DEATH RACE! *makes car noises*

[transemacabre]

So I went out on a date last night with a guy who's a total gearhead, and who desperately wanted to see Death Race, the latest Jason Statham/Tyrese vehicle. I went in with no expectations whatsoever... and I loved it. It's so bad it's fuckin' awesome.

Death Race, or DR, is a grindhouse movie made a couple decades too late and with an unusually large budget. It's nothing but an orgy of cars, titties, tattoos, rippling muscles, and explosions. There's no pretense that DR is about anything else. In a world where the American economy collapsed and prisons are run by private corporations that stream fights and races to the death live on the internet, Jenson (Statham) is framed for his wife's murder and sent to Terminal Island, where the Devil (Joan Allen), who's the warden, convinces him to participate in the Death Race. If he wins, he goes free. His major competitors are Pachenko, leader of the Aryan Brotherhood (who, amusingly, wears a Confederate flag sewn onto his shirt. How many Ukrainians fought for the Confederacy?) and Machinegun Joe (Tyrese), my favorite character, who is "one angry homo" who cuts his face for every victory.

Now, I'm totally going to spoil the ending of the movie, which I guess doesn't matter since we're talking about goddamn Death Race here. DR has the GAYEST ending to any non-gay movie I've ever seen. Seriously, y'all. Joe and Jenson escape the prison and RUN AWAY TOGETHER TO MEXICO AND RAISE JENSON'S BABY. And Joe even calls Jenson "Igor", which is his pet name for him. WTF. That's all I'm going to say. Joe/Jenson OTP.

Comments

[ofthespider.livejournal.com]

I really want to see that now. Just to watch for the gayness, because I really don't care about macho car movies. XD

[headlessego.livejournal.com]

Actually, its a remake. So it's not made late at all. The original classic, Death Race 2000 starred Sylvester Stallone as Machinegun Joe, and David Carradine was the main character. In this version, there is a cross country race where the drivers would try to kill as many people as possible, with particular points for certain people (the elderly are particularly high in points). Of course the drivers would also try to kill each other.

The real brilliance of this film, in my opinion, is Carradine's character revealing his desire to win is so he can shake the hand of the president, revealing a grenade embedded in his hand. "Is that a grenade?" "A hand grenade."

[kirke-novak.livejournal.com]

I saw the poster for that movie today and thought: "wow, this SO gonna suck ass, I'm not seeing this, ever" but now, as I read that, I must say, I think I will see it. No, I'm definitely going to see it.

[transemacabre.livejournal.com]

Joe/Jenson at the end is the big gay cherry topping DR.