|
|
|
Last Updated: Oct 3rd, 2008 - 08:31:02 |
 |
| Tyrese Gibson co-stars in "Death Race." |
All signs point to the fact that we are not supposed to take the new film, “Death Race,” too seriously. From the cheesy title, to the appearance of action star Jason Statham, to the video game-like action, this film has all the markings of a late summer release produced for teen-agers.
While, by and large, the film lives up to its expectations, it also lulls us into embracing its comic book aesthetic. It tells a story, set just four years from now in the United States, when the prison-industrial complex has been transformed into a total for-profit operation run by corporations. With money as a motive, many poor and working-class stiffs find themselves locked up. One such poor dude, Jensen Ames (Statham), finds himself imprisoned after a horrific tragedy in his home. And it just so happens that Ames, an expert driver, is sent to a prison, Terminal Island, which produces a pay-per-view show featuring a car race to the death by prisoners.
“Death Race” at least offers some sort of serious pretext for its orgy of car crashes and easy death. It forces us to think about the growth industry of prisons and allows us to root for Ames as a man unjustly imprisoned. There is enough drama between Ames and the other prisoners, including Machine Gun Joe, played by Tyrese Gibson, to keep the action rolling outside of the bloody race track. Joan Allen (“The Bourne Supremacy”) plays the perfect villain, as the icy prison warden and executive producer of the TV show, which grosses millions each week. Think of Cruella De Vil from "101 Dalmatians" brought to real-life, with human beings endangered instead of cute puppies.
At first consideration, “Death Race” seems to take the easy way out as it cheapens murder and reduces much of the race and violence to the level of a video game. But it can also be argued that this film makes astute commentary about the way that the gamer aesthetic deadens the senses so much that death and suffering do not register to be as serious as they actually are. Of course, without showing or referencing the audience, it also makes a comment on society’s growing obsession with “reality TV” that allows us to witness an uncomfortable competition between human beings. And many already pay for shows featuring boxing, wrestling, so-called “extreme” fights or shows featuring violence against women.
In the realm of this year’s so-so summer action flicks, at least “Death Race” touches on something real, even if in a very un-realistic setting. It manages to combine tragedy, drama, action and even some comedy as we root for the little man who fights the power.
This review also appeared on Tom Joyner's BlackAmericaWeb.com,/i>
You can order Esther Iverem's critically praised We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006 (Thunder’s Mouth Press, April 2007)at Amazon.com or purchase at your favorite bookstore. It makes a wonderful gift! Thanks!
Read and search hundreds of reviews on SeeingBlack.com's Movies/TV channel and archive.
Click here to post a comment or your own review.
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
