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Death Race
Death Race 2000 is a bona-fide cult classic, and so with Hollywood's current trend of re-packaging films from the 1970's and 80's for younger audiences, it should come as no surprise that eventually a remake would fall in our laps. Paul Anderson's version hits all of the proper notes one would expect from a movie of this type, delivering some decent brainless fun.
As with the original version, Death Race takes place in the near future, 2018 in this case. The world has fallen into disarray, and so the government tries to keep to populace at bay by placating them with bloodsports, the most popular being "Death Race". Instead of the cross-country trip featured in the original, the race here takes place in a prison, with the contestants competing to gain their freedom from the cruel warden, Hennessey (Joan Allen).
The most popular driver is Frankenstein (voiced by David Carradine, who played the character in the original movie), who is one win away from gaining his parole. However, Frankenstein is killed by his main rival, Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson). Hennessey needs to bring in a replacement, who she finds in Jensen (Jason Statham), a former NASCAR driver willing to do anything to be reunited with his daughter. Teamed with a motley crew, including Deadwood's Ian McShane as his pit chief, Jensen puts the pedal to the metal and goes for broke in the most dangerous race of his life.
Paul Anderson is a director best know for his adaptations of video games, such as Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat, and Death Race fits his formula to a tee. Anderson even goes so far as to cast one of the stars of Mortal Kombat, Hong Kong action movie veteran Robin Shou, as one of the drivers. Not only that, but the driving action scenes almost feel like they came from a video game, with the drivers having to go over "power up" circles to get weapons for their vehicles. Thankfully, though, the driving antics are gritty enough that the viewer actually gets some excitement from them, rather than feeling like they're watching a CGI-produced video game cutscene.
Like Anderson's other movies, Death Race is heavy on action and short on story-telling. Those looking for deep characterization need to go elsewhere. Death Race is the sort of cornball action movie where guys are splattered like human pinatas, lots of crap gets blown up real good, and lines like "If that guy wants to fuck with me, I'll show him who needs to shit on the sidewalk" are uttered seriously. While it does feel like it needed an injection of the original version's camp and humor, Death Race is still competent enough to warrant a viewing. RATING: 6 |
