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SPEED RACER - James Rawson Review!
Written & Directed by: The Wachowski Brothers
Based on the Speed Racer animated series created by Tatsuo Yoshida
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox, Benno Furmann, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rain, Richard Roundtree, Kick Gurry, Roger Allam, Scott Porter, Anatole Taubman, Nicholas Elia
Distributed by Warner Brothers
Film will be released in the U.K. and U.S. on May 9th 2008
Review by James Rawson
4 stars out of 5
Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer, he’s a demon on wheels… Born as a manga series in the 60s, and then adapted for television in the much loved and oft-repeated anime series, kidults everywhere will be glad to know that Speed Racer is well and truly back. This time Speed and the gang have been resurrected by sci-fi gods the Wachowski Brothers, who write and direct the first ever live action version: bringing the joys of technicoloured automobiles and Japanimation to a whole new generation.
The Racer family, if you hadn’t guessed already, enjoy their cars. Eldest son Rex (Scott Porter) was destined to become one history’s great drivers, but left the Racer Motors Team to compete for rival teams on the WRL (World Racing League) circuit. With his career mired in controversy and scandal, Rex dies mysteriously during the notoriously dangerous Casa Cristo 5000. Accelerate a few years and Rex’s eponymous younger brother Speed (Emile Hirsch) has followed in his brother’s footsteps, and promises to be every bit the racer that Rex was. But unlike his brother, Speed stays true to the family team and his car the Mach 5 (no, not the razer). Unsurprisingly the rich and powerful E.P. Arnold Royalton (Roger Allam) spots his talent and tries to lure him away with promises of glory and riches, but a family boy at heart, Speed refuses, much to Royalton’s chagrin.
Not taking no for an answer, Royalton warns our young hero that, with his vast power and influence, he will ruin Racer Motors Team, and Speed’s career with it. With the intention of proving him wrong, and exposing the Murdoch-esque bad guy, Speed teams up with the enigmatic Racer X (Matthew Fox in a gimp suit) and Taejo Togokahn (Asian popstar Rain) to defeat Royalton’s team in the race that cut short the life of his brother: the Casa Christo 5000. With feisty girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), and the rest of the Racer family at his side (most notably Susan Sarandon and John Goodman as Mom and Pops Racer) can Speed restore honour to a sport that has become ruined with corruption?
After the mixed reviews that surrounded the Wachowski written V for Vendetta and the positively abysmal response to the second and third Matrix films, the Wachowski brothers have stripped themselves of any philosophical pretensions and made an out and out good fun kids movie. And my God have they succeeded.
In a post-Shrek age, when every film marketed at under 13s feels compelled to provide older audiences with knowing winks, Speed Racer’s purity and sincerity are its most refreshing elements. As classic Disney has shown us: if you make a children’s film well, it will appeal to the child in all of us. A big heart, strong morals, family values and a fat kid teamed up with a mischief causing chimp make Speed Racer a winner. It’s much more effective than any of Shrek 3’s tongue-in-cheek Justin Timberlake jokes.
And to carry the story is the Wachowski’s ever-present knack for breath-taking visuals. The art direction might look tacky in movie stills or trailers, but taken as a whole it is practically a character in and of itself: when Speed passes the finishing line in the film’s final showdown, the expressionist bursts of colour and confetti are so euphoric they’re verging on the orgasmic. In a good way.
But as with any vehicle, there are a few minor glitches along the way, but all totally forgivable: Christina Ricci seems completely incongrous throughout (in interviews she has as all but admitted that she only got involved to make her more appealing to big studios), Royalton really isn’t well developed enough as a character, and the final narrative twist is pretty cringe worthy, and predictable.
So, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I state, in conclusion: Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer! Go Speed Racer GooOOoo!
April 29th, 2008 at 07:00am Posted by James Rawson
Source: http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/ ... s-rawson-review.php
Speed Racer review
Speed Racer: A geniune suprise
Could this be the blockbuster surprise of the summer? We've seen Speed Racer, the new film from The Wachowski Brothers. And it's....
Russell Clark
In a summer full of remakes, rehashes and sequels, it's good to see something fresh. And let's face it, Batman, Iron Man, The Hulk and even Doctor Jones are about original as William Shatner's hair.
Speed Racer is an original film. Yes, it's an adaptation of a cartoon series, and no its story is not groundbreaking in any way, but - and it's a big slap you in the face with a giant Crayola 'but' - it is a movie the likes of which you haven't seen before and probably won't see again (until they green-light the inevitable sequel of course). The term "rollercoaster ride" was all but invented to describe it.
The film starts with a young Speed Racer at school failing at his school work, and also failing to notice a young Trixie giving him the eye and showing an obvious obsession with racing cars. We see a fantastic shot of Speed in his imaginary world of racing, presented with a mixture of computer graphics and traditional cell animation. It's a quick shot but beautifully put together, and a sure sign that you're gonna see some cool shit in the next two hours...
Let's get something straight: this is a family movie. It's very cheesy, it's very inoffensive ands it's been coloured by a hyperactive, acid-taking cartoon-loving nut job. Every shot is brilliantly composed using over-saturated colours, fluffy blue and white skies, purple skyscrapers and pink helicopters to name but a few. It's as original in visual style as Roger Rabbit was back in its day.
It can be jarring at first. To see such an over the top visual style is almost too much to handle. But you can't help but enjoy it, and when you realise you're doing so, you forget about the abnormality of it.
After discovering some of the biggest and most prestigious races ever have been fixed by Royalton Industries' top man, played by the lavishly over the top Roger Allam (V for Vendetta), Speed has to save his family's business and the sport he loves by beating Royalton at his own game: racing. It's all about the racing...
And race he does, taking part in an infamous and lethal cross country race that spans two colourful continents and more "car-fu" than any Matrix fan boy could dream up, whilst polishing his 6 inch Neo.
One of the Wachowski Brothers' talents lies in their ability to realise jaw dropping effects, previously demonstrated in the Matrix movies. For Speed Racer they shot all the action against green screens then took high definition 360 degree captures of exotic locations and created wraparound virtual sets that they could manipulate to any degree they wanted, recreating the flamboyance of Speed Racer.
The effects, as you would expect these days are brilliant but unlike other movies the angle isn't to achieve a reality we are familiar with, but instead to create an emotional impact. And in this case the emotions are most definitely fun and excitement.
Casting is spot on with Emille Hirsch taking the lead as Speed Racer, a rather large John Goodman as Pops Racer, Susan Sarandon as Mom and Matthew Fox as the mysterious Racer X, an ally in Speed's battle against the badass Royalton Industries.
In a wise move by producer Joel Silver, Japanese pop megastar Rain appears as Taejo, a competing racer. The film will, undoubtedly, do well in Japan as a result. For the male audience, if 400mph car chases aren't enough than Christina Ricci will definitely get a few pulses overclocking as Trixie, Speed's brightly dressed and leggy girlfriend. She proves once again that she is an incredibly versatile actress (this is the lady we saw in last year's Black Snake Moan). It'sjust a shame that she's a bit under used...
Chuck in Inspector Detector, Sparky, Spirtle and a monkey named Chim Cham and you have the recipe for a summer blockbuster kids will go apeshit over. Which they will.
The narrative is fast paced, the script snappy and appropriately cheesy, the action is intense and the last ten minutes when Speed Racer discovers his true abilities (akin to that of Neo in The Matrix) are quite simply very, very cool indeed.
The Wachowskis have created a live action cartoon, a beautifully shot visual feast using all the things that traditionally would make a film unbearable. Yet in the case of Speed Racer, it makes it undeniably fun and entertaining.
See this at the cinema, take a kid with you, go on a Saturday when there's a good crowd. Then spend the rest of the day playing car chases with said child whilst giving the appearance it's for their sake, and not because you've you just regressed 20 years and now have the mental age of a sugar intoxicated 10-year old.
Go Speed Racer, Go...
4 stars out of 5
29/04/08
Source: http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/ ... d_racer_review.html
OK, so Sometimes I'm wrong! (Speed Racer revisited)
Monday, April 28, 2008
A month ago I blogged about Warner Brothers generously 'inviting' people to traipse over to Holborn just to see a 5 minute preview from 'Speed Racer' (here). At the time they were saying there would be no full previews, so this was 'a real opportunity'.
I had a whinge about how ridiculous film promotion has become if Warner Bros really expected bloggers and reviewers to travel at their own expense just to see a 5 minute trailer, and this drew a hilarious, irate response about me being 'classless, insecure and mean-spirited' from someone identifying themself as 'Anonymous' who apparently wanted to hit me over the head repeatedly with a hammer. I think we can all guess which film company 'Anonymous' might have worked for!
Well it seems Warners had second thoughts, and decided to hold preview screenings of the film, which opens nationwide on Sunday 9th May, after all.
For some reason ;-) I wasn't invited.
But I went anyway!
And to my surprise I liked it!
The film has its faults - it's half an hour too long with one endless climax after another for one thing (Peter Jackson's Return of the King has got a lot to answer for!)
And the first half hour is confusing as hell, even for adults, with endless sudden switches between the past and the present and what a person is imagining rather than what is actually happening.
But it's a MUCH better movie than I'd expected given all the secrecy around the project, reports of it being 'in trouble' and that ridiculous 'We're only showing people a 5 minute preview' email.
Think Tron updated for 2008 and you've pretty much got the feel of it. Every penny of the $200 million spent on it is up there on screen, and I'd say I don't think I've seen so much endless eye candy in a film for a long, long time.
I mention all this now (some two weeks before the film is due out) just in case anyone was put off going to see it by my original 'Promotional Madness' blog post. This is a film that needs to be seen on the big screen, in the same way that 300 and Transformers were - and ideally at an IMAX cinema which is launching the film day and date with 'ordinary' cinema's.
Advance tickets will likely sell out fast as 'word of mouth' spreads, so if you're tempted I'd say book your seat now. Much of what's on show here is as ground-breaking as the same directors' work on The Matrix was, so I'm ALMOST prepared to forgive The Wachowski Brothers for the dreadful second and third Matrix movies (let's not get too carried away - I said 'almost').
Source: http://irascian.blogspot.com/200 ... ng-speed-racer.html |
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发表于 2008-5-1 21:48
