Blu-Ray dvd movie review of Death Race
December 21, 2008
The combination of Jason Statham and Paul W.S. Anderson should be a warning enough if you don't like mindless movies. Anderson is famous for the movies based on video games such as Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil franchise. While Resident Evil is tolerable, Mortal Kombat and few other movies directed by Anderson is utterly forgettable. Jason Statham on the other hand, have been in few decent movies. Mostly, he stars as action hero type in movies like Transporter and Crank. So, it's no surprise that Death Race is an action film resembling other Anderson films. Mindless and sometimes fun.
The film takes place in 2012 where United State's economy has collapsed. To trim the costs, the federal government has turned over the prison to private corporations. Not surprisingly, these corparation air death matches on ppv to make some extra profits. When the public wants more action, one corpration runs death races where heavily armed cars race where there are no rules. It's quite comical how Anderson incorprates "power ups" where a car running over panel can get you offensive weapons or defensive weapons. Mario Kart anyone? Now, Jason Statham's character Jensen Ames gets framed for his wife's murder so the warden can bring him in to run in the race in the place of legendary Frankenstein. Frankenstein, having won 4 previous race, is eligible for freedom if he wins the 5th race. Only problem is he died after the 4th win. To bring in a good rating, the warden turns to Jensen to race as Frankenstein.
The acting is not really required except for facial expressions when most characters die. And, plot development is very minimal. Why bother with plot when you kill, maim, and blow up stuff. This movie is everything a critic might hate. It's brainless, violent, and ridiculous premise. This is why you might enjoy it for few hours. It's easy to turn off your brain and enjoy the mayhem. Ultimately, it's decent action movie you might enjoy. The Blu-ray version comes with unrated edition and your regular assortment of extras.
What do you think about this movie? Please leave your thoughts below.
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The King of Labor Day Weekend Scores Again
“Death Race” is popcorn entertainment at it’s best. Back in my day they used to call this stuff drive-in fare. Ironically, I never went to a drive-in probably because I couldn’t drive. In a nutshell I would say this flick is a hybrid of it’s predecessor, “Death Race 2000″, and “Escape From New York”. The action here is white-knuckle and virtually non-stop. A real adrenaline rush this is. Jason Statham cements his crown as an icon of the action genre. Statham picks his vehicles well and “Death Race” is no exception. Joan Allen plays against type and scores a ten as the tough-as-nails warden. This flick may not be for everybody but it had me cheering.
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Death Race
This review is for the 2009 version. I liked seeing the difference in the remake. Similar plot, but very different with updated special effects. Jason Statham is quite good and helps elevate the movie even if it is a B movie SciFi. Overall good action with plenty of what you would expect with this title. Good quality DVD with some replayability. If you enjoyed this catch Crank [Blu-ray].
CA Luster
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Not Bad!
I am a fan of Jason Statham’s work and this was pretty good. Whilst the original Death Race 2000 still had some elements that was hard to top the re-make was flashier, had better special effects and was grittier than the original. Definitely worth adding to your collection.
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Love Death Race!
If you like great B movies, an absurd premise and Jason Statham, this movie is for you. It has ridiculous cars, hot bodies, an absurd story line and is simply all around fun. A great guilty pleasure!
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Despite The Clichés, It Was An Entertaining Film
Regardless of the politically-correct finish to this film and the predictable prison stereotypes, this was a fun film to watch simply because it thoroughly entertained. It was a good diversion, filled with total nonsense mayhem and testosterone-gone-wild. In other words, this was a typical Jason Statham film! No matter how many of these ultra-macho men he plays, he gets away with it with charm and likability.
Mostly there are nothing but bad folks in here and a lot of ultra-violent scenes, one-after-the-other. You also have other cliché prison characters, the kind you see in all prison films since “The Longest Yard.” Beware of jiggling hand-held camera scenes, if that kind of thing gives you a headache.
Having said that, I admit the film is interesting start-to-finish, the racing scenes terrific, the film effectively manipulative, and overall qualifies as a decent means of entertainment. Statham is the new Steve Seagal, Jean-Claude VanDamme, etc – but that’s okay; some of their movies were fun to watch, too.
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