Death Race (2008)

Hey everyone. Apologies, long hiatus, work, etc, etc, etc. Now that's out of the way, let's get down to business. I don't know whether I give off the art-house, elitist aficionado vibe, but I do enjoy straight-to-the-point action movies. Nothing wrong with them, but I think the biggest mistake that these kinds of movies make is taking themselves too seriously.

This is why I like Death Race (2008), starring Jason Statham as Jason Statham. OK I jest, but seriously, dude plays himself in all his movies. Anyway, he plays a wrongfully-accused convict in a depression-era near future, who is sent to prison for the crime of murdering his wife. He is then made to take part in a violent car race with the other convicts that is televised to the whole world by the prison warden, in order to gain his freedom and be reunited with his daughter.

I mean that's the gist of it. I don't want to tell you more, because it's a movie about a violent car race. You have to see it for yourselves. Think 18SG Speed Racer. 

What I really like about the movie is that the director Paul W. S. Anderson, understands that it is an action movie and gets straight down to business. You can scarcely catch your breath before the carpet is wrung from underneath you and you're thrown into another action sequence. The movie knows its lead is an actor with the acting chops of a dinner table, so it does not try to veer into dramatic scenes for long. It's one car race scene after another. Come to think of it, it could be that the pacing was a necessity after all, and not an artistic decision.

Which is why I can't stand the Fast and Furious franchise. It's also about dudes who race cars (or used to be), but they always make it melodramatic. "You're my best friend, how could you betray me?!" "How could you pretend you were dead all this while we grieved for you?!" Shut your pie hole, Vinnie D.

I remember thinking to myself right after the credit starts rolling: "Hmm, that was...efficient." The busier I get these days, and the less time I have to watch movies I have, the more I think that more movies should be like this. If they know that they are no Inception or A Few Good Men, be quick about it and show us the good bits. Enough talking and DEFINITELY no crying please. No way they're gonna really convince us that the giant space-faring robots are TOTALLY GOING TO DESTROY EARF, GUIZZZE, we can't really relate to the threat on the life of the US president that is posed by the Muslim but suspiciously multi-racial looking terrorists, and yeah you paid too much for the lead actress so now you have to shoehorn her naked quivering form into an awkward love scene to make it worth it.

Intro set piece, exposition, car chase, final exposition, second set piece, plot twist, final set piece, boom! Movie's over in under 90 minutes, $100 mil in worldwide collection, 55-65 rating on Metacritic. That's how it should be done.

The GOOD: Enjoyable for an action movie, and does not overstay its welcome with our attention.

My VERDICT: 7/10. Knows what it's supposed to do, and does it well.

TRIVIA: This movie is actually a remake of Death Race 2000 (1975), starring David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone.