Anderson finds a few interesting angles from which to cover things, but there's nothing really memorable or original to wow jaded action fans.
Death Race (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:143
Fresh:61
Rotten:82
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: Mindless, violent, and lightning-paced, Death Race is little more than an empty action romp.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for strong violence and language.
Runtime: 3 hrs 36 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:26-09-2008
Synopsis: The Roger Corman-produced cult favorite DEATH RACE 2000 (1975) gets an update in this reworking from action director Paul W.S. Anderson (RESIDENT EVIL). In a role sure to please fans of his work in... The Roger Corman-produced cult favorite DEATH RACE 2000 (1975) gets an update in this reworking from action director Paul W.S. Anderson (RESIDENT EVIL). In a role sure to please fans of his work in CRANK (2006) and the TRANSPORTER films, Jason Statham is Frankenstein, the fierce driver portrayed by David Carradine in the original. The script, also by Anderson, largely does away with the original's satirical elements in favor an increased number of breathtaking crashes and stunt driving. In 2012, the American economy has collapsed, and prisons have been taken over by corporations. Overseen by Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen), Terminal Island prison generates immense amounts of revenue with pay-per-view broadcasts of "Death Race," in which inmates participate in an auto race where anything goes. New inmate Jensen Ames (Statham), who has been framed for the death of his wife, is chosen to take over the role of Frankenstein, the contest's recently deceased masked star driver. His chief competitor, Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson), unaware that a new man is behind the mask of his old rival, will stop at nothing to win. With Case, a sexy navigator from the nearby women's facility, and a trusty pit crew led by wise veteran Coach (Ian McShane), Ames has a good shot at winning. If he does, he's been promised his freedom---but the race holds more obstacles than he can imagine, and ratings are more important to Hennessey than being true to her word. Loud, gory, and lightning fast, DEATH RACE is geared to the video game generation, right down to the graphics that appear onscreen during the race's TV broadcast. Once again, Statham creates a great hero to root for in a performance that rises above the copious stunts and visual effects. Allen, in uncharacteristic role, is suitably imposing as the steely warden. [More]
Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane
Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Screenwriter: Paul W.S. Anderson
Producer: Jeremy Bolt, Paul W.S. Anderson, Paula Wagner
Composer: Paul Haslinger
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Death Race
Basically, it's a videogame masquerading as a movie, but the action scenes are so loud and messily edited that they're tedious rather than tense. If it weren't so incoherent, it would be a classic.
Death Race is a travesty of the original film but it delivers enough explosions, violence and vroom-vroom action to ensure that it remains entertaining if you leave your brain in neutral.
Fast cars, machine guns, explosions, babes in hotpants – it's everything a 12-year-old boy could want in a movie.
But Jason Statham can talk the torque as former racing driver Jensen Ames.
Anderson serves up an unashamedly guilty pleasure that hits every note, particularly when the racing starts.
The remake illustrates only how low modern action movies can stoop. Necks are broken, guts eviscerated. Fans of impaling and decapitation will not be disappointed.
Banish all memories of the original and you’ll find this a slick throwback in the Doomsday mould. Tearing across the screen with all guns blazing, it’s disposable, enjoyable trash.
With face carbon-frozen in rage and mid-Atlantic scowl in place, the Brit export is fast proving himself the most reliably fun actor on the scene, standing a good chance of becoming this generation’s Charles Bronson if he keeps making movies like this.
Anderson's remake of the 1975 Paul Bartel cult film Death Race 2000 is surprisingly effective bonehead fare.
Once out of the starting grid, the film proceeds to edit the action so dementedly that one struggles to work out whose car just exploded, who flipped over and who's driving the one with the missile-launcher on the roof.
This sci-fi fantasy about crazy Mad Max races in a high security prison is 8,000 horsepower of pure auto-erotic carnage.
Crude, rude, testosterone-clotted, meat-headed fun, mind, but its loud and proud lack of pretension is a relief compared to the pseudo-profundity of many blockbusters.
It’s nothing more than an enjoyable, ridiculously macho B-movie romp, but it’s Anderson’s best movie since the underrated Event Horizon. Perhaps, at long last, he’s starting to find his - yep - top gear.
It’s brainless fun, but while Anderson’s brilliant staging of the flesh-ripping stunts surpasses Bartel’s cheap thrills, this update lacks the sardonic wit and satirical bite of the Corman-produced version.
Director Paul WS Anderson has stripped out the satire and black comedy of Roger Corman's 1975 original and left us with just a straight homicidal Grand Prix.
a balls-to-the-wall tank-ful of amiable idiocy, fast-paced enough to keep anyone's eye on the road.
This is both a bad film and a bad influence, and on many levels. Still, for all of its brainlessness, it somehow manages a train-wreck hold on attention.
usporedba originala i remakea %u0107e dati jasnu prevagu starijem film
...sets itself apart from its campy predecessor right from the get go.
Latest News for Death Race
January 03, 2009:
Social commentary on greed and war along with sexed up female con backseat drivers, is thin pretext for the incessant, at times visually surreal heavy metal havoc orgy of war machine, napalm shooting designer macho-mobile boy toy vehicular homicide. ![]()
More...
December 28, 2008:
Social commentary on greed and war along with sexed up female con backseat drivers, is thin pretext for the incessant, at times visually surreal heavy metal havoc orgy of war machine, napalm shooting designer macho-mobile boy toy vehicular homicide. ![]()
More...
September 26, 2008:
Exclusive: David Carradine Cameo in Crank 2 says Statham
It's not just Death Race that boasts a cameo from legend David Carradine. According to star Jason Statham, speaking to RT this week ahead of the UK release of Death Race, the... More...
September 26, 2008:
RT Interview: Jason Statham Chats Death Race, Crank 2 and The Sweeney
RT catches up with Jason Statham to learn more about the Death Race and grill him on upcoming turns in Crank 2, Transporter 3 and the possibility of an appearance in Nick Love's... More...
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