Death Race Blu-ray delivers stunning video and reference-quality audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
Terminal Island: The very near future. The world's hunger for
extreme sports and reality competitions has grown into reality TV
bloodlust. Now, the most extreme racing competition has emerged and its
contestants are murderous prisoners. Tricked-out cars, caged thugs and
smoking-hot navigators combine to create a juggernaut series with bigger
ratings than the Super Bowl. The rules of the "Death Race" are simple: Win
five events, and you're set free. Lose and you're road kill splashed across
the Internet. International action star Jason Statham leads the
action-thriller's cast as three-time speedway champion Jensen Ames, an
ex-con framed for the murder of his wife. Forced to don the mask of the
mythical driver Frankenstein, a "Death Race" crowd favorite who seems
impossible to kill, Ames is given an easy choice by Terminal Island's
ruthless Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen): Suit up and drive or never see his
little girl again. His face hidden by a hideous mask, he must win the
insane three-day challenge in order to gain freedom. But to claim the
prize, Ames must survive a gauntlet of the most vicious
criminals--including nemesis Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson)--in the
country's toughest prison. Trained by his coach (Ian McShane) to drive a
monster Mustang V8 Fastback outfitted with 2 mounted mini-guns,
flamethrowers and napalm, an innocent man must destroy everything in his
path to win the most twisted spectator sport on Earth.
Terminal Penitentiary hosts three days in the ultimate in auto carnage!
If ever there was a movie meant to be the ultimate in hard-hitting, death-defying,
blood-pumping,
every-clichéd-phrase-in-the-action-movie-review-handbook entertainment, that movie is
definitely
Death Race. About as far from The Duchess or Made of Honor as a
movie can be, Death Race is all about violence, glorious violence, set to a virtually
nonstop
soundtrack of automotive mayhem and featuring more expended ammunition than Yuri Orlov could possibly ever
imagine. Forget the Oscars, forget good acting, forget memorable characters, and definitely
forget pesky little hindrances like a quality script and profound depth and meaning. Death
Race is just good old fashioned, 100% male-centric entertainment. There is nothing
masking that fact; the film doesn't try to play out with any sort of significance or meaning behind
its plot. No, Death Race is an unequivocal success because it hides behind nothing,
bears all, and never once during its 111 minute runtime is it afraid to be one of the most
electrifying, gruesome,
and most importantly, fun pure action movies around.
Where can I get one?
It is the year 2012. The economy is in shambles, unemployment and crime are on the rise, and
corporations run prisons for profit. Terminal Island is one such prison, and it is there that select
inmates participate in a deadly new sport known as "Death Race," a fight-to-the-death
automobile extravaganza where armored cars with hood-mounted machine guns race to the
finish line and lay waste to everything in their path -- including their opponents. When the
sport's most famous participant, a disfigured driver dubbed "Frankenstein," dies after a race,
former racer and convict Jensen Ames (Jason Statham, Transporter 3) is
framed for his wife's murder and incarcerated at Terminal Island. The
prison's warden, Hennessey (Joan Allen, Face/Off), coerces
Ames into filling in for Frankenstein, promising him that should he win one more race, he'll be
set
free and allowed to reunite with his infant daughter. With his identity known only to his crew
and female navigator Case (Natalie Martinez), Ames sets out to win the three-stage race -- and
his freedom.
Death Race's basic plot premise plays out like that of The Condemned in
that
both films feature expendable convicts forced to perform in a deadly game broadcast over the
Internet, all for profit and ratings. Basic plot similarities aside, Death Race is The
Condemned on Barry Bonds steroids, taking the action and violence to new levels, aided, of
course, by armor plated cars, heavy machine guns, and curvy navigators. The film refuses to
slow
down, and is never bogged down by any superfluous plot elements that deter from the primary
action. Speaking of the action, director Paul W.S. Anderson (Event Horizon)
utilizes the now seemingly standard action movie herky-jerky camera movements, combined
with rapid-fire cuts to add a shaky, hyperactive realism to the film's many action pieces. The
technique does deliver a sense of danger to the shots, but it also detracts from the ability to fully
take in the visuals and the action.
Death Race delivers the goods, sufficiently, in other aspects, too. Perhaps most
importantly, the film's set and prop design is very good. The locales seen throughout are
appropriately dark, grimy, unwelcoming, and harsh, just as one would expect of both a prison
film
and a bullet-ridden car-racing movie. The cars themselves become characters in the film. What
works very well here is that they look believable and fit right into the rest of the film. These
aren't James Bond-like souped-up
Aston Martins, nor are they particularly ugly, over-the-top beasts as one might expect to see in a
Mad Max movie.
The
cars have a few tricks up their manifolds (or wherever cars hide their tricks), but mostly rely on
power, weapons, a heavy-duty steel shield,
and most importantly, driver acumen and skill to fend off fellow racers. While certainly not
superb, the acting in the film is sufficient. Jason Statham, of course, delivers his usual fine
performance, fine for the types of pictures he generally stars in, anyway. He once again plays a
hard, no-nonsense character with plenty of physical skill but also a heart, only reluctantly
accepting the challenge and participating in the mayhem for the sake of what remains of his
family. The film is otherwise populated with a hodgepodge of characters, none of whom are the
least bit memorable, but that serve their purposes sufficiently enough. The other drivers are all
appropriately clichéd. Ames's "pit crew," for a lack of a better term, is
annoying. Joan Allen's character is a mere prop to ad cohesion to the story. She plays the part
well
enough, though with little enthusiasm, and although the part seems written for a sinister
character, she seems unable to convey that feel.
Death Race crashes onto Blu-ray with a high quality 1080p transfer presented in its original
2.35:1 aspect ratio. There is a slight golden push to much of the image, and flesh tones veer
slightly towards the red side of the scale. Most every shot reveals high-quality imagery that shows
off the strength of both the transfer and the Blu-ray format, as the film exudes a cinematic look and
feel in every shot. Film grain permeates the image, but it is never seen in abundance. Black levels
are remarkably rich and deep. Parts of the film, particularly interior shots that don't take place in
the prison, is shot with a soft light that gives the film a warm look. Otherwise, the film often
features a rather cold, unwelcoming, steely look that matches up nicely with the action and style of
the film. It's definitely not a bright, happy Disney movie for sure, but the visuals add to the hard,
violent world presented in the film. The transfer also features solid depth and detail across the
board, from character features (scars, wounds, and tattoos), to all of the minutiae that make up the
cars, the track, and the prison. Death Race is an upper-level transfer, one that might not
immediately come to mind as demonstration-worthy material, but one that could easily serve that
purpose if called upon.
Death Race speeds onto Blu-ray with another explosive DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless
soundtrack from Universal. This mix offers a fine sense of space that effortlessly pours
from every speaker, filling the room with rich, clear, and loud music and effects. The film's nearly
nonstop music sounds fantastic, insofar as the quality of the presentation. Bass is deep,
the beats and lyrics of some of the rap material fill up the listening area, and it often seems to
come from all directions. Nevertheless, Death Race isn't about music; it's about revving
engines, explosions, and machine guns. Machine gun fire thumps away as heavy caliber weapons
fire
downrange and impact onto the armor-plated bodies of the vehicles, the sensation similar to one
of Blu-ray's current definitive reference moments, the armored stagecoach robbery sequence in
3:10 to Yuma. The
first major, extended action sequence comes in chapter eight during the first stage of the race.
The track never takes the foot off the accelerator, pounding away aggressively yet precisely with
hard-hitting thuds, crashes, explosions, music and dialogue, all delivered with both excitement
and ease. Like the movie, this mix never slows down, and even the best systems will do some
heavy lifting to ensure proper delivery of this one, but it's easily worth it. This is the
kind of mix sure to drive the neighbors crazy.
Universal delivers Death Race to Blu-ray with a decent selection of bonus materials.
Leading things off is a feature-length commentary track with director Paul W.S. Anderson and
producer Jeremy Bolt. This track is informative but a bit bland, though the information provided,
particularly by Anderson, makes it worth a listen. The track opens with a rather detailed and
lengthy discussion on the origins of the film and the development of the project, and moves along
to other topics, such as the style of the film, the look of the varied sets, and of course, the cars.
There are some lengthy gaps of silence in several spots. This disc also includes U-Control
functionality. This time, two pop-up windows are available -- Picture in Picture, which
offers
standard behind-the-scenes material, and Tech Specs, which allows viewers to learn
more
about the drives and their cars, and access a "race report" and a "leader board."
Create Your
Own Race allows viewers to assemble their own racing scene from seven different angles,
replay the scene, and share it through the disc's BD-Live (Blu-ray profile 2.0) page. Start
Your Engines: Making a 'Death Race' (1080p, 19:44) is a standard making-of piece that
features cast and crew interview snippets, behind-the-scenes footage, and plenty of clips from the
film. Behind the Wheel: Dissecting the Stunts (1080p, 7:51) takes a closer look at the
impressive stunt work seen throughout the film. Death Race is also D-Box enabled. Finally, this disc is BD-Live enabled, the
page currently only offering a selection of trailers for additional Universal Blu-ray titles. Disc two
of this set contains a digital copy of the film. Played on a second generation iPod Touch, the
quality is generally strong, with minimal picture anomalies normally associated with digital copy
content. The sound is passable, but the movie definitely suffers when not played back on a
quality home system.
Death Race won't be remembered for its qualities that are critiqued come Oscar time, but
it's completely entertaining, which in a movie like this, is all that counts.
Looked at through that narrow perspective, it's a complete success. That narrow perspective is all
the film offers, playing as nothing more than an action junkie's shot of adrenaline, and taken in that
context and viewed by those who want nothing more than blood and guts entertainment,
Death Race is simply hard to beat. Once again, Universal has delivered a first-class Blu-ray
presentation of a new release film. Featuring excellent image quality, another reference-grade,
hard-hitting soundtrack, and a selection of supplements that is neither too cumbersome nor terribly
incomplete, this package is hard to resist, particularly for hardcore action fans. It is to those fans
that Death Race earns an enthusiastic recommendation.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced Death Race 2 for Blu-ray release on January 18, 2011, in a BD/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack including the unrated and rated versions of this direct-to-video prequel to the 2008 action thriller Death Race. Danny Trejo, ...
Owners of the 'Death Race' Blu-ray listen up: Universal Studios Home Entertainment is currently holding a contest where viewers can submit their own commentary for one of the films intense race scenes via the "My Commentary" BD-Live feature for a chance to win ...
In a recent interview with Eclipse Magazine, British director Paul W. S. Anderson was asked about the upcoming Blu-ray release of his film 'Death Race', which was released yesterday. One interesting note was that a feature special exclusive to the Blu-ray release ...
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced that they will bring the Jason Statham action film 'Death Race' to Blu-ray on December 23rd, day-and-date with the DVD release. Video for this release will be presented in 2.35:1 1080p video accompanied by a 5.1 ...
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