2 1/2 Stars:
Come on, it's called "Death Race." What did you expect from this movie? I have had the argument with many people that the Academy Award winning movie "Crash" is my least favorite movie ever. The popular response is worst movie of all time? What about "Deuce Bigaloo" or any Rob Schneider movie? Rob Schneider is intentionally making stupid movies which make them funny to some. "Crash" was trying to make a movie about racism that makes you think, but instead insults your intelligence (give me "American History X"). "Death Race" wasn't trying to accomplish anything but a fun movie to watch and it succeeds at that.
"Death Race" is a remake of the Roger Corman exploitation classic film "Death Race 2000" starring David Carradine and a pre "Rocky" Sylvester Stallone. I have not seen the original. "Death Race" stars Jason Statham as Jensen Ames (also known as Frankenstein) and Tyrese Gibson stars as Machine Gun Joe.
The movie takes place in the future, and if you can imagine it, the economy is a lot worse than it is right now. Jensen does manual labor for a living, except that he doesn't know how much money he's working for until payday. It is usually a lot less than expected. He goes home to his wife and infant girl with the poor pay. His wife tells him it'll be ok. He goes to check on his daughter. When he comes back he finds that his wife is lying on the kitchen floor dead. He's then attacked and left unconscious. He wakes up to find out that he's been framed for his wife's murder.
While in prison Jensen is approached by the warden played by Joan Allen about a reality show called "Death Race." "Death Race" is a popular reality show where convicts race for their freedom. If you win four times you get released. The most popular character is a guy named Frankenstein, who wears a mask. He has three victories. The warden keeps killing off the convict Frankenstein and recruiting different people to be Frankenstein. Jensen is a former driver, so the warden had someone frame him so he could be the next Frankenstein.
Jensen agrees to participate in the race so that he can get out and be with his daughter. Little does he know that the warden has no intention of letting him win. Machine Gun Joe is his main nemesis. The race takes place in three different stages. The first two stages, the only two goals are to survive and kill. The third stage is about winning.
"Death Race" is a pretty straight forward action story. If you go into this realizing you're watching a fun action movie then you'll have fun. If you go into this movie hoping for something special, you'll out right hate it. If you like Jason Statham movies then I recommend this. If you're too smart for movies like this then you're probably a douche bag incapable of fun, but that's ok. Seriously though, this is an action movie called "Death Race." You should be able to tell before you see it if you'll like it or not, just based off the title.
BYLINE:
Bob Zerull is a frequent movie and concert goer who talks about his ventures to arenas and theaters more than any person should be allowed to do. Now, he puts them down on paper. Email him your thoughts at: bzerull19@gmail.com.
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