Written by: Kurt in Saint George (SoSF Fan)
I just read a synopsis of Paul W.S. Anderson’s script for his remake of “Death Race 2000” now just called “Death Race.” After reading it I wonder why it isn’t called The Running Man on Wheels. Here’s the plot in a nutshell.
Jason Strathan plays a former race car driver; now a falsely convicted prison inmate, who is forced against his will to participate in a car race against his fellow inmates on a popular reality TV show. The cars are armed with weapons that only work if the driver runs over certain marks or plates on the race track. If an inmate wins so many races, they get pardoned.
A masked character named Frankenstein is one win away from being pardoned. In each race this character seems to die in a fiery crash but comes back for each new show. Of course the driver is really dying but the TV audience doesn’t know that. Michael Strathan is blackmailed into playing the next Frankenstein and will be pardoned if he can win one race. From what I can gather the humor found in “Death Race 2000” and “Running Man” will likely be missing.
My prediction:
This will be another typical Paul W.S. Anderson film. It won’t suck as much a Uwe Bolle film. Instead it will just be another mediocre late summer action movie with a few good crashes and explosions.
In my opinion, Paul W.S. Anderson is worse then Uwe Bolle. Bolle’s films exist as a tax write-off for German corporations. He can’t even get his films in American theaters any longer so he doesn’t really matter anymore. Anderson gets some fairly large budgets and pretty good talent to work with, yet he only produces schlock. Even “Event Horizon” was only a half or two thirds of a good movie. When Mike Mennenga from FarPoint Media/Slice of sci-fi rants that Hollywood needs to make better films to earn higher profits, Anderson’s exercise in mediocrity should be Exhibit A. “R.E. Extinction” did great in its first weekend but then word of mouth caught up with it and gave this waste of film a deservedly short run in theaters. Paul W.S. Anderson is a blight on sci-fi and related genre films.
From one idiot’s point of view, I’ll probably be there to see this flick. I’m a big fan of Jason Statham as the lastest great action star (I tend to regard him as the heir to Jackie Chan, just as Jackie was the heir to Bruce Lee). My analogies may be a little flawed, but the draw is the same for me. For the most part, his movies have been PHENOMINAL COSMIC ACTION, itty bitty plot. Case in point, Transporter 2. Great-looking, yet totally unrealistic (in parts) action, with very little plot. On that level, this might be a fun movie, and I’m willing to give it a chance.
Or “The Condemned” if you prefer, only not on a jungle island.