Death Race (2008) Movie Review

It is evident that we are officially in dump season with the arrival of the lousy and stupidly contrived Death Race. Dump season usually occurs from the end of August to November each year, in which studios dump films that they do not deem to worthy, hoping to make money on them, but most usually end up being some of the worst films of the year. Case and point with Death Race, which is an ultra-violent action race film that is based off of the Roger Corman’s 1975 cult film Death Race 2000.

The film takes place in 2012 and the economy is in an all time low. Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is an ex-Nascar driver and dedicated family man that has just be laid off from a local factory. The same night, he is framed for his wife’s murder and his baby girl is left fatherless as Jensen is taken to Terminal Island prison. The prison is run by the collective, but slithering warden Hennessey (Joan Allen), who has tapped into the local pay-per-view medium to earn money. The prisoners now participate live in Death Race, in which the contestants race in industrial areas and close-in tracks with cars loaded with machine guns, napalm, smoke, oil, rocket launchers, etc. The goal is for a prisoner to win five races, and Hennessey will let them go free. The audience loves the smashing action and gory deaths of the contestants, which occurs more often than ones that win. Hennessey makes Jensen a deal to take on the identify of a fame masked driver named Frankenstein. The real Frankenstein met his death in the last race, but it was kept away from the public. Hennessey informs Jensen that Frankenstein already had won 4 races, and all that Jensen needs to do is win one more to get his life back. Hesitant at first, but with no real choice Jensen joins the race under a different identity, but gains a trusty pit crew leader in Coach (Ian McShane) and a sexy navigator in Case (Natalie Martinez). Jensen biggest competition is not only racer Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson), but the obstacles themselves, in which Hennessey controls combat, fire, and when the participants can use their weapons.

Paul W.S. Anderson, the filmmaker behind Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Resident Evil and Alien v. Predator wrote and directed this total mess of a film. Anderson took some character names and instances from the original Death Race 2000, but this film is totally different. In the original, the participants ran over pedestrians as points, this one just has the participants trying to kill everyone on there way to win a race. Anderson has been slapped with the reputation of delivering mindless and silly futuristic action tales that are missing clarity and overdone with gore. Death Race is no exception, the violence is overboard and the plot and characters are uninteresting. However, if Anderson would have taken a full B-movie approach to this film, rather than trying to make it so testosterone filled and serious, Death Race could have worked as a cult film or a guilty pleasure. Serving as writer and director of this film, we are left with a very loud and unengaging event into terrible exploitation. It is so obvious that Anderson is setting to appease the male viewer, not only with the action, but also by throwing in slow-motion shots of beautiful young women as the drivers’ navigators. It seems that he was more than desperate to tap into this demographic more than anything and trying to make something totally cool. However, the end result is far from it.

Probably the most wasted are Anderson cast, which is a solid combination of action and dramatic stars. Jason Statham is the current generation’s Bruce Willis and is perfect to play Jensen. Not only does Statham look cool beating up people, but he is also appealing behind the wheel of a car. The great Joan Allen for some reason plays the warden in the film and literally chews the scenery, especially with her expletives. The also talented Ian McShane plays the wise pit crew leader Coach with his usual grizzly voice and engaging mannerisms. However, it is comical the many times that Anderson focuses on McShane’s cheesy one-liners such as “I love this game,” or “That’s what I call entertainment.” Lastly, Tyrese Gibson is not a credible actor, but he is a suitable action star, but to go from Transformers to Death Race is a real downgrade for him.

For the intended audience this film might work, but it is just flat out dumb and takes itself way too seriously. Numerous hate emails will probably be written in reference to this review, but Death Race is a horrible movie from a flashy and very inconsistent filmmaker in Paul W.S. Anderson.