 | |
List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Universal Studios
Salesrank: 3859
Released: December 21, 2008 |
| Our Price: $9.52 |
| Used Price: $1.99 |
|
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: UN
Release Date: 23-DEC-2008
Media Type: DVD
Description of Death Race (Unrated Edition):
Mayhem rules in Death Race, a head-over-heels remake of the Roger Corman cult classic Death Race 2000, in which cars become lethal weapons. The strength of this new version is its total single-mindedness about vehicular homicide; it has the virtue of no cluttering subplots or simpering sentimentality. And banish all memory of the original's wild satirical comedy: Death Race is as grim as a dinner tray to the face (a reference that will be explained in a key sequence). In a slightly futuristic maximum-security prison, cons take part in brutal races around the island prison, their violent deaths watched live by millions of viewers. Jason Statham, possibly cast because of his driving dexterity in the Transporter movies, plays a man wrongly imprisoned for murder. Joan Allen provides her brittle cool as the warden, who recruits Statham to assume the masked persona of a legendary driver called Frankenstein. Tyrese Gibson is Frankie's main rival, Natalie Martinez provides the fetching eye candy, but the acting honors go to Ian McShane, as the philosophical prison mechanic. One misses the cross-country race from the original film, as the setting here is claustrophobic and the cars are largely colorless and indistinguishable from each other. Director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil) continues to display the sensibility of a video-game addict, which will either be a recommendation or a turn-off, depending on your own tastes. At least it doesn't have the hypocritical moral blathering of something like the somewhat similar Condemned--who knew you could be so grateful for simple, straight-forward head-bashing? --Robert Horton
Stills from Death Race (Click for larger image)
Death Race (Unrated Edition) Reviews:
Surprisingly good 
2009-12-06 - I love the original Death Race 2000 for its truly warped sense of humor, and while this one can't touch it for laughs, it is all told a better movie.
I was surprised, in fact, by how entertaining and even smart this movie is. It certainly looks amazing in blu-ray, especially Martinez, who almost justifies blu-ray tech all by herself. Statham is at home in this kind of grim but tongue in cheek action blaster, and he's perfect in his role. The rest of the cast is also solid, but McShane takes the cake, as usual. This guy is always great, in everything! Why he isn't yet as ubiquitous as Michael Caine is a mystery, but count on seeing a lot more of him in the next few years as producers see his value. He can make a bad film watchable, and take a good film like this into near-great territory.
I particularly appreciated the intelligence of this script, and its willingness to lay the social commentary on, but not too heavily. The original presaged our present, pathetic addiction to mindless reality shows by 25 years, and this one continues to point out how close we are to the days of Romans feeding folks to lions for #1 Neilson ratings.
On top of that there is a whiz-bang action flick here, reminiscent of Road Warrior in its wise decision to use mostly live stunts instead of CGI. It works, and in high-def this thing is non-stop in-yo-face action.
Not sure I liked the somewhat cheese ending, but all in all I was pleasantly surprised by how good this remake is.
Death Race Redux...
2009-11-22 - In "Death Race", a 2008 remake of the Roger Corman cult classic "Death Race 2000", the cars are armed and armored, the drivers are (mostly) real killers, and the cross country race of the original has been replaced by a closed-course, high-tech circuit around a dark and forbidding island prison. A solid cast is headed by Jason Statham as Jensen Ames, an ex-con framed for murder to get him behind the wheel of one of the death cars. Joan Allen plays the cooly sadistic prison warden managing and manipulating the pay-for-view race. Natalie Martinez is Ames' tough but attractive navigator. Tyrese Gibson is scary as Ames homicidal main competitor. Ian McShane steals the show as an aging but savy prison car mechanic.
Director Paul Anderson tries to inject a little plot by giving Statham a baby girl on the outside to live for, and a killer on the inside to take revenge on, but mostly this movie is about the violent, almost video game-quality action around the race course. Cars careen around the circuit, firing machine guns and dispensing napalm and other goodies while whittling down the competition. The intervels between race sets provide short opportunities to establish character motivation and set up a double surprise ending.
"Death Race" is stylishly staged violence on wheels. If the viewer is into that type of movie, this is one to watch.
A much better than I expected. 
2009-11-10 - I didn't go see this movie in the the theater because I thought this movie wouldn't be worth my money. I was right, however it's worth renting. It was much better than I expected.
The story is the worst part of the movie. First some how our economy virtually collapses over night, and the prison system isn't making any money so they enter reality television with prisoners fighting and racing for our entertainment. Yes you could see that happening a ways done the round by still far fetched.
The acting and actors on the other hand were really good. The all looked like they wanted to make this movie and were having fun. Jason Statham is always great, and doesn't get the credit he deserves for his acting. Tyrese Gibson, Joan Allen, Natalie Martinez and the rest of the actors all did great jobs.
The action was really good and exciting. The races were really well done which added to the movie. Finally I really liked the ending of the move.
Overall a above average movie worth renting.
Testosterone Ride 
2009-10-18 - This is the review of Death Race the unrated version (111 minutes)in blu-ray, hi def (the disk contains 2 versions).
WHAT A RIDE! Heard about "chic flicks", well this is definitely a guy film. The experience was riveting and left us speechless. We were transfixed by the non-stop marathon of cars, fights, violence and babes in hi-definition and incredible HD surround sound. Definately a testosterone ride/boost with no redeming qualities whatsoever: none, zippo.
This movie is nearly two hours of pure escapist joy.
Besides extreme non-stop action, it includes an occasional cheesy slow-mo hair-waving in-the-air shots of "babes" getting in and out of cars. Campy yes. Boring no.
Fun yes.
Highly recommended for what it is: fights, extreme racing, lots of gritty action shots.
The end is kind of sappy but what else would you expect?
If you don't take yourself or your movies too seriously you will love this flick.
Wanna laugh? -I actually bought this Blu-ray disc to test out my home theater sound -- only action Blu-ray I could find that day that had dts 6.1 sound. After using the opening scene a few times to demo the sound (the spatial quality of the sound is truly outstanding going around the room in a dramatic fashion), I put it aside. Then one day after a long day outdoors, my brother, a friend and I decided to watch it while our respective spouses and daughters were busy elsewhere. The result is listed above.
Ideal for a projector setup with very large screen. If you have a choice play it back using dts discrete multi-channel.
Extreme Road-Rage
2009-10-18 - 4 of 5 stars for the extreme road-rage movie: Death Race. Set in the future where prisons are run by corporations "for profit" they stream on internet a new sport called The Death Race. Prisoners are forced to drive race cars complete with armor and weapons where the goal is to not just win, but, be the only survivor of the race. Our hero (played by Jason Statham, one of my favorites) gets rail-roaded into prison and forced into driving.
This is a sci-fi movie which is richly and expansively photographed. Yeah, special effects, but, mostly great sets and live action. Really a nice blend of reality and effects. Great action, lots of bullets, lots of smash-ups. This is a recommended movie.
