by Everett Jensen

Created on: September 10, 2008

Death Race
written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson
starring Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane, Natalie Martinez, Max Ryan, Jason Clarke, Frederick Koehler, Jacob Vargas

In this indescribably daft racing fest, the narrative has been stripped down to its most bare and senseless essentials. There are many, many explosions as tricked-out autos race on and on around the track for large stretches throughout the film. The result is monotonous to put it

politely and the story proves to be cute but irrelevant in the end.

The idea here is that the right programming at the right time has the power to galvanize great sections of the populace provided it is base enough to appeal to the most prurient of interests. Under an economic freeze, with everyone suffering immense despair and lowliness, pure carnage and excessive, relentless violence will fleece the public out of their money under the false pretense of giving them what they want. There are moments when a singular aim is realized and an event becomes a focal point for the entire culture. 9/11, the Columbia Disaster, Columbine, Lincoln's Assassination, etc. become mythical attributes that are instant conversation starters. 70 million Americans tuned into a grisly, pointless automobile race serves the same purpose. This film attempts to explore the relationship of violence with commerce in a most rudimentary way. The original film exaggerated this relationship to such a degree that it came across as more dynamic and pressing.

The story as far as it goes involves the sticky panties fantasies of Warden Hennessey, the head bitch at Terminal Island prison. It is 2012 and the economy has tanked. Unemployment has skyrocketed and apparently the entire nation is trapped in a hellacious financial crunch. This doesn't seem to stop 70 million of them from spending $100 for each stage of Death Race which has been created to give the internet audience a real deal for their hard won cash. The prisons are all privately owned and have hit upon an easy way to generate funds. At first they featured cage matches but audiences became bored so they jacked up their entertainment. Just like in the original and vastly superior "Death Race 2000", Frankenstein is the hot ticket. He's won four races and all he needs is one more to be granted his freedom. The only problem is he died after a horrible crash and now Hennessey is looking for a new Frankenstein to keep folks tuned in. In steps Jensen Ames (Statham). We learn that he

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