Petrolheads and gorehounds, this backfiring blast of cinematic carbon monoxide is your film of the year.
Comment
10/31/08
Death Race (2008)
43
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:143
Fresh:61
Rotten:82
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: Mindless, violent, and lightning-paced, Death Race is little more than an empty action romp.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Oct 30, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $36,064,910
Synopsis: The Roger Corman-produced cult favorite DEATH RACE 2000 (1975) gets an update in this reworking from action director Paul W.S. Anderson (RESIDENT EVIL). In a role sure to please fans of his work in... [More]
Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Reviews for Death Race
Top CriticLike a monster car rally without a Truckosaurus in sight, this is more about the smashes and crashes than the vehicles themselves
09/11/08
Top CriticWhile not being the most awful filmic experience available, it's certainly one of the dumbest.
10/31/08
Top CriticA must-see for petrolheads and cineastes alike.
11/07/08
Top CriticIt's all pretty senseless and senseless is how I felt at the end of it all, after being party to a sadistic and deadly race that relies on the killing of its participants for its entertainment.
10/27/08
Top CriticRunning an economical hour and 45 minutes, Death Race is all muscle, no fat. Anderson and his exceptional cast tell their tightly built story and get out of the way.
08/29/08
The best of all Paul W.S. Anderson's films, although how much lower we can set the bar, I don't know.
08/28/08
Bravely takes on that philosophical quandary every one of us must face: What to do when a ninja breaks into your home, frames you for the murder of your wife and taunts you with a finger-gun motion?
08/21/08
Anderson's take is ultraviolent, ridiculously stupid and kind of a rush. If your brain has an 'off' switch, you're well-advised to use it. And the carnage is relentless.
08/21/08
One of the most boring drags of all time.
08/20/08
It's the perfect end-of-summer film, and a sign that summer needs to end soon.
08/22/08
In movies like The Bank Job, Jason Statham has shown the potential to be a British Steve McQueen, but he'll never get the chance if he keeps making gobblers like Death Race.
08/22/08
It's exactly what you expect...and that's part of its problem. There isn't one surprise in this movie, not one, which is a good reason why it feels so hammered out and routine.
08/23/08
Paul W. S. Anderson's noisy, nonsensical remake fails to hold together even in its own paper-thin world.
08/21/08
Even though DEATH RACE is pretty bloody, and had some cool moments, the overall experience is mind numbing and a little depressing. It's sad to think that this is Anderson's best effort since 2002, and that it's still as bad as ever.
08/21/08
Thanks to its character interplay, the movie doesn't drag despite taking a good 40 minutes to really rev its engines. And the racing that ensues is as loud, fast, hyper-edited, and pulverizingly destructive as the gladiatorially minded would hope.
08/22/08
What fans of the original will immediately glean from the quasi-remake, now simply titled Death Race, is just how prophetic Bartel's film was … and how desperately the new film needs its forebear's sense of irony.
08/22/08
The remake takes everything that was imaginative about the original feature and reduces it to an ear-splitting energy drink commercial, topped off with some of the worst filmmaking decisions to be found at the multiplex this year.
08/21/08
It's oddly satisfying, even though it does everything wrong.
08/22/08
Crude, rude, testosterone-clotted, meat-headed fun, mind, but its loud and proud lack of pretension is a relief compared to the pseudo-profundity of many blockbusters.
09/26/08
Latest News for Death Race
January 03, 2009:
Social commentary on greed and war along with sexed up female con backseat drivers, is thin pretext for the incessant, at times visually surreal heavy metal havoc orgy of war machine, napalm shooting designer macho-mobile boy toy vehicular homicide. 
More...
December 28, 2008:
Social commentary on greed and war along with sexed up female con backseat drivers, is thin pretext for the incessant, at times visually surreal heavy metal havoc orgy of war machine, napalm shooting designer macho-mobile boy toy vehicular homicide.
More...
September 26, 2008:
Exclusive: David Carradine Cameo in Crank 2 says Statham
It's not just Death Race that boasts a cameo from legend David Carradine. According to star Jason Statham, speaking to RT this week ahead of the UK release of Death Race, the... More...
September 26, 2008:
RT Interview: Jason Statham Chats Death Race, Crank 2 and The Sweeney
RT catches up with Jason Statham to learn more about the Death Race and grill him on upcoming turns in Crank 2, Transporter 3 and the possibility of an appearance in Nick Love's... More...
What’s Hot On RT
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