Director Paul WS Anderson's update of producer Roger Corman's 1975 cult classic DEATH RACE 2000, the current DEATH RACE accentuates most of the positives of Corman's film - directed of note by Paul Bartel - while throwing in much of the spectacle of live-action stunt driving and car racing that mainstream audiences seem to love.
Laid out from the beginning after a James Bond-style prologue, DEATH RACE's plot hinges on the three stages of a literal race to the death in which Jason Statham's main character is forced to race for his life after being framed and blackmailed by a ruthless prison warden, played against type by Joan Allen. Anderson builds up adequate tension between races, but it's obviously the races that people are coming to see, both in the framework of the reality TV-of-the-future plot and at a theater near you.
Statham has certainly evolved into the British answer to Bruce Willis, and despite his South London accent, should surely be due for some major leading action roles, though this film does nothing much to forward his image past his other fare. His is certainly likable enough, is always weighty on film, and fills out his scenes greater than many current action stars. One would hope that he would seek more parts like THE BANK JOB.
In point to this DEATH RACE is that where Corman's movies of the 1970s succeeded was in their supreme dedication to low budget exploitation. Anderson's movie has enough bells and whistles that it has likely climbed out of the under-$1,000,000 zone and into eight figures (or more?) and he gives audiences expected visuals revolving around the tricked out cars and their many crashes, plus a surprise vehicle, literally hidden from view for more than half of the film. One must evoke the 1981 George Miller cult classic THE ROAD WARRIOR to harken back to similar action/car chase footage to that in DEATH RACE.
With a heady cast including the ever-reliable Ian McShane and Tyrese Gibson, plus newcomer Natalie Martinez as a furloughed husband-killing car navigator (straight out of 70s camp) around Statham, DEATH RACE is watchable fun and often provides the somewhat mindless entertainment that summers have been targeted for by the studios. One can certainly do worse than enjoying the film for what it is. When all is said and done, though, what audiences really want to know is, where is the remake of GRAND THEFT AUTO?
By Scott Essman
