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.
Comment
09/26/08
Death Race (2008)
43
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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.
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... [More]
Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Reviews for Death Race
Top CriticThe remake illustrates only how low modern action movies can stoop. Necks are broken, guts eviscerated. Fans of impaling and decapitation will not be disappointed.
09/26/08
Anderson serves up an unashamedly guilty pleasure that hits every note, particularly when the racing starts.
09/26/08
Anderson's remake of the 1975 Paul Bartel cult film Death Race 2000 is surprisingly effective bonehead fare.
09/26/08
Top CriticIt’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.
09/26/08
Top CriticOnce 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.
09/26/08
Top CriticFast cars, machine guns, explosions, babes in hotpants – it's everything a 12-year-old boy could want in a movie.
09/26/08
a balls-to-the-wall tank-ful of amiable idiocy, fast-paced enough to keep anyone's eye on the road.
09/01/08
Anderson finds a few interesting angles from which to cover things, but there's nothing really memorable or original to wow jaded action fans.
10/18/08
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.
09/26/08
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.
09/26/08
But Jason Statham can talk the torque as former racing driver Jensen Ames.
09/26/08
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.
09/25/08
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.
09/25/08
Top CriticThis sci-fi fantasy about crazy Mad Max races in a high security prison is 8,000 horsepower of pure auto-erotic carnage.
09/26/08
Top CriticBanish 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.
09/26/08
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.
09/26/08
Running an economical hour and 45 minutes, Death Race is all muscle, no fat. Anderson and his exceptional cast tell their tightly built story and get out of the way.
08/29/08
The best of all Paul W.S. Anderson's films, although how much lower we can set the bar, I don't know.
08/28/08
Bravely takes on that philosophical quandary every one of us must face: What to do when a ninja breaks into your home, frames you for the murder of your wife and taunts you with a finger-gun motion?
08/21/08
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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