Death Race

[KLAXXON]

Producer Roger Corman's cult classic film DEATH RACE 2000 gets a millennium overhaul with director Paul W.S. Anderson (EVENT HORIZON, RESIDENT EVIL) behind the wheel. Jason Statham (THE TRANSPORTER, THE BANK JOB) plays Jensen Ames, a prisoner who is serving a sentence for a crime that he didn't commit. But in this futuristic society, Ames can compete for his freedom with a victory in a brutal three-day race. Joan Allen (THE ICE STORM, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY), TYRESE GIBSON (BABY BOY, 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS) and Ian McShane (HOT ROD, TV's DEADWOOD) co-star in this high octane chase film.




An ex-con sent back to prison is forced to participate in society's most popular sport: brutal car races to the death. Loose revamp of the Roger Corman-produced exploitation classic Death Race 2000, directed by Paul WS Anderson and starring Jason Statham
Innocent man framed and cast into fearsome prison: check. Dystopian future where religious fundamentalists and faceless corporations rule: check. Cars with enough horse and firepower to make a demolition derby look like fairground dodgems: check. The simple set-up duly ticked off, gentlemen, start your engines.

You expect stripped-down and lug-dumb from British director Paul WS Anderson's trashy popcorn flicks - Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, the execrable Alien Vs. Predator. These are films that take aim at the lowest common denominator, then kneecap it. Anderson adding the 'WS' initials to his name to avoid being mistaken for Paul Thomas Anderson was surely a self-deprecating dig: For Dubya Ess, There Will Be Blood is a mantra, not the title of his own modern classic.

So imagine the surprise to find Death Race the outrageously enjoyable, unashamedly tricked-out ride it largely is. Crude, rude, testosterone-clotted, meat-headed fun, mind, but its loud and proud lack of pretension is a relief compared to the pseudo-profundity of many blockbusters such as Hancock and The Incredible Hulk. Its closest recent relative is probably Wanted; adult in content, teenage at heart and almost child-like (childish if it's not your thing) in its desire to show off. Fashioning itself as a sort of prequel to Paul Bartel's Death Race 2000, Anderson keeps the junky B-movie premise, largely junks the snarky social commentary and concentrates on what producer Roger Corman's low-budget never allowed: genuine wholesale destruction.

In 1975 David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone had guns mounted on their vehicles that couldn't actually fire. In 2008 Tyrese Gibson's Machine Gun Joe has two Vulcan Cannons attached to his Dodge Ram truck (a Black Hawk helicopter has only one). They do fire. A lot.

Once Statham's Jensen Ames is forced by evil warden Hennessey (Allen) to don the mask of legendary driver Frankenstein, it's arcade games all the way, the three races around maximum security prison Terminal Island even divvied up like Nintendo 'levels', complete with weapons and shields icons to activate.

Meanwhile Allen's ice queen watches from her control room, pausing to utter occasional nonsense like "Release the Dreadnought" with an admirably straight face. For those who never thought they'd see the Oscar nominee of Nixon and The Crucible swear like a dockyard sailor, here's your chance. Ian McShane is also along for the ride as Ames's inevitable grizzled coach (named 'Coach'). Meanwhile Anderson's clunky script flirts with a truckload of homoeroticism and equal opportunity ogling of both Statham's chiselled torso and co-star Natalie Martinez's curves. Statham's raspy Larndun growl and stoic, muscular minimalism is becoming a reassuring screen presence, but let's face it, if you're here at all, you're here for the car carnage.

On that front, Anderson's lean, greenscreen-free, nuts and bolts practical stunts triumph. Though at times a mite confusing as to who's zooming who, overall the director's inventive appetite for destruction and Niven Howie's superbly kinetic editing work a treat. The scene where Frankenstein and nemesis Machine Gun Joe team up against Hennessey's aforementioned flame-throwing behemoth Dreadnought is brutal, brilliant action.

Full-throttle Anderson takes the chequered flag; inevitably it's the attempts to get emotional, with Ames' orphaned baby daughter and a sputtering Shawshank Redemption-lite ending that stall. Best keep that pedal to the metal, Dubya Ess.




The Fast and the spurious - park your brain in neutral and buckle up for a cheerfully nasty, undeniably entertaining, pumped-up, pimped-out thrill ride.















Jason Statham ...  Jensen Ames
Joan Allen ...  Warden Hennessey
Ian McShane ...  Coach
Tyrese Gibson ...  Machine Gun Joe Mason
Natalie Martinez ...  Elizabeth Case
Max Ryan ...  Pachenko
Jacob Vargas ...  Gunner
Jason Clarke ...  Guard Ulrich
Frederick Koehler ...  Lists
Justin Mader ...  Travis Colt
Robert LaSardo ...  Hector Grimm
Robin Shou ...  14K
Benz Antoine ...  Joe's Navigator #1
Danny Blanco ...  Joe's Navigator #2 (as Danny Blanco Hall)
Christian Paul ...  Joe's Navigator #3





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