Death Race

I think we've reached a point where movies stop merely resembling video games, and pretty much have become live action non-interactive video games that we watch. Case in point - Death Race. The movie features a group of prison convicts who drive around in souped up cars that look like something out of Mad Max or...well...a video game. They're equipped with various weapons like machine guns, missiles, drills, and even napalm. But there are rules. The driver can only use his weapon if he drives over an icon that's printed on the street they're driving on. If they drive over a "sword" icon, they can use their main weapons. If they drive over a "shield" icon, they can use their rear weapon. If that description makes Death Race sound like "Mario Kart from Hell", you're not too far off.

Death Race is a very loose update/remake of the 70s cult classic, Death Race 2000. The original film's creator, B-movie master Roger Corman, is credited as one of the Executive Producers of this movie, which made me smile. However, aside from the basic idea of convicts driving cars, and a couple similar names, this film is completely different. Writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson (Alien vs. Predator) was obviously more inspired by reality TV and video games when writing his script. The movie is loud, very dumb, and can sometimes be fun in a loud and very dumb way. It isn't fun enough to recommend, though. Thanks to the film's spastic and rapid editing during much of the racing scenes, I couldn't tell who was in the lead or sometimes or had just gotten killed, until their face was displayed on a computerized ranking screen that pops up now and then to show who has died, and who is still in the race. It's almost as if the movie is helping us make some sense out of the chaos whenever it does this.

Does anyone care about the plot in a movie called Death Race? Nonetheless we get one, albeit one that's barely there. Set in the year 2012, former pro race car driver Jensen Aames (Jason Statham) has the worst day of his life when he loses his job, has the SWAT team called on him when his fellow workers and him protest their meager last paychecks before the factory he works at closes, and then comes home to see his loving wife get murdered by a guy in a ski mask, only to be framed for the crime. Six months later, he's being shipped off to a prison on Terminal Island. The prison is run by a cruel warden named Hennessy (Joan Allen, in total "Ice Bitch Queen" mode) who runs an event called Death Race. A handful of prisoners are picked by her to participate in a series of three races where the only rule is to win and stay alive. Hennessy lost her best racer during the last game, a prisoner who called himself Frankenstein and hid his identity behind a mask. Due to Frankenstein's popularity with the audience who pay to watch Death Race on line, she wants another man behind the mask, and thinks Jensen is her man. She promises his freedom if he wins, but Jensen quickly begins to suspect that she may be responsible not only for him being sent to the prison, but also for his wife's murder so that he'd go to prison in the first place. (You figure it out.) With the help of a wise old prison mechanic named Coach (Ian McShane) and his car navigator and co-pilot from the women's prison, Case (Natalie Martinez), Jensen may just survive as long as he can stay ahead of Frankenstein's old rival on the track, a homosexual murderer who calls himself Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson).

At the very least, Death Race doesn't pretend to be anything it's not. After a brief set up explaining why Jensen is in prison and the rules of the game he's forced to participate in, it's pretty much non-stop tires squealing, bullets flying, and nameless convicts getting killed in over the top R-rated fashion. It's pretty easy to figure out who's going to make it to the final round, as it only concentrates on a small handful of characters to begin with. The rest of the racers are just waiting out their time. Some of the vehicles are kind of cool looking, and come equipped with a variety of James Bond-like gadgets and hidden weapons. Too bad that constantly shaking camera prevents us from truly enjoying it. Since the races are the main draw of the film, you'd think Anderson would have been extra careful in editing them. Instead, he's changing shots and angles every split second, barely giving us a chance to see what we're looking at. The movie is constantly bombarding us with sights and sounds that I had a hard time making things out. There's a big moment during the final climactic race where I seriously had no idea what just happened until one of the characters actually spoke up and explained what we just saw. I saw an explosion and some of the convicts cheering, but until that one character opened his mouth, I was clueless.

There's a lot of opportunity for wicked satire in the movie, none of which is utilized. Anderson only seems interested in blowing stuff up real good, which is amusing for a little while, but I eventually wanted the movie to just slow down once in a while. The actors are pretty much required to look focused when they're driving, and scowl and yell when they're talking to each other. At least they cast the right guy in the lead role, as Jason Statham pretty much does nothing but scowl. Seeing him do the same in numerous other action films, I'm beginning to wonder if the guy can smile in real life without making it look like he wants to kick your ass. In the other lead roles, Natalie Martinez and Tyrese Gibson get very little opportunity to do anything with their characters, while Ian McShane looks downright bored at times. Only Joan Allen seems to be having fun with her "Devil in High Heels" role. Is she too talented to be appearing in a movie like this? Oh, absolutely. But at least she seems to be making the most out of a bad career move.

I knew what I was getting walking into Death Race, and the movie certain delivers on that. The question is, does anyone need what this movie wants to give? Maybe if the movie had more of a sense of humor about itself, or maybe a sense of satire. It would have at least given the impression that some thought went into the screenplay. As it stands, this is a dumb body count movie that tries to entertain us with non-stop violence and carnage. Maybe it's time for Paul W.S. Anderson to put down the video game controller, and realize there's so much more to filmmaking than mimicking the game you're currently playing.

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