Jensen Ames [Jason Statham] has been framed for the murder of his wife and has been incarcerated in Hennessey’s [Joan Allen] prison. Hennessy is the creator of the most popular sporting event ever, The Death Race. The Death Race is where prisoners race for their freedom and there are no rules, only cross the line alive first.

Here is a movie that had me curious. Earlier this summer I got hyped for racing movies with Speed Racer blowing my mind with awesomeness, so when the trailer for this movie was released I thought to myself “that could be good, looks like Speed Racer with real bullets”. Unfortunately it is no Speed Racer. I don’t even think that Mr. Ames would be a part of my top five drivers list if he was twice the character that he is in this movie.

This movie is not exactly what you would call predictable. However, this is due to the fact that they gave you the ENTIRE story in the trailer that I mentioned above. So if you’re not sure if you want to see this one, watch the trailer and if it appeases the movie junkie deep down inside of you, and then go right ahead. For me, this is a rental at best. The story is definitely a throw away, and it isn’t why you go to see this one. But for me, every time they had a race I kept saying to myself “this is no Speed Racer”. And I’m not referring just to the visual style, because this has one of its own. It tries too hard to be real in a universe that will never exist, and it uses a lot of real stunts, not a lot of CG which is always a plus for me nowadays. But the races just seemed boring, not unexpected boring, but overall boring.

Firstly, the movie has three races [unless you count the opening 2 minutes]. Each race takes place on the same track, so you don’t have anytime to enjoy the environment over and over like in Speed Racer. Therefore the only thing you have to entertain you is the actual race and the violence that ensues. It was like sitting through a joke that you’ve heard so many times… every violent scene/act that there just never excited me. However, I was sitting next to some of the most jittery females I’ve ever seen in a theatre [the kind that you take on a date to the worst horror film ever], and they made me laugh at this movie so much. I would be there, and then someone would get killed and blood… and I would be all like “okay” then I would hear them jumping and freaking out and I would start laughing ridiculously. It was great.

The director [Paul W.S. Anderson] definitely knew where he had to sell the movie, because he sure didn’t try with the acting. I hadn’t seen such lame acting in a while. The only actor I liked in this movie was Ian McShane, and that was just because I like his voice and how he says all the cheesy lines like “now that’s entertainment”. So I can’t say that he was completely inept, because even though I wasn’t a fan of the action/driving sequences, I can say the rest of the crowd was enjoying it. Lots of positive responses from the rest of the theatre reminded me how out of touch I am with the “popcorn cinema” crowd most of the time.

One thing I loved was that they made Machine Gun Joe [Tyrese Gibson] gay. Which I mean, I’m not trying to say bad things about gays, but Tyrese was so the aggressive gay guy. Made me laugh at how my fellow country-men would respond to this with all their usual “battyman fi dead” style chants. Especially for a guy that is one of the factors that most of those guys used to probably coax their women to come along with them to see the movie.

Overall, this is a rent or movie you wait for to come out on cable, unless of course you really like the trailer. It is only shadowed by how great Speed Racer was earlier this summer and how unsatisfying the entire experience was for me.

IMDB says 6.6/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 40%

I say 5.5/10