MANILA, Philippines?Despite its surfeit of flying bullets, impalements, explosions and car crashes, the action flick, ?Death Race,? is pretty mild compared to the original version. In 1975?s ?Death Race 2000,? which starred David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone, drivers gained points for running over pedestrians?giving new meaning to the term ?spectator sport?!

Gratuitous violence

If you have a hankering for mayhem and gratuitous violence, however, today?s ?Death Race? will still satisfy. It has enough blood, broken bones and exhaust fumes for half a dozen more car race/action movies.

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, the actioner stars Jason Statham and, wonder of wonders, Joan Allen. What the Oscar-nominated and Tony Award-winning actress is doing here is anyone?s guess, but her presence certainly adds a certain cachet to the proceedings.

You don?t really expect much from a movie with Anderson?s name on it, but his film manages to be several degrees better than his usual work. It?s still a B-movie, but at least, it?s one of the more enjoyable ones?where crashes and explosions are satisfyingly big, and fight scenes are bone-crunchingly good.

Unlike ?Death Race 2000,? however, the latest version is unlikely to achieve classic cult status. It doesn?t have the black humor and satire of the former. What ?Death Race? is, in essence, is a videogame with cinematic pretensions.

Economy

The movie takes place in 2012 America, where the economy is in shambles, crime is rampant, and prisons are owned by private corporations. Statham is Jensen Ames, a former racecar driver who gets framed for the murder of his wife.

The prison he?s sent to is administered by Warden Hennessey (Joan Allen), who makes a huge profit from webcasting the Death Race, where prisoners race each other to the death, with the goal of walking out of prison after winning five races.

The story is negligible since all you really care about is the race, which runs like a videogame!