Anderson dilutes Roger Corman's satire by locating Death Race among society's transgressors, depicting their dysfunctions with gory relish, and confining the race safely behind the walls of an isolated prison.
Comment
08/22/08
Death Race (2008)
43
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:143
Fresh:61
Rotten:82
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: Mindless, violent, and lightning-paced, Death Race is little more than an empty action romp.
Theatrical Release:Aug 22, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $36,064,910
Synopsis: The Roger Corman-produced cult favorite DEATH RACE 2000 (1975) gets an update in this reworking from action director Paul W.S. Anderson (RESIDENT EVIL). In a role sure to please fans of his work in... [More]
Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
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Reviews for Death Race
[D]irector Paul W.S. Anderson gives us gray cars racing around gray buildings underneath a gray sky. When I found myself longing for the eye-scorching hues of Speed Racer, I knew we were in trouble.
08/22/08
The unfortunately simple message of Death Race merely says we're living in a time and place where financial corruption can allow us to prostitute ourselves to charge $250 to watch one guy violently off another for our viewing pleasure.
08/22/08
Death Race drips with cheese, and it's insanely proud of it.
08/22/08
It's the kind of easy target that most film critics enjoy savaging, but I choose to look a little more closely at movies like this. Empty-headed and powerfully familiar, yes, boring and poorly-made ... no way.
08/22/08
The movie Death Race most resembles is not Death Race 2000 or even another action movie but rather a beloved 1994 prison drama.
08/22/08
Won't win any awards for brains or originality, but it's better acted than one might expect.
08/22/08
This summer movie season has been light on explosions, but Death Race takes care of that.
08/22/08
The story gets conviction off the performances of Statham and Allen and anyone looking for an end-of-summer crunchathon has definitely come to the right place.
08/22/08
The combination of good actors and terrible dialogue might have allowed the film a chance at minor cult status, if it weren't for the frustratingly inept action sequences.
08/22/08
Death Race is cartoonishly brutal and pleasantly disreputable.
08/22/08
Top Critic[T]he only thing deadly about it is how dull it is...
08/22/08
Statham's films never promise to be something they're not or offer something they don't provide. Death Race is not an exception.
08/22/08
Top CriticOf all the Z-movies in the Roger Corman catalog, they had to remake Death Race 2000.
08/22/08
It's the perfect end-of-summer film, and a sign that summer needs to end soon.
08/22/08
If you're a fan of Gone in 60 Seconds or The Fast and the Furious, you won't look at your watch while the movie is going on, and you won't feel conned out of your money when it's over.
08/22/08
Top CriticLike first love -- or maybe just a crowbar to the Adam's apple -- Death Race works fast and hits hard. A prison flick and a car chase movie at the same time? I am so there.
08/22/08
Top CriticWell, you've got to say this for Death Race: It knows what it is and doesn't apologize for it. What it is, incidentally, is junk.
08/22/08
Offers exactly what action film fans would expect: squealing tires, blazing guns and spectacular crashes. Serviceable storytelling and dialogue that won't make you cover your eyes and shake your head are pleasant surprises.
08/22/08
A movie in which road rage is justified. Yours will be, too, if you spend $10 on this.
08/22/08
Latest News for Death Race
January 03, 2009:
Social commentary on greed and war along with sexed up female con backseat drivers, is thin pretext for the incessant, at times visually surreal heavy metal havoc orgy of war machine, napalm shooting designer macho-mobile boy toy vehicular homicide. 
More...
December 28, 2008:
Social commentary on greed and war along with sexed up female con backseat drivers, is thin pretext for the incessant, at times visually surreal heavy metal havoc orgy of war machine, napalm shooting designer macho-mobile boy toy vehicular homicide.
More...
September 26, 2008:
Exclusive: David Carradine Cameo in Crank 2 says Statham
It's not just Death Race that boasts a cameo from legend David Carradine. According to star Jason Statham, speaking to RT this week ahead of the UK release of Death Race, the... More...
September 26, 2008:
RT Interview: Jason Statham Chats Death Race, Crank 2 and The Sweeney
RT catches up with Jason Statham to learn more about the Death Race and grill him on upcoming turns in Crank 2, Transporter 3 and the possibility of an appearance in Nick Love's... More...
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