Death Race
Author: Wyatt Sanderman Day | Published: February 28th, 2009
The Jason Statham Franchise Improves the Remake of Death Race
British actor Jason Statham has used his "butt-kicking" franchise to propel the well produced action movie "Death Race" to a level that a pseudo "high-brow," like myself, can enjoy. Having made
such a flippant statement, I must admit, I do, on occasion, enjoy some action movies - especially if quality actors such as Jason Statham are involved. I don't, however, make a steady diet of them as many of today's movie fans do, moreover, should I see one that is action silly in its approach to telling some semblance of a story, I will review it accordingly in the harshest of tones. "Death Race" is different, better than most, and used the fast paced action within the scope of a neo-science fiction motif to tell a tale of a world turned upside down by an United States economic upheaval - reminiscent of the "Great Depression." The Movie showed an economic landscape where the backbone of manufacturing - the steel smelting plant, that Jensen Ames played by Jason Statham works, can't make enough money to keep its doors open.
Statham's character, Jensen Ames, has a young family to support, and then "poof," just like that, they're gone. Jensen is framed for the murder of his wife, loses his daughter to adoption and is remanded to prison for life without parole. This is the nexus of the story and from here the Death Race is all but certain. Why, you might ask?
The prison warden, Warden Hennessey, portrayed by veteran actor Joan Allen, created Death Race, the titular race within the movie, to make she and the corporation running the prison money by entertaining the dispirited masses - reminiscent of the
gladiatorial combat in the declining years of the Roman Empire. Created within the context of the Death Race are personas such as Frankenstein, Machine Gun Joe and Hector Grimm, that showcased as larger than life and for the most part drive and battle to victory or to the death. "Death Race" is the remake of "Death Race 2000," the 1975 release, which hypothesized that America would be in a similar state of decline by the year 2000. "Death Race" predicts that same dire state of decline will be in 2012. Considering the deep recession that we are in, and the process that led us into this economic decline, one might consider that their prophesy may be an accurate assessment of our future. This futuristic approach to this nebulas theme lends a Sci-fi feel to a fairly conventional race, using conventional technology, hardware and ordinance, that keeps the movie more real and more believable.
"B movie" producer Roger Corman produced "Death Race 2000" and the remake "Death Race," which was directed by W.S. Anderson, who also did the screenplay that has good pacing with some tight humorous lines delivered by just about every character other than
Jason Statham's character and Joan Allen's character, as events, within and beyond their control, lead them to spar to the death. How appropriate. Also worth mentioning is the Ian McShane, who as the character Coach, leads the pit team for Statham's Jensen Ames, and keeps it real as the principled father figure who loves the race. This deliriously fast paced movie may have an impact on you if you enjoy that kind of thing. I sometimes do especially if it is fairly well acted and believable. Using the "butt-kicking" franchise of Jason Statham assists in Director Anderson's endeavor in the 105 minutes of runtime that was allocated to keep our attention in this reasonable good attempt at entertaining us - 2 1/2 stars.
Rated R. Released on DVD December 21, 2008.
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