Death Race – It has death.  And racing.

Do you like fast cars and action?  Then you should like this.  But wait... it’s a remake, therefore it must be dreadful, right?  Actually, in this case, I don’t know.  I’ve never watched the original, but I understand it – like so many remakes – has its army of online defenders saying how this incarnation of the film doesn’t compare to its source material.  However, I like action.  I like Jason Statham and, if I’m in the mood for some loud, dumb fun then I will certainly let this entertain me for an hour and a half.

Jason Statham plays... oh what the hell, he basically plays that same tough guy he’s played in every other recent action fight-fest.  Anyway, take one dystopian future where prisons are funded by showing their inmates race to the death around tracks on pay-per-view, add a conspiracy to get ‘The Stath’ unfairly convicted and sent there in order to race... and you have the recipe for plenty of high-octane driving stunts, fist-fights among the inmates and the Stath snarling at anyone who gets in his way.

Now, if you’re into your films, you may vaguely be aware of its direction, Paul W S Anderson, and the various film franchises he presides over, mainly ‘Resident Evil,’ but he got his hands on ‘Aliens vs Predator,’ too.  A lot of people say he can’t write a good film.  Actually, I may agree on that one, but I’ve always thought he was certainly a talented director who could handle decent action scenes.  And, in a film about racing with machine guns, you’re going to want the action to be good.  And it is.

There are a few other cast members the Stath interacts with.  Most of them you won’t remember, but Ian McShane does his best with what he’s give to provide that ‘Morgan Freeman-like’ mentor figure to our bald, grumpy hero.  Plus you have ‘Generic Love Interest #657 and Jason Clarke (pre John Connor) as ‘Evil Prison Guard #831’ and, of course, the warden.  Here, the warden is a woman... or simply ‘Generic Evil Corporate B*tch #738?  The supporting cast are all pretty much by the numbers and you won’t remember their performances, let along their on-screen names.

This is a Stath movie.  If you like him, or action (specially racing), plus you’ve binge-watched the entire ‘Fast and the Furious’ franchise, then you should enjoy this.  Put your brain on hold and just have fun.
8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one