Death Race

Synopsis

Jason Statham (The Transporter) leads this cast as Jensen Ames, a speedway champion and falsely accused felon of a horrible murder who is approached by his prison warden to race in a futuristic inmate-driving race to the death. His release papers will be signed if he just wins. The death races are web cast for substantial profits and for an audience that has an appetite for violence and “Go Speed Racer” entertainment. Jensen agrees to race, but soon discovers this race has more to do with profits and less to do with rules.

Review

Red light, yellow light, green light….GO! Action from the door. Very seldom did I get a chance for my heart rate to settle through this film. I wasn’t expecting much from Death Race because the trailer just seemed like another unrealistic and over-the-top movie. I did know there would be tons of action because the lead actor was Jason Statham. If he’s in a film, the majority of the time, it’s a thrill fest. Well, Death Race definitely surpassed my expectations because the set-up was crisp, the lead character’s story makes you put yourself in his work boots and you truly feel his situation. Act II never stopped the racing on screen and with my pulse. Act III… you’ll just have to see it for yourself. I can say this; some of it is quite delicious. It’s gory, it’s over the top, and it’s pretty unrealistic, but Death Race is a surprisingly entertaining movie.

Death Race has some of the wildest and best car races I’ve ever seen. I thought Speed Racer had some excellent racing. I didn’t see the original Death Race 2000 film that this is a remake of. Hey, did you know this is a remake? I didn’t until I did some research. Sylvester Stallone was the lead actor in the original film made back in 1975. I was laughing when I read that this movie was set in the year 2000. No anarchy. No chaos. But hey—how could they have known?

Anyhoo, Jensen Ames (Statham) is a hardworking man with a beautiful family who gets framed for his wife’s murder. Mmm mmm mmm. He ends up at Terminal Island—one of the worst prisons that is notorious for it’s profitability—as prisons are now run by private companies who are allowed to make a buck off their inmates. Shortly after he’s locked up, Jensen is approached by the nefarious Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen, The Bourne Ultimatum) to race for her to win his freedom. I bet some of you just thought, "I need a drink." Hennessey is nasty, people. Try Captain Morgan and Coke. That was my favorite in my yesteryears.

This power-tripping woman is COLD. I was thinking you MMMMM every time I saw her bird face. Well, she needs Jensen’s talents behind the wheel. It is established that he was a champion racer back in the day. You know this chick knew this. She needs the best and most entertaining drivers she can because these killer racers are streamed over the Internet to more viewers than the Superbowl and you need a subscription to watch. Her most popular character, Frankenstein, has died, and she wants Jensen to secretly replace Frankie to prevent a ratings dip. If this was real life, would you pay to watch this barbaric racing?

Crazy readers! Just kidding.

The cars in this race were sick. I’m talking about heavily armored, attached with weaponry such as machine guns and blazing torch fires. I might have seen a rocket launcher. I’m not sure. You’re probably wondering, ”Why not kill the guards and escape???”. Good question, and Death Race even takes the time to help you understand why that ain't gonna happen.

This is a violent picture and some of the driver’s deaths are not pretty—so be prepared. People get JACKED UP a lot. Rated R is a must for this puppy. And luckily NO BABIES were in this theater—parents must have wised up.

This movie was good for having stock characters that have no back-story and you wished they did. There’s an inmate named Lists (Frederick Koehler, Zero 2 Sixty) that stuttered and looked like he’s 18 and innocent as a newborn baby. Why was he in there? I have no clue. I mean, this prison housed the WORST CRIMINALS and here’s this lap dog, with a cotton vest and all, hanging out with cons and doesn’t seem to be anyone’s ”girlfriend”. My husband asked me about 7 times what was he in for?

“Man, I don’t know.”

I also said "SHHHHHH" and "shut up buffalo head" but those were just thoughts.

I was hoping it would be thrown in there somewhere, but nope it wasn’t. We’ll just assume he killed his parents or something. Of course my hubby would say that's only our assumption and the director/writer dropped the ball.

Death Race delivers superbly with the pounding action because it never let up. Certain characters you wanted to slap silly—Warden Hennessey, that MMMMM—and others you weren’t sorry to see them leave. I missed the pre-screening for Death Race and actually didn’t mind paying a non-matinee price for it. Shockingly, I really liked it. Perhaps you will too.

Have a wonderful day, an awesome evening, and a cold Hennessey...well...unless it’s Sunday.

My Rating ~ 4 Reels

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