Death Race

Starring: Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane, Joan Allen, Natalie Martinez, Robin Shou
Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Thriller
2008

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: In the near future, a popular sport has been created- the Death Race, a deadly race among convicts, with the winner gaining their freedom. A former race car driver (Jason Statham) is framed, imprisoned, and coerced into racing by the prison's scheming warden (Joan Allen).

Review:

Tim: I actually wasn't upset about this remake. The 1975 film was pretty atrocious in a cheesy, cornball way, so there was a great deal of room for improvement. While this film takes the original concept to new levels while changing the basic structure of the story, it still has a number of flaws of its own. Perhaps surprising to some, this is a remake that is far superior to the original (yet still leaves a great deal of room for improvement. Let me be clear here- yes, it is better than the original, no, this is not a good movie.

Our hero is Jason Statham, a former race car driver framed for the grisly murder of his wife. The frame up is done in such a ridiculous way, it is hard to believe that any society (in the near future, mind you) could put him away for it. This gap in logic aside, Statham does make a good hero, forced into becoming Frankenstein. Statham has a great deal of experience in disappointing, silly films, and he always manages to maintain at least a bit of self-respect. He is a very good action hero, and he does good work here as well. Tyrese Gibson does what he usually does- plays a weak second fiddle in silly, stupid movies. He did the exact same thing in 2 Fast 2 Furious. Luckily, his performance here is better than in that film, although I desperately wish he was better. I also need to mention Joan Allen. How in the world did Allen get mixed up in this film? Allen is too good of an actress to be stuck in bad movies like this one. Now, that being said, Allen's presence greatly helps this movie. She was often like a breath of fresh air, bringing a bit of respectability and credibility to this movie. Still, while the film very much depends on her presence, she should never have been here.

The biggest draw of this film is the action. There are some fairly good racing scenes, crazy action, and impressive gunfights. The races are actually pretty cool, with the different weapons, defenses, and surprising obstacles. While the direction here isn't great, the races do afford a good amount of suspense and excitement. I found myself getting caught up in the races, despite my overall distaste with the film as a whole. These scenes would have been even better had director Paul W.S. Anderson done a better job of airing these scenes out, instead of focusing so closely on the cars that it was often hard to see what exactly was going on. Still, this is Death Race, and there are a number of pretty gruesome deaths for our enjoyment.

I liked the departure of this film from its original source. Too often, remakes feel like they stay too close to the original, as if the previous film's magic will rub off on it. Perhaps because the '75 version was so bad, this movie used the material but went off on its own. I appreciate when a sequel does that, and it worked in this movie's favor. Unfortunately, this film is still a silly movie that is completely filled with plot holes. Too often, action movies forget to tell good, compelling stories, instead of using the human elements to set up the next big action scene. While this film wasn't as bad as some, it does this far too much. I won't go into the plot holes because I don't want to give away any spoilers, but the film' final explosion is so ridiculous, I can't believe not a single person involved in the film let logic point out the problems with this conclusion. I can only shake my head at these major flaws in the film.

Death Race does provide what it promises to deliver- a number of crazy deaths occurring during deadly races. If that is enough for you, then this is the movie you want to watch. However, despite its action scenes, this movie is mostly disappointing. I liked it better than the previous film, but I still didn't like this movie very much at all.


Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Death Race 2000, The Bourne Supremacy, Crank, The Transporter