In the not-too-distant future a new type of entertainment has appeared; Death Race. Convicted felons are pitted against each other in an extreme car racing event. The rules are simple - win five races and gain your freedom, lose one and die on the road. Their cars are souped-up, armour-plated ... Read review
Production Year: 1995 - Action/Adventure - Director: Tom Clegg - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Sean Bean, Daragh O'Malley, Allie Byrne, Oliver Cotton, Emily Mortimer, Michael Cochrane
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 1996 - Action/Adventure - Director: Tom Clegg - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Daragh O'Malley, Oliver Cotton, Jason Durr, Sean Bean, Allie Byrne
Advantages: It's almost so bad it's good... Disadvantages: The direction is dreadful, the performances phoned in and the writing pitiful.
...type of entertainment has appeared; Death Race. Convicted felons are pitted against each other in an extreme car racing event. The rules are simple - win five races and gain your freedom, lose one and die on the road. Their cars are souped-up, armour-plated and outfitted with everything from machine guns to flamethrowers and rockets. Former racing driver Jensen Ames is framed for murdering his wife and given a choice by Warden Hennessey - drive in ... ...donning the iron mask of crowd-favourite and seemingly immortal driver Frankenstein, Ames goes head-to-head with vicious criminals such as Machine Gun Joe in an attempt to gain his freedom. But will the warden keep her promise?
Hack-for-hire Paul WS Anderson's byword is hardly quality. He's far more interested in how many explosions he can fit into a single movie. So it's no surprise his remake of Roger Corman's cult classic is a meat-headed, ... more
In the not-too-distant future a new type of entertainment has appeared; Death Race. Convicted felons are pitted against each other in an extreme car racing event. The rules are simple - win five races and gain your freedom, lose one and die on the road. Their cars are souped-up, armour-plated and outfitted with everything from machine guns to flamethrowers and rockets. Former racing driver Jensen Ames is framed for murdering his wife and given a choice by Warden Hennessey - drive in the race or never see his little girl again. So donning the iron mask of crowd-favourite and seemingly immortal driver Frankenstein, Ames goes head-to-head with vicious criminals such as Machine Gun Joe in an attempt to gain his freedom. But will the warden keep her promise?
Hack-for-hire Paul WS Anderson's byword is hardly quality. He's far more interested in how many explosions he can fit into a single movie. So it's no surprise his remake of Roger Corman's cult classic is a meat-headed, balls-to-the-wall action extravaganza that makes precious little sense. Now I can enjoy a brainless actioner as much as the next person as long as the big set pieces are well done. That's where this film falls down. Anderson edits the sequences like a hyperactive toddler; cutting from one shot to another at lightning speed, so you barely have time to register what's going on. It doesn't matter if the stunt driving and/or pyrotechnics are great if you can't see them. I suspect it's to cover up the fact that they didn't have a long enough race track or enough cameras to cover it, so they had to shoot a little at a time. His camerawork is all over the place; there are lots of unnecessary swooping cameras and shaky hand-held shots that help to drag the production values down further. The film is bleached-out in an attempt to make the movie look gritty, but this stylistic choice is undone by an excess of gore that just looks ludicrous. There are lots of other little niggles such as bad continuity and poor CGI that reduce the quality even further. With the exception of Warden Hennessey, all the women are presented as empty sex objects, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth. There aren't even any sexy cars for gasket-heads to drool over, as every motor is an ugly, iron-encrusted beast that would presumably struggle to hit twenty miles-per-hour on a shallow incline.
The film is at its best when we're being shown broadcasts of the show. Then you get an inkling that some thought has gone into at least one aspect of the production. Or it could just be the case that Anderson's limited abilities are a tight fit with the cheesy needs of a bad taste sports show. The hand-held pans around the competitors accompanied by overlays of their stats and the golden-hued adverts and slow-motion replays fit the pattern for this kind of show. But it's too little too late as Anderson has already put the "dire" in director. Even though there is little narrative content, the pacing stutters and the film feels too long at a hundred-and-five minutes because of an absence of tension. It's too long to spend in the company of a film that thinks its viewers so stupid that it needs to put a warning at the end to tell the audience not to try the stunts at home (because we all have armour-plated behemoths armed with napalm…)
Anderson's screenplay is very short on narrative. Ames' wife is dead and he's in prison within the first ten minutes. The hero's quest for revenge is predicated on a single common hand gesture and everything that happens is predictable. The storyline is an excuse for as many choppy races and big explosions as possible. There's no inkling of depth, but at least it isn't pretending to be anything it's not. If brainless action fare is your bag, then this will fit your needs. The writer doesn't spend enough time establishing characters so we care about them. Everyone is an action movie stereotype. Ames is the wronged man. Warden Hennessey is the ice-cold career woman determined to be harder than her male counterparts. Coach is the wise old mentor, Lists is the weakling who is smart but needs protection. All the other convicts are interchangeable thugs with barely a personality between them. But even they fare better than the female navigators who are only there as eye-candy. The dialogue is woeful, riddled with nonsensical mumblings that only stick because they are so absurd. The worst (or best depending on how you look at it) is when the warden says "F*** with me and we'll see who sh*ts on the sidewalk!" if anyone has any clue what she's on about, please let me know…
Jason Statham is Britain's only real action hero, but his talents lie in handing out beatings rather than stunt driving, so he seems an odd fit for the role of Jensen Ames. He looks like a real hard-man thanks to his physique (though the badly drawn tattoos detract from the overall look) and he handles himself well in the couple of fight scenes. But he doesn't have an expressive enough face to convey complex emotions and simply watching him squint straight ahead through the windscreen of a car for the duration of the film is somewhat dull. It doesn't make it easy to root for him, but at least we're saved another mangled accent.
Joan Allen is supposed to be the scariest person in the prison as Warden Hennessey. Despite her hard, cold performance, by far the most terrifying aspect of her is the hellish facelift she's had that makes her look as though she's standing in a wind tunnel. It renders her face practically immobile, so no matter how viciously she spits her lines, it's hard to believe she's more than a toothless villain.
Ian McShane (the artist formerly known as Lovejoy) continues a run of crap parts in dodgy films as the imaginatively named Coach. He employs the same almost half-hearted American accent as in "Deadwood" and throws in a dash of gravelly wisdom and world-weariness. But you can tell he's just turned up for the paycheque. Tyrese Gibson is bland as rival driver Machine Gun Joe. As Lists, Frederick Koehler is a reasonable idiot savant, with the expected stutters, doughy build and pasty complexion. Natalie Martinez is a generic sex-bomb as navigator Case, who does little other than fill out a few skimpy, figure-hugging outfits.
The original music by Paul Haslinger comprises unsurprising electric guitar riffs and percussion with odd bouts of sub-Prodigy drum machine and electronic samples. Sometimes the guitar is twangy and discordant or reverberating and the percussion is occasionally louder for emphasis. But there is nothing new or distinctive here. The other soundtrack choices also feel generic; middle-of-the-road rock-pop from The Stereophonics, some expletive heavy hip-hop and twee R 'n' B.
"Death Race" is the kind of film that will divide audiences. Some will love the high octane thrills, while others will hate its lack of narrative thrust, phoned-in-performances and ADHD directorial style. I'm erring towards the latter because I like characters I can empathise with and I don't think the action is handled that well. But it doesn't require any brain power to watch or understand and it almost falls into the "so bad it's good" category. Almost…but it's a remake of a beloved B-movie that didn't require a rehash and with only a little effort it could have been pepped up to include a stab of satire at the entertainment industry's hunger for reality subjects. So if you fancy a slice of tripe by all means watch it when it's on TV, but don't go paying for it.
Advantages: Good acting, Nice storylines, Great Effects. Disadvantages: Personal Opinion- Too much like a game and violence.
...them and when I said Death Race she smiled and said I thought you would choose that. We are both fans of Jason Statham which annoys my partner as he thinks he is boring and only ever does the same films, but we aren’t looking at his acting really. So after we decided to watch some man candy the film began. I didn’t really know what to expect from the film as I didn’t really know anything about it before I watched it. The title gives it an interesting ... ...it couldn’t be too bad. Death race was released last year and received a mixture of reviews. I was quite open minded about what I was about to watch. * Plot * Death race is about hard worker Jensen Ames who works in a steel mill where the company has gone bust. He gets ripped off his last pay check and you can see the economy in the US has hit a critical point, which is interesting with all the world’s economical states at the moment. The film focuses ...
pixie65 03.04.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Death Race (DVD)
Advantages: Great action, Jason Statham Disadvantages: Alot of violence
Death Race is the 2008 action remake from English producer & director Paul W. S. Anderson. The film was made on a budget of $45,000,000 and grossed an estimated $73,762,516 at the box office. The film faired reasonably well with critics, it had about a 50/50 good and bad reaction with a film like this I can fully understand that. The film is rated a 15, after seeing some of the content involved in this I was rather surprised that it wasn’t made into ... ...year old boys! Death Race is a remake of a 1975 film that goes by the name of Death Race 2000, starring most notably Sylvester Stallone. I’ve never seen this original version but I’ve been told that there are a lot of similarities throughout; including Frank never takes his mask off outside the car and Joe is a gangster in both films. As I mentioned earlier, Paul W. S. Anderson directed Death Race, he first got the job in 2002 and at the time it ...
Great_reviewer07 17.04.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Death Race (DVD)
Advantages: Considerably better than the original Disadvantages: Some muppet will claim it's unbelievable and far fetched
...little reluctant to look at Death Race, it had a couple of bad things going for it; firstly it was a re-make of a 1975 movie called Death Race 2000 which absolutely bored me to tears, and secondly the appearance of the incredibly dull Jason Statham. What made me change my mind I hear you cry? Will it was what in my opinion was the unusual casting of Ian McShane (best known from the long running BBC show Lovejoy). Add to this the fact that it's directed ... ...the reality TV sports show Death Race. In Death Race prisoners must race against each other in a three day, three event race. If a prisoner wins a race five times he is freed, given a full pardon in fact, if he loses, well it's best put that the losers don't get to discover the reality of losing, the only way out of Death Race is first across the finish line, otherwise your bound to be in the morgue.
Frankenstein (David Carradine reprising his role ...
sghawken 28.08.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Death Race (DVD)
Advantages: Fast paced action and lots of bloody gore and fast cars Disadvantages: May be too gory and violent for some
...seen at the cinema was Death Race which looked interesting to say the least! In fact my Wife and I had seen this and taken in the same day! Quite a typical Jason Statham movie with lots of action and plenty of criminals, this was actually a lot better than we had expected it to be! The film was written and directed by Paul W S Anderson.
The plot - Jason Ames is an ex con and car racer who on the day he is made redundant by his company comes home ... ...to sleep, his wife is killed by a masked man who then knocks out Jason and places the knife in his hand framing him for her murder. Jason is then sent to Terminal Island, a prison unit out to sea where convicts take part in a live filmed 'death race' to gain freedom - win 5 races and you're free. However it comes to light that Jason has been framed for his wife's murder simply so he can drive as the recently killed masked driver Frankenstein who ...
peteandcesca 07.10.2008 (06.10.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Death Race (DVD)
Advantages: Entertaining, tons of action, great special-effects. Disadvantages: Cheesy cars, flimsy storyline.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson Screenplay: Paul W.S. Anderson Genre: Action - Sci-Fi - Thriller Country: USA/Germany/UK Certification: 15+ Language: English DVD Release: 2nd February, 2009 (UK) MAIN CAST: Jason Statham (Jensen Ames) Joan Allen (Warden Hennessey) Ian McShane (Coach) Tyrese Gibson (Machine Gun Joe Mason) Natalie Martinez (Elizabeth Case) The year is 2012--unemployment is at an all-time high, the economy has never been worse, but life ... ...married steelworker who has just recently become a 'daddy'... but then, because all good things eventually do come to an end, he loses his job, is beaten up by police, and steps out of the shower only to discover his wife has been killed, he's holding the knife, and the police are arresting him for murder. Jensen Ames has never had such a rough day, until he's given a life sentence and sent to Terminal Island. Managing to outwit the prison heavyweights ...
GoFigure 02.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Death Race (DVD)
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Advantages: Cracking fun, great social message, wacky as hell, great performances Disadvantages: Bit short, ending could have been better, Jason Statham will ruin it's legacy
I haven't seen a decent movie for a while. I've been fed up with disappointing summer blockbusters like Indiana Jones, Hulk and others which have made me wonder why the hell anyone watches movies. Then I saw the trailer for the new DeathRace film, which looked like a pretty bog-standard Jason Statham film- explosions, awful one-liners and about as much depth as Celebrity Big Brother. I found out that it was based on this film DeathRace 2000- well when i say based, I mean it's stolen its name and chopped the date off the end. I was especially intrigued when I found out this film had caused a lot of controversy when released. The film had grabbed my attention without the pre-movie credits had even rolled.
DeathRace 2000 is set in a futuristic dystopia, and as the film was made in 1975, it sets the film at the turn of the second ...
Advantages: Great cast and good plot Disadvantages: Shows its age
In the future violent sports have been replaced by the DeathRace, a drive across the country with the emphasis on the death part. Drivers score points by killing civilians with differing amounts of points given for differing catagories of people. More points given for the old and infirm, also for the young.
This is a ride across a strictly ruled America with it's tongue well and truly buried in it's cheek. David Carradine plays Frankenstein, the most infamous Death Racer, known as a horribly scarred but wily driver with a long track record for success but you'll discover a sinister secret lurks under the black leather mask. Theres anarchists and some sex appeal with lady drivers and navigators as well as some nudity also which is not unwelcome either! Also even a great comic role and early film appearance by Sly Stallone.
Every time I ...
Advantages: carradine,stallone working wonders together Disadvantages: made in the 70's so budget lower than now adays and shows
this classic from 1975 hosts a storyline that is set in the year 2000 as they saw it to be then.
the story is a mad capped race similar to the canonball run or gumball rally across america with a twist you get points for killing people (running them down) so for the racers its not all about speed but the amount they can run down with a special point system depending of kill i.e kids oaps women men.
to add more twists to this already sceptical story line they have terrorists to deal with trying to stop the race and its excistance.
carradine and stallone star in this classic of blood guts and boys toys and among all the others starring in this film do a great job for the year. ...
Production Year: 1995 - Action/Adventure - Director: Tom Clegg - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Sean Bean, Daragh O'Malley, Allie Byrne, Oliver Cotton, Emily Mortimer, Michael Cochrane
![Death Race [Steelbook]-DVD](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/97741791.jpg "Death Race [Steelbook]-DVD")
