This is the remake of the classic Roger Corman movie, DEATH RACE 2000, made in 1976 starring David Carradine. This one stars Jason Statham (Crank, Transporter, various Guy Richie movies and a good movie in The Bank Job) and has as his arch-nemesis Joan Allen. Yes, Joan Allen. Yikes.
The story: Jensen Ames (played by Jason Stathem) who loses his job and comes home to his loving wife and child only to have a man kill his wife and frame him for her murder. He is sent to prison where the warden (Joan Allen) gives him an opportunity to participate in the famous Death Race. You see, a famous racer, Frankenstein (a man so deformed he wears a mask at all times), is dead but because he is so popular the warden has kept it secret. If Ames takes his place (wears the mask) and wins the next race he can win his freedom and get back his daughter who is being rased by some else. Ames accepts and enters the race taking the place of the dead Frankenstein. This Death Race has the prisoner racing around a track inside the prison, gaining weapsons and shields on the track as they try to kill each other and win the race. During the race Ames will also find out that one of the racers is the man who killed his wife and that the warden set him. Now it's not just about racing...it's personal!
Um...okay. So they've taken all the social commentary out of the original (as well as all the humor) and made this into a pretty straight forward action flick. Which is okay, if they do it well, which unfortunately they didn't. In fact, this is an incredibly stupid movie. The first half is actually okay. We have the death of the original Frankenstein (played by David Carridine, reprising his role from the original) and we have Ames getting framed and sent to prison where we learn about the race and watch Ames do his thing. It's all pretty good, if kind of stiff. You've got this FUGATIVE angle of Ames being framed and you've got this action gimmick in the actual death race, but by midpoint there just isn't anything else to do. There isn't really any mystery about who killed Ames' wife and framed him and it's no surprise when the warden is behind it. So we just get more of the same -- more racing, that all looks basically the same -- more grunting, more attempts by people to sabotage his car and more and more ridiculous things thrown at him. How ridiculous does it get? Well, at one point the warden unleashes some monstrous car/train/tank/fire-missile thing at them in the middle of the race. Huh? Why? How does that play into the race at all? Wouldn't people watching wonder why the f&ck this thing is doing in the middle of the race? It makes no sense, but I'm sure they thought it would look good so what the hey.
And then the ending, again, makes no sense. So Ames was framed for mudering his wife. You'd think the finale would involve clearing his name and getting revenge. No, it's about escaping. And where do they escape to? Miami. Except now he's really a fugative who escaped from prison on national tv and is still wanted for the murder of his wife. And he has no money, except now that isn't a problem for some reason. WTF?
And how does that impact the television show that is Death Race or what it means to the prison system or how does any of this connect back to the basic concept? It doesn't. Oh, and how do they get revenge on the warden? They send a bomb to blow her up -- and it's not even Ames who does it but one of the other prisoners. But if it's so easy to kill her why not do it before? And if it's so important to kill her as revenge why isn't Ames doing it himself?
Seriously, the second half of this movie is just stupid. It was directed by Paul WS Anderson who has made a living off incredibly bad and stupid action movies and this is as bad as any of them. It's a shame too, because in a celebrity-reality show obsessed culture like we have it would seem that Death Race would be a great movie to remake. But the original Death Race 2000 worked because it had something to say and this is as empty and stupid as any movie ever made. Which isn't to say it has to comment on society or anything -- if they want to do a Fugative/Shawshank thing that's fine, but they use that to say something about...I don't know...getting framed or the system that doesn't care about innocence or something. This had nothing, so by the second half they have to just throw more and more ridicuous things at the screen.
Lame.
The one positive thing about the movie was his co-pilot, Case, played by Natalie Martinez, who is about the hottest woman I've seen on screen all year. I have to buy new glasses because seeing her caused my eyes to melt and now my perscription is wrong. Wow.
*** MAYBE RENT if you want a really dumb action movie and even then you should probably only watch the first half ***
Now let me talk a minute about the original DEATH RACE 2000, the classic Roger Corman film starring David Carradine.
First let me say...
*** ABSOLUTE CLASSIC -- MUST SEE -- HIGHEST RATING ****
The story: in the future, the president has become a dictator who controls the people by satisfying their blood lust with something called the Death Race, which has car racers driving across the country killing as many people as they can. Each kill get you points -- more points for the elderly, children and cripples. The drivers are as famous as rock stars and people will sacrifice themselves or others so their favorites can gain points. Of course, some people don't like them and want to kill them, so they have to beware of people setting traps. The movie centers on FRANKENSTEIN (played by David Carradine). Rumors abound about who he is and why he wears the mask, most assuming it is to hide a horrible disfigurement. In this race, Frankenstein gets a new navigator after killing his last one. What he doesn't know is this navigator is part of a resistance that wants to kill him. However, she learns that Frankenstein is not the real Frankenstein -- that it is just a name and a mask and when one Frankenstein is used up they get other, except this Frankenstein has a plan to end the race forever. Whoever wins the race gets to shake the hand of the president and he will use that to kill the president. Now his co-pilot has to help him win the race even as her own people are trying to kill him and the other racers trying to defeat him so he can get his chance to kill the president and end the race forever...
So what is this movie doing that is so much better than the remake. (Short answer: everything.) First, in addition to the action concept (which is there in both movies) there is the social commentary -- the bloody death-filled Death Race was a reflection of the violence obsessed culture of the 70's. Not only it that commentary there, but it is woven throughout the movie. The people who love the race and help the drivers to kill, the people who hate the race and try to kill the drivers. His co-pilot is part of the resistance. His plot to kill the president to end the race. Everything keeps pulling back to the concept of the race and what it means. In the remake, the race is just a plot device. The fact that it's a tv show never has any real influence on the protagonist. The story of the remake is really about a guy who is framed trying to get out, but there isn't much story there. There's no big mystery about who is behind it and he never does anything to clear his name. It doesn't even feel like a revenge film since going to jail and joining the race aren't part of his plan, so he really only starts to look to avenge his wife after midpoint and even the big finally is about escape, not revenge. So while the original does a great job keeping everything focused, the remake is (at best muddled). There's also the movie itself. The original while commenting on society's love of sex and violence also satified it with plenty of action, blood and nudity. It's about the R-rated side of society and they made an R-rated movie to explore it. The remake is oddly devoid of this. There is no sense of the bloolust that would make the death race popular within the race itself. The racers don't like it, the co-pilots don't like it, the warden doesn't like it. So why is it popular? Why does it exist at all? And again that's the problem -- the movie wants to use these things, but not really tap into them, which would be okay if there was some other, deeper story it wanted to tell, but there isn't. So while the original is focused and cool, the remake is at best a muddled mess of concept and story, neither of which support each other or make any sense.
Want to make a great movie? Come up with a cool concept, then use that concept to tell a good story and make sure everything -- every decision from the plot to the dialog to the character arcs to the casting to the set design will help support and focus on that story. If you have a muddled concept, if you have a muddled story, if your story and concept don't support each other, if those other decisions you are making don't support the story you are telling, then everything will fall apart and what you will get is at best a muddled hot mess and at worse is something stupid and lame. Like DEATH RACE (2008).
*** (original DEATH RACE 2000) -- CLASSIC MOVIE! MUST SEE!!! ****
*** DEATH RACE (2008 remake) -- MAYBE RENT if you want a lame action movie and even then you should turn it off by midpoint because it just gets more and more stupid from there ***
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