Death Race

In the near future, America’s prisons are run by ruthless corporations who reap their profits by pitting the inmates against each other in deadly auto races, live-streamed on the Internet; the current race pits a new prisoner (Jason Statham) against both a rival driver (Tyrese Gibson) and the prison’s ice-queen warden (Joan Allen). Loosely based on producer Roger Corman’s 1975 schlock black comedy Death Race 2000, director Paul W.S. Anderson’s script has a few unexpected turns to recommend it. Mostly, though, it’s just high-speed, mega-firepower action, sledgehammered across the screen with enough turbo-charged adrenaline to satisfy the most demanding blood lust of the No Fear T-shirt crowd. It all becomes redundant, and few characters are developed enough to make us care whether they live or die.