Click to viewDeath Race is full of awe-inspiring exploding automobile - fu , but it ’s in the inspection and repair of a crash course ( sorry ) in dystopia for the cyberspace age . The backwash in interrogation is a prison game which nobody can ever really win , webcast to millions of viewers who might as well be in prison . In fact , Death Race is a dear aim lesson in why subtlety is overrate . Even the fact that Jason Statham only has one facial expression aid keep the picture show ’s dim subject matter alive . Click through for spoilers and item and material .
For those of you who are hoping for a smiple verdict on the movie , here it is : the car stunt are breathtaking , if occasionally confusing . Stuff blows up existent trade good . Joan Allen is magnificent as the prison warden . Jason Statham is Jason Statham . The movie hold up somewhat well , until it fizzles completely in the last 15 - 20 minute . ( in earnest , I ca n’t remember when I ’ve picture a pic take such a steep nose - dive in its last reel . )
It ’s lawful , as manager Paul W.S. Anderson tell , that the raw Death Race is n’t as overtly satirical as the seventies original , Death Race 2000 . This motion picture is actually too sledge - hammery to be a satire . It pop with a voice - over ( and caption ) telling us that it ’s 2012 and everything has gone ass - up . The U.S. economy is rotten , there are no jobs , and everyone ’s in prison house . prison , meanwhile , have all been outsourced to private corporations , which attempt to make a net profit through amusement . First , it ’s just cage matches and stuff , but eventually it gets more luxuriant , leading to the Death Race , which is a huge road rally of mutilation inside the prison grounds , disseminate on the net .
Then we see Jason Statham on his last day , work at a brand grind , which is close down . The grind ’s owner cheat Statham and his fellow doer out of most of their final pay , and then call the riot cops on them before they can even grumble . “ ego - fulfilling divination , ” Statham announce to the television camera . The worker attempt to appeal workings - class solidarity with the cops , but to no avail , and the violence begins , with the cops firing gumshoe bullets and beating the crap out of the downtrodden workers . From there , the movie zips forwards through the murder of Statham ’s sexy married woman in his inexplicably overnice family , and in a jiffy he ’s in prison for his wife ’s murder . His only hope of release : to take part in the Death Race and win .
We quickly bring in the evil prison house warden ( Joan Allen ) had Statham ’s married woman defeat and framed Statham , so he would take part in the race . And not too long after that , we ’re shown that Allen ’s character never intend to let anyone deliver the goods enough races to get out of prison . The game is ( say it with me ) rig . There are short video - gamey “ superpower - up ” symbols that you ’re presuppose to drive over to get weapons or defenses , but they only work when Allen wants them to . Just like the steel - pulverisation ’s owner , Allen has everything fixed in her party favour . ( I cite this flick was subtle , right ? )
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We ’re constantly reminded , through fancy graphics , that this the Death Race is a webcast and that you have to pay to watch . It ’s a particularly web - savvy imaginativeness of a dystopian America in 2012 , where the saving has collapsed and everybody ’s a prisoner one way or the other .
Did I mention this motion-picture show is kind of pornographic ? It is . From the other shots of liquefied steel and sweaty men at the brand mill , to the legion apology for the camera to linger over Statham ’s bare torso and his encyclopaedic muscularity definition , to the cars themselves , men and machines are fetishized . Oh , there are fair sex , too , besides Allen ’s long - legged warden . The prison omnibus in female convicts to be the “ navigators ” for most of the male driver . Every sentence one of those woman walks across the sieve , the movie goes into dumb - mo ( literally ) and a hip - hop birdcall about sexy girls plays . The same Sung , two or three times , as if Anderson could only give to license one sexy - little girl birdsong . But because of the pic ’s breakneck pace , it does n’t do too many of those slow - mo girlie shots , and most of the time , the only consistency we loiter on is Statham ’s .
It ’s fitting that Death Race ends the summer that start with Iron Man . In Iron Man , we see Tony Stark ’s naked torso , and it ’s slightly flabby and vulnerable , symbolizing how delicate he is now that he ’s mortally wounded . In Death Race , you could compose an general anatomy text edition using Statham ’s bare muscles for reference .
Robert Downey , Jr. is a racy guy who becomes part auto , fairly much process on his own , with some slight service from Professor Expendable in Afghanistan . Jason Statham help to work up the sodding drive automobile , but he ’s shape with a whole squad of mechanics . And Statham is n’t disjoined from the mechanics , just because he ’s the gadget driver – when he ’s not on the track , he ’s working in the pit , as a junior mechanic . ( This is mostly because it ’s supposed to be a secret that Statham ’s character is the masked racer Frankenstein , so he ’s impersonate as a mechanic . But it also establish that he has solidarity with the grease monkeys , and much is made of his automobile - mechanic education . )
Oh , and this would n’t be a prison house picture show without a homosexual subtext . as luck would have it , the movie designates Tyrese Gibson ’s quality , Machine Gun Joe , as the sole bearer of that incumbrance . Machine Gun Joe is the only number one wood who has a manlike sailing master instead of a distaff one , purportedly because his navigator tend to die speedily and the viewing audience would be too squeamish to watch that many women get killed . But his sailing master are sort of his “ bitches , ” and there ’s a running joke where people call his character homo , over and over . At the end of the film – major spoiler – he gets street clothes for himself and Statham , and they ’re super - faggy . Statham says “ Anyone would call back the guy who got these apparel … ” And Gibson finishes the sentence : “ … had no sense of taste . ” They share a piffling “ We ’re not really gay ” jape .
( really , the movie is mercifully detached of “ funny ” rape , which is a trend I desire to see continue in prison house picture . )
So yeah , Death Race is not a particularly smart or subtle movie – even Statham , in interviews , has been enunciate thing like “ It ’s not the Godfather . ” But it is an interesting spin on a dystopia where a tiny minority of powerful hoi polloi have sex over everybody else – and then trade us front - row seats for our own death , via the Internet . Sometimes , a movie does n’t have to be smart if it ’s vaguely topical and has lots of cars going boom . If it was n’t for the wimpy ending , I would recommend Death Race whole - heartedly , but as it is … it ’s okay .
end RaceGawkerIron ManJason StathamPaul W.S. Anderson
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