Death Race

Death Race




We all lament the good old days. How things were so much better when we were kids. The days when John Matrix took out an entire army to rescue his kidnapped daughter. The days when Rambo outnumbered an entire police force 1 to 200. The days when Jean Claude Van Damme films were watchable.

How good did I feel when I discovered 'Death Race' was an 80's classic twenty years too late.

Based on the surreal, yet shit 'Death Race 2000' from the seventies, it borrowed the title and character names only(Thank god). The new and improved 'Death Race' is all about the action.

Framed for the murder of his wife, Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is sent to a maximum security island with an in-built race circuit. The prisoners there are forced to race in an all out battle to the death competition called, funnily enough, 'Death Race'.

Things take a turn for the conspiratorial when Ames realises he was framed just so he could take part in the race. He must win his freedom and get back to his infant daughter, killing all the conspirators along the way.

This film ticks all the right boxes for a successful action extravaganza; Hot Chicks, Fast cars and Heavy, Heavy Artillery. Ames' own car packs two front mounted midi-guns. His competitor Machine Gun Joe(Tyrese Gibson) has a roof rack stocked with RPGs. It's all good.

Cue plenty of CARnage as the heavily armoured vehicles are turned to swiss cheese and blown to kingdom come. The whole movie is thrown at you in high definition, surround sound Fuck-o-vision.

The acting's as good as it has to be. Joan Allen is ludicrously evil as the murder hungry warden. With a deathly cold stare and a poison whisper she quickly establishes herself as the hate character.
But, it's Statham that proves himself in this movie. He's the new king of action; Delivering gritty one-liners and breaking necks with his bare hands. Things that Arnie would've been proud of twenty years ago.

Verdict 8/10
Good old fashioned action.