Middle of the road action

Let’s take a prison movie, throw in some race cars, and strap machine guns to them. “Death Race” is born. A slammin’ action movie that doesn’t aspire to much, “Death Race” provides two hours of speed, sex and shooting. Which is all right, if you like that sort of thing.

Jason Statham is a race car driver who has lost his license due to a criminal past. When he is framed for his wife’s murder, he is thrown into prison and forced to compete in the “Death Race.” The race is a reality show spawned after the U.S. economy crashed and crime skyrocketed. To alleviate the strain on a prison system full to bursting, the U.S. penal system was given over to public corporations to run for profit. The rules are simple: Win five races, and you go free.

The movie is a video game brought to life: cars driving around the track shooting each other with missiles and napalm they pick up by driving over upgrade tokens placed around the track. The whole thing is reminiscent of every game of “Twisted Metal,” every race of “Road Rash” and even every lap of “Mario Kart.”

Statham, true to form, elevates what should be a terrible movie into the realm of decent and very watchable. Fans of “The Transporter” and “Crank” are in for a familiar ride, but not a boring one. Although the dialogue is cheesy and the premise is a bit absurd, the film delivers the low-brow thrill ride promised by the trailer.

One thing that has grown tired is the use of shaky cameras. The camera shake is so bad on the first two race scenes that it is almost unwatchable, and this is coming from a reviewer who loved “Cloverfield.” It steadies later on, but it seriously curtailed my enjoyment of what looked like a pretty good scene.

“Death Race” holds no surprises: Fans of this type of movie will be entertained, and critics will pan it mercilessly. Is it high art? No. Does it try to be? No. Besides, what were you expecting from a movie remaking a ’70s movie based on a video game?