a death race, a pay-per-view event that allows people to watch cons in cars equipped with machine guns, rocket-launchers, napalm, and other goodies try to kill each other for sport. Hennessey wants Ames to drive and wear the mask of a famous and much-loved competitor, Frankenstein, so that her viewer ratings can stay up, and she makes the promise that if Ames wins the race, he can have his freedom. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Ames will become the new Frankenstein and it's not long before he is going up against violent and vicious competitors, including three time winner Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson).

Watching this movie I could just imagine a group of 13-year old boys sitting behind me, each wearing his WWF and Stone-Cold Steve Austin shirts, having a gay old time with it. So much so that I’m surprised the movie actually went for an R-rating. It’s incredibly dumb and for the most part un-involving, but going back to the R-rating, it does have some decent carnage. The movie is shot in a dreary blue setting, letting us know that the world is no longer a warm and loving place but a cold, violent and ugly looking cess pool. The story means next to nothing and is mostly a three-stage race that gets increasingly redundant as it goes along. Cars go around in circles really fast, blood, bullets, and explosions ensue, people meet grisly deaths and then everything happens all over again. “Death Race” does have a few actual dramatic car duels however, one where Ames goes up against the man that killed his wife and another when he and Machine Gun Joe go up against a tank. The rest is take it or leave it stuff that will interest you only if your really gung-ho about your blood, guts, and souped-up killer cars.

Statham is perfect for this type of role though, giving Ames a gruff, hardcore quality that’s even more high octane than the cars. And Joan Allen is his perfect antagonist. Icy, manipulative, and devious, she makes Hennessey one of the better villains to come out this summer. I'ts just too bad she’s not apart of a better movie. And like always, Ian McShane is gravel-voiced testosterone. I think that Tyrese Gibson is falling into a pattern here and I hope someone takes him out of it soon. As he showed in “Baby Boy," he is a much better actor than being the sidekick in race car movies.

“Death Race” has some fun and the actors do what they can, but it's not so much a movie than an excuse to watch carnage and fast cars. When you see an action movie that’s this dumb, you know the summer is pretty much over.

Craig's Grade: C

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%