Autos and Adrenaline
Roger Corman produces predictable yet enjoyable summer fare with Death Race

There are bad-bad films and there are good-bad films, and most of the time it isn’t hard to tell the difference. If you leave the theater with a smile on your face but with the realization that nothing in the way of art/message/humanity has been conveyed, then you probably have experienced a good-bad film.

For over 50 years producer/director Roger Corman has been the unchallenged king of the good-bad films, sometimes (although many times mistakenly) called “B” movies. As a director his films include Swamp Women (1955), The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967), and Frankenstein Unbound (1980).

As a producer, Corman has overseen such gems as Not of This Earth (1957), Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) and Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979).

Interestingly, even though Corman’s films are often the butt of jokes among Hollywood elite, many of them have been remade into more substantial movies including Little Shop of Horrors (1960), The Fast and the Furious (1955) and Grand Theft Auto (1977).

The latest Corman classic to get a makeover is his 1975 film Death Race 2000. The original version starred David Carradine as Frankenstein and Sylvester Stallone as Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, two convicts who have been forced to race in armored sports cars through the desert for a chance at freedom…or death.

The Roger Corman-produced update, simply titled Death Race, moves the drama up to the year 2012 and stars gritty, gravelly-voiced actor Jason Statham in the role of Frankenstein and Tyrese Gibson as Machine Gun Joe. Statham’s real name is Jensen Ames, a down-on-his-luck steel worker who once had a promising career as a NASCAR driver. He is framed for his wife’s murder and thrown into the highest security prison in the country, located on an Alcatraz-like island and run by a ruthless warden named Hennessy (Joan Allen).

Hennessy is also the executive producer of the pay-per-view television sensation Death Race. In the show, convicts are forced to race high-octane autos around the island while shooting at each other, wrecking each other, and otherwise trying to kill each other. The convicts comply because if any of them were to win five races, they would win their freedom from prison. To bump up the show’s ratings, the drivers are equipped with sexy passenger seat navigators from the local women’s prison.

Hennessy has apparently framed Ames to get him to pretend to be the late great Frankenstein, the most popular and successful of the Death Race drivers to date. Frank’s navigator Case (Natalie Martinez), may or may not be in cahoots with Hennessy as Ames is forced to drive for his life against Machine Gun Joe and seven other crazy convicts. One thing’s for sure, Hennessy’s not going to let Ames go, even if he wins Frank’s fifth race.

As you can probably tell from this synopsis, Death Race is terribly over the top and filled with characters that might be more comfortable on the pages of a comic book than in a 90-minute movie. The action sequences, while serviceable, are nothing groundbreaking and the plot moves with predictable aplomb.

Still, there is enough humor, action and surprises to make this one of the better bad films to explode into theaters this summer. Statham has steadily made a career of playing the same character in nearly all of his films. If you liked him in the Transporter series, The Italian Job and Crank, you will most likely get a kick out of him here.

Joan Allen, an actress with impeccable credentials (The Contender, Nixon, The Ice Storm) and three Oscar nominations on her resumé, goes for a little street cred with her portrayal of a power-lusting warden prepared to crush anyone in her way. Watching her chew the scenery as Hennessy is one of the many little delights in Death Race.

While Death Race will neither win any awards nor elevate Roger Corman to the status he deserves, a closer look reveals that the film borrows elements from many classic films including Ben Hur, The Shawshank Redemption and Robocop. It also serves as a worthy remake of Death Race 2000, a forgotten little good-bad movie with a lot to offer 33 years after its initial release.

Death Race is rated R for strong violence and language. It is currently playing at Regal Cinema in Boone.