''Death Race'' (worst name for a film since snakes on a plane)

When I first saw this film advertised my immediate reaction was: 'Terrible, terrible name'. I mean seriously its the most obvious title ever leaves nothing to the imagination just a blatant in-your-face title. Now i know its supposed to be a T.V Show in a film but even then the title should have more substance. Moving on from the abysmal title I do like the time and place its set in. Its set in a post-apocalyptic USA where the prisons are full and unemployment is at a record high. Apocalypse stories have always interested me such as 'Fallout 3 and New vegas' in games, ''I Am Legend and The Road'' in films, as a lot of the ideas presented in these are not completely ridiculous.

      In this particular apocalypse Gladiatorial races with vehicles armed to the teeth with an array of some rather impressive weaponry take part in a 3 stage race to compete for the prize of their freedom. The rules state you have to win 5 races to be released and this is where Mr Statham comes in. He takes on the role of Frankenstein a skilled racer who was killed in his final race for his freedom. Statham or Jenson Aimes takes on his identity to keep the legend alive.
       The prison is run my a bitch of woman named Hennessy. Her whole motive for this is ratings, and she gets millions of viewers signing up to watch death race which makes her a lot of money.

The whole concept behind the film is sound, its just that a lot of the acting done is really sub-par. For example Aimes' co-pilot's acting is just poor most of the lines she says are cheesy and done with little emotion/passion, she may as well be reading off a script while its being filmed.

Despite its previous downfalls the opening race in addition to the rest of the races in the film are pretty well shot and the crashes, explosions and people being brutally murdered by flying pieces of rusty metal on top of being obliterated by cars going at supernatural speeds is pretty freaking awesome.

The problem with the film then arises again between races: the support actors are really poor and some of the lines are just really badly written. For example:

''If you fuck with me, we'll see who shits on the sidewalk''

I'm sorry, but what the hell does that even mean ?! I'll tell you what it means.. nothing, which is what really annoyed me. If you're going to write a really significant line in the film which is going to shock audiences or make them remember it (fondly) then don't say something which is just cursing for the sake of cursing with no real meaning behind it. Its lines like this which really sum up the film in a really  bad way.

 Despite all the chase scenes and epic crashes the film is bought down by bad writing and acting. Which is a shame because they nailed the brutality of the races itself. But unfortunately it wasn't enough to make up for its downfalls so i'm giving it a deserved

4.5/10


Its pros do not outweigh its cons by a long shot and its not Statham's best film by a long shot. However part of the reason I initially watched the film was because he was in it. Which does prove that he is a great actor, Snatch was a quality film, but I digress.