Death Race

I have decided that since Death Race takes place in the future in a world that doesn't exist but could possibly that makes it borderline sci-fi and therefore far more worthy of my review than the last two pictures I saw (Last weekend, I rented I am Legend and Funny Games and couldn't find anything to say about either other than "Sucked with a capital s-u-c-k...Avoid this like the plague!").

Death Race, on the other hand, was fantastic. The premise is that in the year 2012 the US economy is in the toilet causing unemployment to skyrocket, taking crime right along with it. The prison system is so overcrowded (the part of the story that is neither futuristic or sci-fi) that private corporations have taken over and decided to make money off of fixing the problem. The original solution is to hold a live action version of Celebrity Death Match, replacing the celebrities with convicts and the clay with real flesh. When audiences for this start to wane, they come up with a new plan. The Death Race. Same concept as the fights only now with the added bonus of three tons of steel, armor piercing ammunition, smoke screens, napalm and a whole menagerie of other nifty defensive and offensive toys.

The only rule is simple. Kill or be killed. Any racer to win five races is awarded his freedom. A fairly large motivation for life-sentenced convicts, especially when there are no penalties for anything (death or otherwise) that happens during the course of the race. A disfigured and masked racer nicknamed Frankenstein has won four but he died in a crash in his most recent race. Enter Jensen Amos (Jason Statham), former racecar driver turned laid-off steel mill worker (why we are never actually told but it seemed to be something legal...or illegal, as it were).

Following his last day at the mill, Jensen is upstairs in his home, checking on his daughter while someone else is downstairs, murdering his wife. Jensen is framed and sent to Terminal Island (the Alcatraz of the future) where Hennessey, the warden (Joan Allen) presents him with an opportunity. Put on the mask and race as Frankenstein. Win one race and go free.

While the plot is a little cookie-cutter, it was still entertaining. And the acting, especially Allen's Hennessey who I came to really hate vehemently by the middle of the movie, adds to the experience.

The concept, as well as the characters Frakenstein and Machine Gun Joe (played this time around by Tyrese Gibson), was based loosely on 1975's Death Race 2000, in which average citizens, not convicts, compete in a cross-country kill or be killed competition. The original film starred David Carradine as Frankenstein and Sylvester Stallone as Machine Gun Joe. (Side note: if you or your friends have ever joked about how many points can be earned by hitting a pedestrian or bicyclist with your car...you can thank Death Race 2000 writers Ib Melchior and Robert Thom for that).

My suggestion is if you are a fan of fast cars and big explosions, head over to your local cinema to catch 2008's Death Race on the big screen.