‘Death Race:’ Don’t try this at home!
I could go ahead and place my bet on which professional critic will be the first to call it ‘The Fast and the Furious’ meets ‘Battle Royale,’ but because that would be too cliched, I’m just going to ask; does anyone remember that old Playstation franchise called ‘Twisted Metal?’ Well for all its former players, consider this to be the long awaited adaptation… only the title is more appropriate, and Paul W.S. Anderson (a natural video game director) puts the icing on the cake as the director.
He knew how to film ‘Resident Evil,’ and he certainly leaves none of his bloody craft behind as he straps some big artillery to a bunch of hard armored vehicles. It’s fast, it’s brutal, and in the simplest terms, it’s just preposterously entertaining. Only don’t be fooled by the term “race” here, because this is not a matter of which car can cross the finish line first, but which one is still in one piece when the finish line comes. It’s not a demolition derby… it’s an elimination derby!
Set in the near future of America, ‘Death Race’ follows a setup in which prison inmates are forced to compete in the driving arena. With only a few weeks left on his sentence, Jason Statham is recruited into being a driver by his warden (Joan Allen), and he quickly becomes a crowd favorite. He may be Jensen Ames back home, but to his racing buddies, he is Frankenstein! Tyrese Gibson plays “Machine Gun;” another sociopath looking to race his way to freedom, and other than knowing who’s who among the mug drivers, all you have to remember is that there are a lot of high speed races that turn ultra-violent, and no matter who battles whom, the warden is the ultimate antagonist like in any other story set behind bars… or in this case, behind the wheels.
Jason Statham can’t fly his car from one parking garage to the other this time around, but this is still a role he was easily meant for. He’s mindless and careless about what happens, and when given absolutely no limits, the Transporter becomes a Terminator on wheels. Tyrese Gibson also fits into this formula positively, but the two don’t exactly get the opportunity to create chemistry as desperate inmates. Variety Magazine might accentuate that small fuse into a bomb response, but when you step back and think about a plot line like this, is the term “chemistry” really necessary beyond just how you mixed the butter in your popcorn?
Response is always easiest when you have a film that is so guilty of ridicule, and yet so proud of itself for being so dumb. I have my share of excellent films that are deemed so because they are completely real with power, but I always enjoy a stupid good time, and ‘Death Race’ is easily a popcorn pleasure to say the least. It’s easy to hate it if your viewing boundaries are uptight, but in the aftermath of ‘The Dark Knight’ attack, this is not one to overlook if you just need to clear your head after a rough day. Just whatever you do… don’t try this at home!
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Aug 8 2008. Filed under Reviews.
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