Jason Statham is an action legend in his own right!!!
To me Statham is the new brutal hard equivalent of Charles Bronson, he's making those type of old school, violent bone-crunching action Thrillers where he says little & acts with his fists. Statham is Awesome & he's even remade Bronson's 1970's The Mechanic, so the link between them is definitely there!!! Also Statham fits into the 80's & 90's action hero mould like Schwarzenegger, Stallone & Van Damme & again to prove this he was cast in the Excellent Expendables franchise. Out of the 80's action stars he's most like Van Damme in my opinion with his muscular physique & martial arts moves & this movie here "Death Race" (Originally a 70's Stallone film) is probably his most "old school" style of film. I get vibes of Schwarzenegger's The Running Man, The Mad Max films, Van Damme's Cyborg, Stallone's Lock-Up, Estevez's FreeJack, Fortress & other apocalyptic type violent films. This is a very dark,dirty, gritty & grubby dystopian futuristic Action Thriller set in the scary future where the entertainment is a big game called "Death Race" where criminals are forced to race & fight like gladiators for the new worlds entertainment.
In this world that is not far-fetched, the economy has gone to sh#t & work is hard to find & life is hard, very relevant during it's release with the recession that hit here in England & during the time Death Race came out in 2008 well here it was pretty much Chaos with out of control Crime rise, Street gangs, antisocial behaviour, hard to find jobs & just a depressing & hopeless state, our country had fallen into "Broken Britain" status & all was very dark. Death Race felt to me, like it came right out of all that raw anger & depressing economy & the savage times, a time Capsule of those dark times & the Director is British as well as It's star hard man Jason Statham, even by coincidence this film has always felt like a product of that dark period as was other dark British films of that time like Eden Lake, F, Harry Brown & Outlaw, amongst others that tapped into the social unrest of the scary times.
This is one of my favourite Statham films along with The Meg, The Mechanic 1&2, Safe & Home Front. The guy is a cult action hero legend & here he plays an average hard working family man that is framed for murder, he's very relatable here as a good man with his back against the wall.
I love dark & brutal futuristic films like this & Statham so suits this type of violent& dark movie, everything about this film screams old school 80's dirty action flicks. Our hero Statham plays Jensen Ames, a tough wrongly imprisoned man who wants vengeance & is forced to race in the deadly game & the racing scenes are spectacular with brutal action & a cool ensemble cast to support Statham with Tyrese Gibson, Joan Allen, Ian McShane, Natalie Martinez, Jason Clarke & Max Ryan. My small complaints are the pop-rap soundtrack is terrible & some of the cinematography was abit too sharp looking & not gritty enough but those are tiny complaints & the film is still an entertaining thrill ride blast of metal & man action!!!
This is fast paced action & a really well done dark atmosphere & a great Action hero performance by Statham in one of his best films.
I love dark & brutal futuristic films like this & Statham so suits this type of violent& dark movie, everything about this film screams old school 80's dirty action flicks. Our hero Statham plays Jensen Ames, a tough wrongly imprisoned man who wants vengeance & is forced to race in the deadly game & the racing scenes are spectacular with brutal action & a cool ensemble cast to support Statham with Tyrese Gibson, Joan Allen, Ian McShane, Natalie Martinez, Jason Clarke & Max Ryan. My small complaints are the pop-rap soundtrack is terrible & some of the cinematography was abit too sharp looking & not gritty enough but those are tiny complaints & the film is still an entertaining thrill ride blast of metal & man action!!!
This is fast paced action & a really well done dark atmosphere & a great Action hero performance by Statham in one of his best films.