Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) has come to Terminal Prison for the murder of his wife. He was framed, but the former hot-shot race car driver and ex-con couldn’t prove it and now he’s here hoping to quietly do his time and try to forget the infant daughter he’ll probably never see again. But then the hard-ass warden Hennessey (Joan Allen) comes to him with a proposition. Take part in one three-day no-holds-barred road race for her, win and she’ll wipe his slate clean and guarantee his freedom.

Jason Statham is bak behind the wheel in Universal Pictures' Death Race

It’s an offer he wants to refuse even if he knows he can’t, so with no real options he decides to work with his hard-boiled teammates, including old-timer Coach (Ian McShane), and take part in this woman’s little entertainment extravaganza. The problem is, not only do fellow drivers like Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson) want to see him dead, Hennessey is the one responsible for setting Jensen up for her own nefarious ends. With gas running low, bullets misfiring and time at a premium, the man with nothing to lose and everything to gain has one more trick hiding up his exhaust pipe, and if things work out right victory – and revenge – will be his at the checkered flag.

Death Race, a not-really-a-remake-remake of the 1975 Roger Corman classic Death Race 2000, is exactly what it is supposed to be. It’s full of tons of macho posturing, scantily clad women, fast-moving motor vehicles and enough bloody mayhem to fill three whole Saw sequels. It is a movie of machine guns, flame throwers, exploding gas tanks and brutal decapitations, and if you’re expecting anything close to subtlety then it almost goes without saying but you’ve definitely got another thing coming.

If that is, however, what you’re looking for, great, then this is the movie for you. Much put-upon director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Event Horizon, Alien vs. Predator) handles all the carnage with workmanlike precision. He doesn’t pull punches, doesn’t skimp on the bloodletting and definitely lets the violence more than speak for itself. This is a movie that is the absolute epitome of what-you-see-is-what-you-get, and I’d be lying through my teeth if I didn’t say at times it proved to be one heck of a lot of fun.

The thing is, you can only take so much of this stuff before it starts to all look the same. Three races is probably two too many in such a self-contained picture as this. It doesn't take long for a bunch of Mad Max-inspired motor vehicles racing around the same track again and again and again to wear out their weclome. Who cares how cool the death scenes are or how spectacular the explosions prove to be when you feel like you’ve already had your fill of them, and no matter how B-movie great some of it can be the F-movie script dampens those moments to oblivion almost before they even have a chance to begin.

It must be admitted that Allen is absolutely terrific here. This is obviously a paycheck gig for the actress (and why not – she’s certainly paid her dues and more than deserves one at this point in her career) and yet she still manages to make Hennessey such a soul-sucking figure of puritanically bitchy evil I just couldn’t help but love watching every single scene featuring her. The woman is an icy animal, and while you know the comeuppance is coming part of me just couldn’t help but wish she was actually going to get away with it all and win.

I should probably be honest with the fact that I adore the original 1975 film. I loved the sly wit director Paul Bartel (Eating Raul) brought to the picture, the almost psychotic whimsy the whole thing oozed pretty much start to finish. This new Death Race doesn’t have that, butchery taking the place of satire; massive destruction taking the place of grotesque social commentary.  

For some that won’t be an issue, for me it was. Something tells me that for a lot of viewers it's not going to be, this film one cacophony of motorized slaughter they’re not going to be able to get enough of. As for me, I’ll just re-watch my DVD of the original and call it a day.

Film Rating: êê (out of 4)

Additional Links

-  Death Race Theatrical Trailer