Death Race

Death Race

Death Race - Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, starring Jason Statham, Ian McShane, Tyrese Gibson, and Joan Allen - Rated R (and unrated on DVD)
I guess you could call this post my "unoriginal, pointless story" edition. Death Race is a remake of the Roger Corman film from the 70's. Where that film was goofy and cartoonish and simply fun to watch, this new version loses the laughs and strives for brutality, which is a major mistake. How can you take a movie about criminals racing to the death for their freedom, and make it deadly serious? Anderson even admits to this on a featurette on the DVD, claiming he didn't want to make a "campy" movie? Well, why the hell not? If this film had retained the campiness of the original, it would have been very entertaining. Instead, we get ridiculous violence that's supposed to be realistic? It ends up being boring and pointless; a film that a few decent action scenes cannot save.

If you like Statham, then I guess this will be up your alley. He continues to play the action hero/everyman who can do anything. (Still not sure how he ended being an action star.) So basic stuff from Statham, Tyrese is just there (a disgrace from the fun way Slyvester Stallone played the character over 30 years ago), and Ian McShane and Joan Allen seem to stand around wondering, along with the audience, how they ended up in the film. Just plain mediocre on all levels. If you want a fun Death Race movie, check out the original. If you want to see the futuristic prisoner battle as a sick TV show, watch The Running Man.

Eric Harris - www.canneltoncritic.com

Last updated: 2010-05-10 23:41:14 by user06

Death Race

This is the newest film by Paul W.S. Anderson, starring Jason Statham, Ian McShane, Tyrese Gibson and Joan Allen. It is a loose remake of the 1975 cult classic "Death Race 2000" starring David Carradine and Sly Stallone.

Some time in the future humanity has found a new kind of entertainment – the Death Race. This race is hosted by the warden of the Terminal Island prison, like a modern day Alcatraz, just much, much bigger. Jenesn Ames is framed for the murder of his wife, and is forced to replace the legendary masked driver Frank aka Frankenstein, who has won 4 races already. If a racer wins 5, he goes free. But, the Death Race lives up to its name. It’s not just about being first, it’s also about surviving.

This film is one of the simplest kind – pure action, right from the very first scene. The story is cliché, and the script is an endless torrent of one-liners (which I don't mind a bit since when they're delivered by a badass such as Jason Statham). The action is ever present, there is not a trace of character development to slow it down. Cars, guns, explosions, hot chicks, fast chases and lots of great special effects.

I don’t know about you, but that is all I need. Even Stephen King listed it on his "Top 10 Movies of 2008". Nuff said.

Rating: 8/10

- review by Ventilation Shaft

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Recommendations:

Death Race

Death muthafuckin Race baby! The kind of movie you get when you put Speed Racer, Happy Tree Friends and Natalie Martinez together! Anyone looking for one helluva time have gotta watch this movie.



The film takes place 4 years in the future where the economy has crumbled and the world is in this post-apocalyptic state. Wow it only took 4 years? The film must be showing what would happen if John McCain took over hahaha. So anyway, the world is spinning out of control, there are criminals everywhere, so what do the police do? They invent Death Race. A gladiator type race where cons fight to the death while it is streamed live to millions of Internet viewers.



In comes Jason Statham, a former Nascar racer who was framed for the murder of his family and is put in jail and forced to race in Death Race. The whole grand scheme behind this is incredibly convulated and makes no sense, so I won't even try to explain why he's in jail. Just know that after he starts racing, all hell breaks loose.



Damn the racing sequences were the shits! The action scenes were really over the top and so well done. There were even video game elements like weapon beacons and death beacons and stuff, it's gonna make any gamer wee in his pants I guarantee. The director really knows how to film action. The editing was super tight, things just get more intense one scene after another.



And I really love the gritty style of the film. The whole film is shot in this grey, white wash background. The buildings are all rusty and old. There's practically heavy machinery and metal everywhere you look. Such a contrast to the campy Death Race 2000 back in the 80's.



And damn this chick Natalie Martinez is hot. Now, now let's be fair, she wasn't any good at the acting but that wasn't really why she was in this film. Death Race is exploitation at it's best. It takes all the things guys love, race cars, explosion, actions and hot women and mashes it all together into on heck of a crazy film that made no sense but kicks so much ass.



I don't get what all the hate towards the film is about. Critics are saying this film made no sense, had no plot, bad acting, glorified violence and had a poor script. Well... yeah. But what the heck did you expect from a movie called Death Race? This film wasn't meant to be The Godfather or anything. This film is just one of those popcorn films that entertains. And entertain it did.



I was hooked to this film from start to finish. If you just want mindless violence and ass, then this film delivers perfectly. I liked it. I got tits, I got ass, I got cars blowing up and carcasses flying all over the place, so I'm satisfied.

RATING:7/10

NicholasC

Death Race — 5

When i first saw the trailer for this movie i was actually eager to see it. Now i’m not big on racing movies, but the fact that this movie looked a lot like a few video games i had played in the past, i was actually incredibly intrigued by it. Not to mention the fact that I was blown away because the action in the trailer looked amazing and not cheaply done with the use of computer graphics (from here on to be shortened to CG). I wanted to see this movie.

Now for about the first half of this movie, i was utterly amazed. From the start with the background story to about halfway i was intrigued and amazed by the movie. Then it took a crappy turn and it seemed like the director got tired of filming the action sequences, so he threw in about 30-40 minutes of story, all at once. It would have been better if they actually divided up the story between the races so that you could actually stomach it some, but no, he just wanted a way to suck you in, bore the shit out of you, and then have you not give a damn about the ending because it sucked that much.

I am also not a big fan of rap music, but if done the right way in a movie i hardly notice that its there at all, which is good, that’s what you want, you almost never want to music to be the primary focus of the audience. But this director can’t decide what he wants to do with music, sometimes you don’t notice its there, and other times i just want to find a noose and hunt down this director and kill him.

Jason Statham, can he play anything other than the “Macho Guy” who doesn’t say much? Hes like Ben Stiller, different movies same role in every fucking film. Like in Zoolander, Ben Stiller is looking for that new look, but when Blue Steel comes along, its the same as his other 5-6 looks already, but no one knows any differently.

The other thing that really got to me was when the women were first introduced. The navigators tell the drivers where to go so that the driver can focus on the carnage that is happening on the road. Why the hell did they choose women? Its in a prison where the men and women are not held in the same prison. HOW THE HELL CAN YOU TRUST SOMEONE YOU’VE NEVER MET BEFORE? wait, thats right, its just eye candy for the fucking director. When the women show up, it does the slow-mo thing with rap music blaring. For 10 minutes. 10 fucking minutes i shit you not. It could have lasted 1-2 minutes and it would have been to much. You want it to grip their attention and then go to the sexy parts, not slow motion walking for 10 minutes. C’mon! who parks a bus that far away with prisoners in it? Oh yeah, they did this twice, the first time when the girls first showed up, the 2nd time at the end. yes, at the end of the movie he did it again. Thankfully that only lasted a few moments, but since he already did it, it was like watching the same terrible part over and over again in the same movie.

Ok, enough picking on this movie. There were some good parts, like the fact that the race is more like a game than an actual race. In order to activate their weapons, or defensive mechanism, they have to perfectly drive over large sewer covers and then they either get defensive capabilities, or weapons. There is also a 3rd kind which basically kills you, so the drivers have to be on the lookout for it. So not only is everyone trying to drive you off the road, but its a race, and its a race to try and get your car fully activated before the other racers. Damn good idea.

The other thing that really stood out was that the director pretty much refused to use CG in the movie. Fantastic! everything looked real! nothing was obviously fake or made by the use of computers(except maybe the backgrounds) but none of the main action itself. The races also for the most part kept me on the edge of my seat from start to end, all 4 of them.

All in all, even though i pointed out more flaws than redemption’s, this movie was actually quite entertaining for the first half, but i could have gone without the 2nd half as long as there was no story. The director could have cut this down to an hour and a half action fest of awesomeness with no story and it would have been better. After all what better than watching a car race where the cars are loaded up like cars out of video games? Twisted Metal, Vigilante 8, etc.

The races = awesome, story = lame.

Base Score = 6
-1 for a bad use of music in a movie
-1 for Jason Statham
-2 for not 1, but 2 scenes with girls walking out slowly to rap music eating up movie time
+1 for damn good racing/action sequences throughout the movie
+1 for not using CG
+1 for video game qualities
= 5/10

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Last updated: 2010-01-02 10:52:45 by user03