Shawn's Death Race Review

2008 Movie #96 - Death Race

Ah the R rated action movie. No matter what I'm always going to have a soft spot for it. Wanted was a highlight of the summer/year for me for sure and while this one is nowhere even close to that one, if you go in knowing that you're in for a pretty stupid and silly movie, you should be able to get a decent amount of enjoyment out of it.

This movie is exactly what you would expect it to be, cars shooting each other, people getting run over, explosions and all sorts of crazy shit like that. The story is virtually non-existant with everything you need to know already highlighted in the trailer. The plot remains straight forward throughout, not really trying to throw any curveballs at you or anything. This is the best route to go through because when your movie is called Death Race, nobody watching it gives a shit about the plot. They want to see some death racing.

The races themselves are pretty good. A bit too much of that quick cutting crap where you aren't sure what's going on, but generally they are decent action sequences. There are a few too many moments of characters saying shit that we clearly just saw happen. Whenever you see a car drop an oil slick or something out of the back of it, you can bet your ass in a few seconds one of the other characters will be sure to pipe in with "Look out! Oil!" It kind of shows a lack of faith in the audience, but at the same time almost gives things a campy, ridiculous feel. I would say 40% of this movie is people in their cars yelling threats and shit that only they and us can hear.

The acting is adequate, with Jason Statham doing what he does best really. Anyone who follows this blog semi-regularily knows that I like him and always want better things for him. This movie is a pretty good one for him but the problem is that he spends most of the movie behind the wheel of a car. Sure he gets a couple of pretty good fight scenes in there but you don't need Jason Statham if all he is going to do is drive. Anyone can do that. Thankfully we have Transporter 3 coming up and then Crank 2 after that, so we know he's got some good ass kickings coming up.

The girl who plays Statham's navigator though is just god awful. She is right down there with Brendan Fraser's son in Mummy 3 for just pure crap performances. Most of her dialogue is bad enough, but her delivery really takes it to new heights. Ian McShane is either really bored or having a decent amount of fun, it's hard to tell. Even Liu Kang shows up as one of the drivers who has I think the worst line of dialogue in the whole movie. His driver does something to one of the other cars and yells out "That's right! What's my name?!" Fair enough, I can deal with that. However then in a bizarre twist he reveals this wasn't a rhetorical question at all and says "14K, that's my name!" He actually was asking us, and then told us when we clearly didn't know the answer. Thanks I guess.

There's no denying Death Race is a stupid movie, but it's a pretty fun one at the same time. Joan Allen saying cocksucker alone is pretty damn entertaining. Throw in some laughable dialogue, a handful of good action scenes and moments and you get a fun couple of hours. It's a pretty good wind down to what has been an amazing summer for movies. Too bad next week will ruin it with what could become my new most hated movie of the year. I'm almost excited for that review to be written. Stay tuned!!

***/5