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Death Race – Rewind
Death Race is set in the year 2012 where the general population who are currently living in a recession are entertained in the double figure millions by a TV phenomenon. That TV phenomenon is Death Race and it’s a gladiatorial style race/battle in cars and trucks, with the main aim to get through 3 races alive and in one piece. All the drivers are prisoners from serious crimes and if a driver wins five races in a row then they earn their freedom.
In the lead we have Jason Statham who plays Jensen Ames a man who is convicted of murder and forced to star in the Death Race. His prison manager, Hennessey played by Joan Allen is suitably corrupt and driven and is the person responsible for getting Jensen involved in the Death Race. Some other notable names in Death Race include Ian McShane, Tyrese Gibson and the very sexy Natalie Martinez as Jenson’s driving partner, when the racing action starts.
Death Race hops along at a fair old pace and has a gritty almost monochromatic visual style that really suits the subject matter, although at times I found myself crying out to see some flashes of color, but overall it works well. The acting is more than respectable for a movie of this kind and Statham pulls his weight in the leading man role, Joan Allen is suitably demonic as the prison manager, and Natalie Martinez add some style and glamour to this frantic movie.
I didn’t expect to like Death Race, and I was suitably surprised when I found myself waiting to see what happened next having never watched the original. The whole story is quite easy to foresee but that doesn’t mean it’s not a lot of fun to watch. The car chases are nicely handled and like I mentioned before the visual style of the movie is well handled with a good consistency throughout the film. Definitely a fun and throw away movie that I enjoyed watching and will probably watch again at some point.