Movie Review: Death Race (2008)

The makers of the 2008 flick Death Race would like you to think that it is a remake of the 1975 movie Deathrace 2000. Actually, there is not all that much resemblance between the two movies despite the name and a somewhat similar plot Basically, the 1975 original took a clever idea and turned it into an original piece of futuristic cinema. This remake is just simply an ugly cliche ridden piece of garbage.

The 1975 original was about a nationwide cross-country race in which the race car drivers got points for running pedestrians over with their cars of death and destruction that included long barbs sticking out of the front of the cars. Some of the pedestrians were crazed fans who willingly threw themselves in front of the cars so that their favorite drivers could gain in the competition. These drivers had original names such as Herman the German, Matilda the Hun, Nero the Hero, Thomasina Paine, Calamity Jane and Frankenstein. Death Race 2000 also featured some very good performances from David Carradine, Fred Grandy & Sylvester Stallone. There is also John Landis, who would later become famous as a movie director, portraying a mechanic.

One of the drivers begins to be plagued by his conscience about participating in what is essentially organized hit and run driving. Meanwhile, there is a conspiracy in the federal government aimed at curtailing the death race and it has infiltrated an operative posing as a navigator into the race itself. The original Deathrace 2000 was a very well done thriller that has proved to be a most memorable work of cinema.

On the other hand, Death Race took a preposterous idea and pushed it to the max with the result that the audience's suspension of disbelief is shattered. For starters while the original movie was directed by the capable, if unglamorous, Paul Bartel, this alleged remake was helmed by Paul W.S. Anderson who has been responsible for more than his fair share of bad movies (AVP: Alien vs. Predator, Mortal Kombat & Resident Evil). Anderson also threw in numerous Hollywood cliches concerning innocent men behind bars and made a movie that more resembles a video game than anything else.

The plot of Death Race is poorly thought out. The movie is set at a prison, which like all prisons, is run by a corporation strictly for profit. Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is a prisoner who has been framed for murdering his wife. The prison warden, Hennessey (Joan Allen) makes a deal with Ames that she will set him free if he will first represent the prison in the "Death Race" that is run by prisoners in a nationally televised race to the death. Setting a prisoner free just for driving a car? Yeah right.

While the plot is badly conceived, the cinematography is even worse. Poor editing and excessive zoom shots mess up racing sequences that were already generally repetitive and boring. Poor production values make it difficult to discern just which race car is in the lead. Given how so many previous car race movies have excellent photography, it makes you wonder just what was going through Paul W.S. Anderson's head when he was making this poor excuse for a motion picture.

Another problem with this movie is that it is set too near in the future. Death Race 2000 was set 25 years in the future while in Death Race, the American economy collapses in 2012 and the events in the movie come just a few years later. It seems unlikely that American society could change so much in less than a decade from now.

In the end, Death Race is just a glorified video game on celluloid. It is a movie chock full of stock characters all of whom are made of cardboard. The cinematography is horrible as is the acting, directing and script. Unless you happen to like horrible movies, this is a flick to stay away from.