Set in a dystopian near future, where the worlds economy has collapsed, unemployment is rife, prisons are overcrowded, and entertainment networks rule the airwaves with increasingly violent bloodsports, culminating with the eponymous Death Race, which takes place in an island prison called the Terminal, with inmates competing for the promise of a pardon and release upon their fourth race victory. Jason Statham stars as Jensen Ames, a disgraced former professional racing driver, who gets framed for the murder of his wife and child. Once incarcerated he gets enlisted by the warden Hennessy (Joan Allen) to take part in the next race under the disguise of current ratings favourite Frankenstein, who died during the last race, but whose demise is secret to the public. Death Race needs Frankenstein to keep the ratings high. Ames agrees, and aided by his pit team, with Coach (Lovejoys Ian Mcshane) in charge, he lines up on the racing line to take on a host of other racers including Frankensteins sworn enemy Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson) in a three stage race to the death, in seriously tooled up and tricked out monster cars.
Now, to be fair, i wasn't expecting much from the movie, and from the start i got what i was expecting. Starting off slowly in the world of the future, with Ames losing his job, rioting at the heavy duty plant where he works, then going home to his loving wife, where lo & behold, she gets murdered, and he gets framed. So far, so cliche. When he gets to prison we are treating to prison scenes straight out of the "How to do Hollywood Prisons For Dummies" manual, new guy gets evil eyed by the inmates, cons pumping iron, a dusty exercise yard, yadda yadda yadda, then the new guy pisses off the prison tough guys, (neo nazis obviously), obligatory fight in the canteen, and thats how he gets strong armed into the racing. We meet the tough warden Hennessy, played with icy vissitude by Joan Allen, and then introduced to the Frankenstein pit team, with the most pathetically uninspired nicknames so prevalent in tough guy action films. We have the coach of the team called Coach, the cars armorer named Gunner, and a nerdy slightly autistic technician, obsessed with facts and figures, called, wait for it, Lists.
The film really comes to life during the races themselves, and director Paul WS Anderson should be applauded for his insistence on real life special effects here, because the races and crashes are so brutal, and vivid that the film really soars during the race scenes. Its bloody, its violent, its overblown, its great. The cars look amazing, with huge armour plating, gattling guns and gadgets to put Wacky Races to shame. But then the races stop, and the plot gets dragged out again. Andersons directing is well suited to the action scenes, its flashy, quick and razor sharp, but his ear for dialogue isn't as astute, maybe he should just stick to directing?
Statham is perfectly suited to this sort of role, in this sort of movie, as he clearly puts a lot into the films themselves, without ever taking himself too seriously. It would be nice to see him get his acting chops around something a bit more cerebral and mainstream though, i think he deserves the break. The other performances are reasonable considering the walking cliches they are portraying. Joan Allen, normally appearing in serious roles, really adds ice to the warden character, and she gets the best line in the film...
"Okay cocksucker. Fuck with me, and we'll see who shits on the sidewalk."
Which got a huge laugh in the screening, for all the wrong reasons.
In comparison to the original, they really only have a few things in common other than the title, and a few character names, but the sense of stupid over the top violence for violence sakes remains. The ending is silly, the female navigator role is a bit superfluous (you need a navigator when you only race on one track?), the acting is a bit hammy in places, the characters are as 2D as the film poster, but the action is great, and worth seeing if you want to disengage from reality for a short time.
So in conclusion...
So the movie isn't aint great, but its worth seeing if your drunk, or if you just fancy switching your brain off off for 2 hours.
2.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment