Death Race
Headline: ** NASCAR Gone Bad **
Title: DEATH RACE
Quality: * * Acceptability: -3
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: VVV
Sex: S
Nudity: N
RATING: R
RELEASE: August 22, 2008
TIME: 89 minutes
STARRING: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Ian McShane, Tyrese Gibson, Natalie Martinezk, and Max Ryan
DIRECTOR: Paul W.S. Anderson
PRODUCERS: Paul W.S. Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, Roger Corman, Tom Cruise, and Paula Wagner
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Dennis E. Jones
WRITER: Paul W.S. Anderson
BASED ON THE MOVIE PRODUCED BY: Roger Corman
DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures/General Electric
CONTENT: (PaPa, B, LLL, VVV, S, N, D, MMM) Strong pagan, immoral worldview with revenge as a dominant theme, with some light moral elements; at least 60 obscenities and three profanities, plus racial "n" word slur used four times; very strong violence includes multiple car crashes and explosions, dozens of people killed by car crashes, some with much gore including man having head knocked off by passing car, two stabbings, men shot by gunfire with blood, multiple fist fights with blunt objects, bomb kills two people; couple starts to fool around but are interrupted by baby; upper male nudity, brief rear male nudity in shower scene, and female cleavage; no alcohol use; smoking; and, very strong miscellaneous immorality such as lying, stealing, cheating, revenge, and murder portrayed as a gladiator type sport.
GENRE: Action Thriller
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
Please address your comments to:
Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman/CEO, General Electric
Jeff Zucker, President/CEO, NBC Universal
Ron Meyer, President/COO, Universal Studios
Marc Shmuger, Chairman
David Linde, Co-Chairman
Universal Pictures
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608-1085
Phone: (818) 777-1000
Web Page: www.universalstudios.com
SUMMARY: DEATH RACE is a wall-to-wall action thriller about an innocent convict forced to drive in a prison race to the death in a gladiator-style Internet show. DEATH RACE contains excessive violence and gore. Dozens of characters are killed in this movie, which also has excessive foul language.
IN BRIEF:
DEATH RACE is a wall-to-wall action thriller about prisoners racing to the death in a futuristic gladiator-style Internet show. Jensen is a veteran racecar driver. His wife is killed. He is framed for her murder. Jensen is put into Terminal Island Prison, which sponsors a pay-per-view "Death Race" from the island. If Jensen wins, he will gain his freedom. He learns that he was framed so that he would come into the prison and drive in the Death Race. Jensen then proceeds to enact revenge on those who killed his wife and had him framed.
Watching DEATH RACE is the closest thing to playing a video game. For instance, while racing along the course, the drivers are able to drive over icons that enable weapons and other gizmos in their cars, just like a video game. Dozens of people are killed in car crashes and explosions. Killing and human life is taken very much for granted. There are many isolated shots of characters being killed, including a man being decapitated by a passing car, which is replayed three times. The violence and foul language in DEATH RACE are excessive and offensive.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
