"Death Race Makes The Road Warrior Look Like The Little Mermaid"
Personally, I am offended by this "remake." While Death Race 2000 wasn't exactly Five Easy Pieces, Paul Bartel's 1975 cult classic featured motorized combatants competing to cut pedestrians into at least that many bits. Which was– and still is– deliciously politically incorrect. The new movie pits convicts against convicts for mass entertainment. Been there, Running Man'd that. Ho-hum? Nope. "The car chases and most of the characters are thrillingly executed, with 5,000-horse-power smash-'em-ups shredding the screen," writes New York Post critic (or not) Kyle Smith. "If you run over the right manhole cover, you can activate additional weapons or bloodthirsty traps, and there aren't a lot of environmental restrictions ("Give me the napalm" is as routine a command as "find something on the radio"). If the warden feels like cheating, and that feeling often comes over her, she can throw into the mix something called the Dreadnought, which is to the other cars what a Chevy truck is to a roller skate."
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Yeah, this is what we need more of. A remake fantasy about how to blow people and things up as fantastically as possible because this is entertaining to a country full of Walter Mittys. It makes us better people, a better nation, a better world. And besides, if you learn how to do this tuff on a video game you'll be ready in case the real thing comes along. Meanwhile, the thieves. I know I'm a cranky, cynical old man. But really...what the hell is wrong with us.
geggamoya, I'm amazed that someone else on TTAC besides me knows about Initial D. Hey, Tokyopop bastardized the original translation, but I think Funimation has the license now, and besides, we'll always have [s]Paris[/s] the Initial D arcade games from Sega...
KixStart: Yes Stallone plays in the original movie and he wears pink... You also got David Carradine in leather if it's more of your fancy. Otherwise you might like the big breasted blonde dressed in nazi regalia. Anyway, it's a great B-Movie.
take it for what it is - a totally insane action movie. Dollar theater (3-month old films) here I come!