4 gibbles out of 5

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

I like Paul W.S. Anderson. Does he make trashy movies? Sure. But do they ever pretend to be anything other than what they are? …Exactly. Only “Soldier” really played at loftier intentions (although I haven’t seen “Shopping”), but even that came across as pretty solid actionry.

Anyhow – Death Race is nigh pitch-perfect. Mr. Anderson has tweaked his action scenes since helming Mortal Kombat in the 90s (alongside Resident Evil two of the best video game movies ever)(…understanding that that’s not saying much) and, after getting all herky-jerky with the camera in AVP, I think with Death Race he’s come to an awesome balance between establishing shots and wayward camera. The other big plus here is that CGI was mostly used just for enhancements, otherwise all of the stunts were done as practically as possible (including the awesome truck sequence).

Oh… right, the plot. Something something wrongfully jailed and in the future this jail makes money by filming “death races.” The winner of three races goes free. Variations of this have been done to death, and there are so many aspects of the plot that don’t really hold up, but come on, this was based on Roger Corman stuff, and, as mentioned, this movie isn’t trying to be a masterpiece, just entertaining. Which it was. And added plus: they stray from getting too perverse with the prisoners or too sultry with the women or too sappy with the families. Action. Watch it.