Death Race: Review By moviegeek

Death Race is not just dumb, its incomprehensible. Everything in the movie is so butchered in its editing that it is ultimately a headache-inducing mess.

Jason Statham is a man whose wife was brutally murdered by a masked man, and then he is framed for her death. He is sent to prison. In this near-future prison, inmates are put into a 'Death Race' for their freedom and their lives. This race is broadcast to millions of bloodthirsty people, us.

The look of this film is unappealing. Everything looks bathed in oatmeal and the only color comes in splashes of blood and the warden's (Joan Allen's) hair. The action is queasy, nauseating, and more aggressive than even Transformers 2. Not only that, but the shaky-cam used (to make it seem like we are riding along with them in the cars, gag) is combined with a wicked zooming trigger finger. The shots move in and out every millisecond while the camera (and audience) is jarred back and forth.

The plot is very sleepy in nature. There seems to be no incentive behind this 'game'. Yes, there is the possibility of freedom, but that's after you win five races! Like that will ever happen...

Granted, this movie is an excuse to create ludicrous car race sequences full of hardcore action and violence. Makes sense to me, but the movie can't even pull off that. I liked some of the racing and some of the interesting webcast advertisements. I enjoyed some of the preposterousness, but its too aggressive.

Death Race roars, but not to its benefit. The acting screeches, the camerawork nauseates, the landscape bores, and the movie just becomes a hackneyed mess. There is nothing compelling within this heartless excuse for fanboy violence.