DEATH RACE - DVD review

I am not a fan of Paul W.S. Anderson. In fact, I consider Anderson one of the worst directors currently earning a paycheck in Hollywood. He is a less visible Uwe Boll and has been less ridiculed by the press, but has half the heart and passion of Raging Boll. I enjoyed Anderson's early adaptation of "Mortal Kombat," but since then each of his films have been nothing but disappointments. "Event Horizon" was marginal, but he completely ruined "Soldier" and made a mockery of the "Resident Evil" and "Alien vs. Predator" franchises with pathetic adaptations of the video game films. He was the producer of the absolutely horrid "DOA: Dead or Alive" and continues to mangle the "Resident Evil" universe with god awful sequels. I have always enjoyed claiming that W.S. stands for ‘Weasel Shyte,' and I'll surprise you right now by saying that "Death Race" is an enjoyable film.

The film is a loose remake of the 1975 cult film "Death Race 2000" that starred David Carradine and featured a very early performance by Sylvester Stallone. The film was cheesy, but it was fun and has been referenced by many drivers over the past thirty years by attaching point values to pedestrians. Nobody actually hits pedestrians because of the '75 Roger Corman produced picture, but hasn't everybody joked at one point in their life about the point value of a pedestrian? Maybe not. However, Anderson distanced himself from the controversy sparked by its predecessor and decided to not show cars running through innocent pedestrians lined up outside of a hospital and found a new location and entirely new storyline from the film it is based upon.

In Anderson's re-imagining of the Ib Melchior story, screenwriters Robert Thom and Charlies Griffith bring the vehicle combat into a corporate run penal environment and hardened criminals now drive for their freedom and pedestrian bystanders are now removed entirely from the equation. You now either eliminate your adversaries or win the race. Anderson's love of video games brings video-game like elements such as power-ups and ‘boss battles' into his picture and while I have typically found his video-game based twists to be laughable; he has finally done them right in "Death Race." The 2008 "Death Race" is a blood sport where only the drivers and their navigators typically face death and is no longer attached to a high death count. In this regard, only the names of the two main drivers are carryovers from the 1975 film.

This time around the United States has economically collapsed and society is in ruins. With crime running rampant, large corporations now run the penal system and Terminal Island Prison and its CEO and Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen) has found a way to turn a large profit through a series of pay-per-view "Death Races" where prisoners are given a sexy navigator and if they can survive and win four races they earn their freedom. Former driver Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) finds himself framed for the murder of his wife and a prisoner at Terminal Island. He is quickly forced into donning the mask of three-time winning driver Frankenstein and Hennessey explains to him that Frankenstein is important to the prisoners and that if he can win a race he will earn his freedom. He is given a potent Mustang to drive, a former prisoner who remains in the penal system and called Coach (Ian McShane) to head his crew team and the gorgeous Elizabeth Case (Natalie Martinez) to serve as his navigator.

With one of the best cars and perhaps the best pit crew, it would seem that Jensen would be in a good position to win the fourth race for the fictional Frankenstein. However, Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson) is looking to win his third race and drives around in a very large Dodge Ram Pickup and is the only driver with a male navigator; which raises questions about Machine Gun Joe's sexuality. Hennessey wants to earn as much pay-per-view revenue as possible and is not above tinkering with the race to allow Machine Gun Joe to win and set up another race where both drivers will try to win their fourth race. Other drivers involved in the Death Race includes Travis Colt (Justin Mader), Pachenko (Max Ryan), Grimm (Robert LaSardo) and 14K (Robin Shou). In this particular Death Race, Hennessey debuts the heavily armed and armored semi truck called ‘The Dreadnaught.'

"Death Race" is presented like a video game by Anderson. Cars have to drive over lit up spots on the course to earn their ability to use offensive or defensive weaponry and Hennessey and her technical crew have control over many other elements of the race track. Video replays, standings and other mainstays of sporting events and video games are intertwined into the film to make "Death Race" feel fare more like a video game adaptation than a remake of a film that hit theaters before the Atari 2600 was released. The editing is fast and the action is furious. I have never enjoyed the MTV style of filmmaking utilized by Anderson and felt he never distanced himself away from video games to make effective adaptations, but for the first time in his career the elements all come together nicely to create a fun and entertaining little movie.

The cast is pretty good and appear to have had a lot of fun making the film. I absolutely love Ian McShane and have watched anything he has done since first seeing him in "Deadwood." He is great as Coach and easily the crème of the crop in this picture. Statham and Gibson as the two head drivers are far more dangerous than Carradine or Stallone were in the older picture and they easily portray a villainy that makes their characters unlikeable for their social ills, but bring sympathy to their roles when the audience comes to understand their motivations better. Joan Allen masterfully portrayed Warden Hennessey as a complete bitch and I have to say I was impressed with her performance. It is a far cry from the work she had done in the Bourne films. There are no real stand out performances here, but everybody was nicely cast and does a good job giving a serious performance in a very non-serious film.

The story is not great, but it is an improvement over the 1975 Robert Thom screenplay used by Roger Corman. It combines death sport and NASCAR effectively and while the movie does not care much for establishing character depth or any good subplots to make "Death Race" a more intelligent and dramatic film, Anderson and his merry band of filmmakers have made a film that is fun. There is gore, explosions, lots of gunfire and some impressive stunts. There is a certain bad-assed element that makes "Death Race" a lot of fun and sometimes you just need to kick back and relax and enjoy a fun movie. Not every film is going to be Oscar winning material and "Death Race" is a movie that fully understands its role is to entertain and not win little golden statues. It doesn't try to be anything more and works nicely because of that.

This is easily my favorite Paul W.S. Anderson picture and one of only two films directed by the filmmaker that I can enjoy without finding myself wanting a refund on the time I lost watching his films. He has finally found a mix between high tech wizardry and over-the-top action and has realized that he will never win a "Best Director" or "Best Picture" Oscar and Anderson has shown with "Death Race" that he
Perhaps now knows his lot in life and is comfortable making the kind of pictures he is capable of piecing together. I had fun watching the poor storyline evolve, but I didn't care about the numerous plot holes or shortcomings of the story. I just wanted to watch the vehicular combat commence and see what carnage would unfold. If Anderson can create a few more films this entertaining I may just forgive him for destroying "Resident Evil" and "Aliens vs. Predators."

Video:

"Death Race" takes place in a future where the United States is bleak and the visuals of the film have been twisted and contorted by Director of Photography Scott Kevan to create a visual world where colors are muted and life on Terminal Island is not a pretty place to live. The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation of "Death Race" provides a highly detailed picture that presents the gore and vehicular carnage with stunning clarity, but the hues used are dusty and downtrodden to help convey the mood and the situation of life in America and on Terminal Island. The resulting DVD transfer is solid, but its desaturated palette does not allow the film any opportunity to be called ‘beautiful,' but would you really want such a film to look like "The Wizard of Oz?" The source used is very clear and no flaws in either the original print or the digital transfer can be found.

Audio:

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of "Death Race" is aggressive and impressive. The disc really comes to life during the dynamic racing sequences and you can hear bullets fly and the tinny sound of ricochets from all directions. To help this multi-channel surround mix succeed, the .1 LFE channel thumps heavily during many moments in the film, especially when the Dreadnaught is exploding cars at a feverish rate. The rear surrounds are used effectively and easily place the viewer in the middle of the action. The race scenes are a visceral experience and much of their success lies in the very strong surround mix. The musical score by Paul Haslinger is loud and echoes through all channels. Dialogue is strong and never drowned out by the explosive race sequences. Alternate audio tracks include Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital and subtitles are included for English SDH, Spanish and French.

Extras:

The DVD release of "Death Race" begins with a handful of previews for numerous Universal Pictures films that will be headed to DVD or Blu-ray and a short promo reel for the upcoming "Wanted" video game. The disc is billed as the "Unrated" Version of the film, but the Theatrical Version is also provided and runs six minutes longer at 151 total minutes. The additional footage is more gore and violence and I strongly recommend watching the longer version. It is just more fun. Seamless branching is used to store the two versions on one disc and a warning is provided stating that some players could have problems with the playability of the Unrated Version. Once you select the version of the film, you need to completely stop the disc or eject it and reinsert it to change versions.

The Unrated Version allows full access to all the bonus features that includes the Feature Commentary with Director Paul W.S. Anderson and Producer Jeremy Bolt. The two have a noticeable friendship and bring a relaxed and entertaining tone to the commentary. There is a good deal of information about the making of the film and they point out a few similarities to the 1975 original "Death Race 2000." Overall, it seemed like a very nice commentary track. The first of two featurettes, Start Your Engines: Making a Death Race (19:42) was your typical flashy EPK-styled documentary, but I enjoyed many of the shots of the cars and the sets, but the continual presence of Paul W.S. Anderson still bugged me. The third and final supplement Behind the Wheel: Dissecting the Stunts (7:50) is far too brief, but showed some very good making of footage of the combat vehicles. Some footage was recycled from the longer featurette.

Closing:

It was a couple of years ago that I first heard rumors of "Death Race 2000" getting remade and I eagerly anticipated the new film. However, when I discovered that Paul W.S. Anderson was behind the project I became saddened. Thankfully, the much derailed (at least by me) filmmaker redeemed himself just a smidgeon by creating a violent and highly entertaining film that lacked any solid plot, but relied on lots of impressive vehicular combat that had me remember my younger days of playing the cult Steven Jackson Games "Car Wars" and loving all of the vehicular carnage. This was mindless, but it was a load of fun. The DVD combines solid sound and visuals with a few supplements that adds a little value to the DVD release. I admit that I was pleasantly surprised by this film, but I will also admit that it will never win any awards.