Sunday, August 24, 2008
A+E, Movies, Reviews
‘Death Race’ gets the job done
A post-graduate driver’s ed course in a post-industrial setting
Courtesy of Universal Pictures
Jason Statham in “Death Race”
“DEATH RACE”
Jason Statham, Joan Allen
Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson
Rated R
Wide releaseA post-graduate driver’s ed course in a post-industrial setting, “Death Race” combines hyper machismo and hyper editing to good effect for fans of brainless, straight-ahead action dramas.
Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (“Resident Evil,” “Alien vs. Predator”), it’s an update of the 1975 drive-in classic “Death Race 2000,” which pitted David Carradine against a pre-“Rocky” Sylvester Stallone. In the year 2020, the prison system has been privatized, and makes a profit from broadcasting and webcasting gladiatorial combat between prisoners. The most popular contest is Death Race, live from Terminal Island, home of “the worst of the worst.”
When popular favorite “Frankenstein,” who wears a mask over his disfigured face, dies, Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen, slumming in stiletto heels) needs someone to wear the mask. Enter former racing champion Jensen Ames (Jason Statham), a hard-working family man with a prison record. Hennessy orders a hit on his wife and frames him for it. (Relax—you can get all that from the trailer.) With Ames in her custody, Hennessey dangles the possibility of freedom to get him into the three-day race.
Statham’s about a good as any action hero we have today, and gives his usual tough, tender performance. He’s aided by Ian McShane (as the head of his pit crew) and Natalie Martinez (as his co-pilot). Tyrese Gibson plays his main opponent, Machine Gun Joe.
The action is more furious, if not faster, than in the “Fast and the Furious” movies; the editing of the action scenes is better than in many big-budget blockbusters that substitute money for skill. “Death Race” is neither an art film nor film art, but it gets the job done. 2.5 STARS—Steve Warren