Paul W.S. Anderson and Jason Statham certainly have their niche. Statham, the current resident tough guy, and Anderson, the “auteur” behind such gems as “Mortal Kombat”, “Alien vs. Predator” and “Resident Evil” deliver more of the same here with “Death Race”.

In 2012, the future is bleak, not quite the dystopian future displayed in “Running Man”, but the concept is much the same. Convicts are forced to compete (usually to the death) in a race, or as they have termed, wait for it.. the “Death Race”. “Death Race” consists of the competitors racing around a track in various heavily armored cars equipped with more weaponry than Ted Nugent. There are three races, and the inmate who wins five total ‘death races’ gets to walk a free man.

The black future/murder media motif is nothing new, but when done right, it can provide a nice social commentary on the state of human values and needs. The thought of programming in the not-so-distant future centering on the idea of on-screen deaths and our desire for bloodshed is very chilling, and also very possible. It provides for great conversation fodder, but the only problem is that a movie with the “Governator” did it better.twenty-one years ago. It is very unlikely that this is the aim of “Death Race”, a remake of the 1975 David Carradine picture, but it is tough not to believe so.

Statham plays Jensen Ames, a man with a checkered past who is currently a blue collar worker trying his best to do right by his wife and baby daughter. The factory Ames works at is shut down and all hell breaks loose when the S.W.A.T. team preemptively shows to quell any and all backlash. Ames has apparently caught the eye of someone he shouldn’t have and is promptly framed for a crime and sent to prison. “Death Race” is a ratings giant with Academy Award winning Joan Allen playing Warden Hennessey (she is also the producer and supposedly took this job as an owed favor), making her in charge of the prison that supplies all the contestants. Suddenly Hennessey loses her star, a man referred to only as Frankenstein. Frankenstein died having won four out of the five races necessary to be released.

Ames, who has evidently done some racing before, is given the mantle. If he can win Frankenstein’s one remaining race, he is free to go and live life with his daughter. Ames has inherited Frankenstein’s’ crew; including Coach (Ian Mcshane), Lists (Frederick Koehler) and Gunner (Jacob Vargas), as well as his main rival Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson).

Tyrese Gibson should stay the hell away from movies. The man’s acting is on par with my IKEA coffee table. While Jason Statham may not win any Oscars anytime soon, he is at least believable. Gibson just seems like he would be more comfortable modeling than pretending to be a cold blooded killer for the moving picture industry.

This is not particularly a shining moment for Allen, an actress that is usually brought in to add class to a film, who instead delivers, quite possibly, the worst line in cinematic history. The supporting cast delivers performances that one would generally expect of this type of film. They are over-exaggerated, over-acted versions of their respective character archetypes.

Statham doesn’t do anything that viewers haven’t seen him do before here. He beats people up, drives really fast, takes off his shirt, and speaks with a sometimes-indecipherable English accent while he broods. Oh boy, does he brood. At the very least, his movies will always leave you smiling at the sheer audacity and bombast of the sensory pornography being unloaded for an hour and a half.

The Anderson/Statham movies are the cinematic equivalent of video games. They’re generally action over-load with no substance. A nice little distraction to keep you busy for a bit. Anderson gives more of what he does best here, an over-the-top, end of summer popcorn movie. The action scenes are enthralling, the explosions are cool and the dialogue adds up to little more than quick one-liners. That’s more than okay. Not every movie needs to make its audience ask questions. Sometimes people just need to be entertained, and “Death Race” does that.