REVIEW: Death Race (15)

America may be the Holy Grail for any acting career, but there’s one unexpected name that’s faired better than most. Love him or loathe him, Jason Statham has ‘made it’ - The Transporter series is in its third instalment, while both Crank and The Bank Job were huge hits stateside. The ex-Olympic diver has emerged as a 21st century answer to Jean Claude Van-Damme, or maybe even the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Here we see him team up with British director Paul W.S. Anderson in the remake of 70’s movie Death Race 2000, also produced by Tom Cruise’s old partner, Paula Wagner.

It’s 2012, and the world’s gone to hell - mass-unemployment, riots in the streets, and corporations running prisons for profit. The most successful is Terminal Island, which runs an online Pay-Per-View sports event called Death Race - three races, and no rules. Ruthless warden Hennessy (Joan Allen) ropes in wrongly-convicted Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) to pose as the masked driver Frankenstein, who died in the last race. Ames simply needs to win this round of races to be freed, but surviving the race, and Hennessy’s plotting, is easier said than done. Ian McShane also stars as the wise old mechanic ‘Coach’.

The plot is Speed Racer meets The Running Man, with all the grime & gore you would expect from the director of Resident Evil. It’s not an incredibly hard plot to follow, and most of the talking scenes are just a build up to the carnage on the track. The plus side of this is, like with most Anderson movies, such a far-out plot is given just a fraction of realism, just enough to make it interesting. Making the race an Internet Pay-Per-View show sort of makes sense, and as such the authenticity of the clichéd ‘wrongly-imprisoned-man-out-for-revenge’ plot is lifted with it.

Statham delivers the husky, tense performance you’ve come to expect, but this is a movie about spectacular stunts and he’s a good action hero. McShane provides a lot of the comedy with his raised eyebrows and provides some of the movies many, many one-liners (“Now that’s entertainment!”). Tyrese Gibson does his role as the rival racer, but he’s got too much personality to be a real pantomime villain this sort of film needs. The surprise success, however, is Allen. Treating Statham and the inmates like errant children, she’s really cold and calculating, but with enough personality to make her seem dangerous.

A very neat ending and longish running time spoils what could’ve been a brilliant film. You’ll never get away from the fact that this film is about car chases and big bangs (all of which are brilliantly executed), however if that’s your sort of thing this is a very entertaining, and (at times) engaging, popcorn movie.