Course à la mort

2012 the economy has hit bottom, broke through and has kept on descending. Along the way prisons have been handed over to the private sector that have chosen to make a profit by broadcasting gladiatorial style death matches starring the inmates, with the reward to the inmates after 5 victories – FREEDOM Enter Jensen Ames (Jason Stratham) a recently unemployed steel worker and former race car driver who lost his license but no matter how bad things are, he's a happy man as long as he has his family.

That is, until he's set up for the murder of his wife, imprisoned, and forced to compete in Death Race if he ever hopes to see his daughter again.

But enough of the plot! A paragraph blurb at the start and 8 minutes of character development is pushing the limits of this flick and that's not why a person would see a W.S. Anderson/Jason Stratham action flick and besides, a plot would allow "plot holes" and who needs to deal with that headache? The rest of the movie takes place in the 3 days of Death Race. The first 2 days are competition/elimination rounds reminiscent of Mario Kart as if it was designed by some rogue member of GTA on a disgruntled day but who loved the hidden short cuts and power-ups.

Amongst all the adrenaline filled action, Anderson makes sure to toss in the occasional character development or when he's feeling really daring he'll toss in some pseudo-dramatic realization our hero comes across which helps remind the movie-goer that the movie has a plot rather than just a string of explosive action sequence. All of this is done with the utmost use of cliché and designed to inspire the excitable little 12 year old boy in many of us to stay riveted in our seats as we wait for Jensen to strike with angry revenge for all he's been through.

The movie is everything a modern day movie aficionado should not like. It's brainless, sexist, ridiculously violent, and lacks any redeemable qualities. These are also all the reasons why I had so much fun with the movie. I went seeing what I expected and that's exactly what I wanted to see!

By the time I entered to see this movie, I knew what to expect. Jason Statham. A movie called "Death Race". A poster with spiked cars and bazookas on them. Why the hell would I expect a "Deep Sophisticated Movie"?

So, I grabbed 2-3 beers, some chips and started the movie!

Hell I enjoyed it. And I was in Home.

Don't listen to the critics. I love Sophisticated movies, I mean my favourite Director is Guy Ritchie and he tries to make every time a movie with a complicated plot. This is not Batman: Dark Night. It's a classic American Culture - Game-Like movie. Do you want pure Explosions & Guns entertainment to do something with your time? This is what you're looking for and it's good for what it is.

As many comic books, games and original movies are being remade, director Paul W.S. Anderson is not new to those remakes. He adapted Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat and AVP. Now he remakes the original movie Death race 2000. Not surprising. While watching this movie, I realised that he still has his habit of making games plots. Death race plot is quite similar to those racing or survival games plot. It reminds me of DOA (Dead Or Alive) which Paul produce.

The story: Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is framed for murdering his wife. He is then sent to jail. Hennessey (Joan Allen) picks him to join the brutal surviving game. He has to kill the other inmates who join the game. The prize is to get his freedom. Every inmate will get his own partner. The partners are mostly some hot chicks. From there, exciting vehicles chases scenes and blood ooze out. There isn't much gore but there are blood and language. The plot is so simple but the idea and the chase scenes make my heart pound. It is like watching a survival game unfolding by itself.It just explode the screen and your time and nothing else. And you won't care about the plot, you will just care about the thrilling game.

Overall: Those expecting a move to kill time, this is one. Those who want to watch another "The Dark Knight" movie, this is not the movie. It is not bad for mindless action flick.

I was able to attend the advanced screening here in Dallas and must say I enjoyed myself immensely. While anyone going into this film expecting anything more then a thin veil of a plot will be sorely disappointed, it will definitely entertain those who have the right expectations. That said, this is a no holds barred, testosterone fueled thrill ride. Think of the game Twisted Metal, then throw in convicts, a greedy warden looking only at the profit and you have Death Race. While the movie has plenty of explosions, machine guns, armored cars, gore and beautiful females, there was enough humor and sentiment thrown in to make it all seem worthwhile. Definitely an entertaining film, and one that any over-the-top action movie junkie will surely add to their collection.

If "Mario Kart" was a movie and it had characters similar to the video game "Twisted Metal" this movie would be it. I really don't see why critics bash this movie so much, yes it isn't a Oscar worthy movie nor is it a very intelligent movie. But it sure is entertaining and was so stupid to the point it got irritating. People that decide to see this movie should know what they are getting into or else they might dislike it. Overall when I saw this movie in theater I really enjoyed it and had a blast with it, sure some of the plot holes are obvious but this is still a solid thrill ride. Personally I had a blast with this movie and Jason Statham was good in this role since he fit in with his tough guy exterior and I bought it. There is good amount of sex appeal and Ian McShane is just right as well while playing the character named Coach. This is a thrill ride that is like watching a actually entertaining video game movie. However if the script was a bit more intelligent it would have been better though although I didn't expect a solid script from Paul W.S. Anderson.

7.4/10