Movie Review: Death Race
- By Aubrey Ward III
- Published 08/23/2008
- Reviews
- Unrated
Aubrey Ward III
I'm not telling you what to see. I'm not telling you what not to see. I'm just sharing my experience and opinion on the movie, tv show or play that I have seen. I'm merely an advisor. Ultimately, you will have to go with your own gut and decide if you'll buy the ticket or not.
View all articles by Aubrey Ward III
Action packed as promised but if you've seen the trailer then you know 90% of the plot already. Jensen Ames (played by Jason Statham) is framed for the murder of his wife. He is transferred to Terminal Island so he can participate in the Death Race. If he wins then he can go. Simple as that but not so easy. His competitors are very eager to claim that "Get Outta Jail Free" card and will eliminate any obstacle to achieve their dream. Jensen will have to tap into his inner beast in order to survive the race, on and off the track.
The story takes place in 2012. The American economy is quite dismal and employment is at an all time basement low. Big time corporations decide to help their fellow Americans by taking their minds off their financial woes by distracting them. One popular distraction is a show called Death Race. A few inmates are chosen to participate in the violent spectacle. The prize is a new lease on life on the outside.
The race takes place over three days. The vehicles are equipped with offensive (machine guns, napalm) and defensive weapons (smoke, oil slick) which can only be activated by running over special tiles in the road (think Super Mario Kart or a similar video game). The series is broadcast online and millions of viewers from around the globe pay to view one of the races for $99 or all three for $250.
"Death Race" is an action movie, pure and simple. It's gritty and violent and bloody and adrenaline filled. It won't blow your socks off like "Iron Man" or "The Dark Knight." Like I said, if you've seen the trailer (and I would be very surprised if you didn't since it was attached to virtually every 2008 summer blockbuster except "Wall-E" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars") then you know what to expect. The premise of a bloody entertainment show is not new territory.
If you saw flicks like "The Running Man" and "The Condemned" then you kinda know what to expect.
The movie was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson who has a talent for taking the mundane and raising it a couple of notches above "B-movie" level. If you liked "Mortal Kombat," "Resident Evil" or "Alien vs Predator" then there's a good chance you'll groove to "Death Race," too. And, yes my fellow film buffs, this is a remake of 1975's "Death Race 2000" with enough tweaks in the plot to make it a "reimagined" film rather than an identical rehash.
If you somehow managed to miss the trailer then I'll tell you that the movie isn't bad if you're looking for thrills. Exciting car races full of testosterone and gore. A nice yet simple plot about a framed man playing along with the system until that beautiful moment when he can stick it to the man. Well, in this case, "the man" is Terminal warden / Death Race coordinator Hennessey played by Joan Allen with glacier iciness. Ian McShane plays the resident sage inmate "Coach," Jensen's mechanic, while Tyrese Gibson (who seems to get bulkier from film to film) is Jensen's main rival "Machine Gun Joe."
I also love that scene when the navigators are introduced. Navigators accompany the drivers to assist with maneuvering the track and handling the weaponry. These little helpers are usually inmates from the womens' facility. I guess in this future Maxim is one of the companies that acquires a prison.
And no way I'll finish off this review by not mentioning that Robin Shou is in this movie as MIT graduate turned inmate, "14K." Though I was shocked to see Shou sporting a shaved dome I was pleased to see the "Mortal Kombat" star on the big screen again.
So if you're in the mood for some deep, philosophical work of art with clever plot twists and Oscar caliber writing.......look elsewhere. However, if you're in the mood to get your engines revved up then buckle up and pray the missiles don't jam.
The story takes place in 2012. The American economy is quite dismal and employment is at an all time basement low. Big time corporations decide to help their fellow Americans by taking their minds off their financial woes by distracting them. One popular distraction is a show called Death Race. A few inmates are chosen to participate in the violent spectacle. The prize is a new lease on life on the outside.
The race takes place over three days. The vehicles are equipped with offensive (machine guns, napalm) and defensive weapons (smoke, oil slick) which can only be activated by running over special tiles in the road (think Super Mario Kart or a similar video game). The series is broadcast online and millions of viewers from around the globe pay to view one of the races for $99 or all three for $250.
"Death Race" is an action movie, pure and simple. It's gritty and violent and bloody and adrenaline filled. It won't blow your socks off like "Iron Man" or "The Dark Knight." Like I said, if you've seen the trailer (and I would be very surprised if you didn't since it was attached to virtually every 2008 summer blockbuster except "Wall-E" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars") then you know what to expect. The premise of a bloody entertainment show is not new territory.
The movie was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson who has a talent for taking the mundane and raising it a couple of notches above "B-movie" level. If you liked "Mortal Kombat," "Resident Evil" or "Alien vs Predator" then there's a good chance you'll groove to "Death Race," too. And, yes my fellow film buffs, this is a remake of 1975's "Death Race 2000" with enough tweaks in the plot to make it a "reimagined" film rather than an identical rehash.
If you somehow managed to miss the trailer then I'll tell you that the movie isn't bad if you're looking for thrills. Exciting car races full of testosterone and gore. A nice yet simple plot about a framed man playing along with the system until that beautiful moment when he can stick it to the man. Well, in this case, "the man" is Terminal warden / Death Race coordinator Hennessey played by Joan Allen with glacier iciness. Ian McShane plays the resident sage inmate "Coach," Jensen's mechanic, while Tyrese Gibson (who seems to get bulkier from film to film) is Jensen's main rival "Machine Gun Joe."
I also love that scene when the navigators are introduced. Navigators accompany the drivers to assist with maneuvering the track and handling the weaponry. These little helpers are usually inmates from the womens' facility. I guess in this future Maxim is one of the companies that acquires a prison.
And no way I'll finish off this review by not mentioning that Robin Shou is in this movie as MIT graduate turned inmate, "14K." Though I was shocked to see Shou sporting a shaved dome I was pleased to see the "Mortal Kombat" star on the big screen again.
So if you're in the mood for some deep, philosophical work of art with clever plot twists and Oscar caliber writing.......look elsewhere. However, if you're in the mood to get your engines revved up then buckle up and pray the missiles don't jam.