Watched this tonight.
Director Paul WS Anderson, who inexplicably is Mr Milla Jovovich, is usually thought of as a rather D list director, previous works including the Resident Evil films, Mortal Kombat, and of course Alien vs Predator. Personally, I thought most of those were enjoyable enough hokum, so his name being attached to this isn't the warning bell that some take it as.
Plot wise, it's a 're-imagining' of Death Race 2000, a 70s flick starring David Carradine, and a very young Sly Stallone. It's set now in the US, 2012: The imprisoned population is so vast that private companies are hired. In Terminal Island Prison, "Death Race", a gladiator-like fight to the finish competition is held to raise funds. It's all done with a touch of black humour, shown as a reality TV show for the blood crazed masses. The film opens on such a duel, with Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson from 2 Fast 2 Furious), chasing down crowd favourite Frankenstein (a cameo from Carradine). Frank wins, but takes a rocket up the chuff as he does so.
Enter Jason Statham. He plays a hard working labourer, and has just lost his job. He comes home dirty, but okay, and somehow soo finds himse;f holdign a knife covered in the blood of his very freshly deceased wife, with police all around him. He's taken to Terminal Island, and begins to serve his sentence. At this point, the prison warden, played by Joan Allen, tells him that if he partakes in the races he'll go free; his CV explains that he used to be a champion racing driver. Long story short, he is to become Frankenstein, the original Frank having died of his injuries.
I won't go into too much more detail, but he's introduced to his coach, played by Ian McShane, and it all kicks off from there. That's an understatement really, because it really does all kick off. Lots of people die very painful deaths, there's lots of explosions, and it's utterly relentless. It's also a very violent film, and the 15 certificate baffled me, but it's also very entertaining, and only a slightly soft ending spoils things. The acting was pretty good, and even Statham wasn't upstaged by his more prestigious costars. Speaking of Statham, Christ is that bloke built like a brick shit house. Ahem.
So I liked it a lot. No, it's not going to appeal to everyone, but if you're after an action film to occupy 110 minutes of you like you could do a lot worse than this.
Subject: Death Race (2008) 
Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:31 pm
