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Parents' Guide to

Death Race

By James Rocchi, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Violent action remake races to a high body count.

Movie R 2008 89 minutes
Death Race Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 8 parent reviews

age 18+

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This title has:

Too much sex
1 person found this helpful.
age 18+

Just my opinion

I like it , it's in the vein of the "Running man", the late 80's/ early 90's movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger! There is something profoundly disgusting about the arch villain and all of his/her machinations and the ultimate satisfaction when they get what's coming to them! Haven't finished the movie yet, half hour to go but I assume that's what will happen, it always does!! Just looked up the movie and decided to comment! A lot more graphic than Running man! Leave the kids out of it!!! For sure!!

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (8 ):
Kids say (9 ):

DEATH RACE isn't high art, but it's an impressive piece of exploitation moviemaking. Any troubling questions of logic or sense will be drowned out by the roar of the engines and the guns, and Statham's low-key action-hero presence makes it easy to watch him. There's some nice slumming going on within the supporting cast, too, with Oscar-nominated actress Allen (The Contender, The Bourne Ultimatum) playing the diabolical warden and Ian McShane (Deadwood) playing Coach, the head of Jensen's pit crew.

Director Paul W.S. Anderson has made plenty of mid-level, low-budget, high-concept action films, but he seems unusually inspired by Death Race; the race sequences are well shot, and the film's giddy, guilty-pleasure action scenes are big, bold, and brutal. There are a few hints of social commentary in Anderson's script -- Hennessy notes that her event has "more viewers than the Super Bowl" -- but Death Race doesn't linger on satire, choosing instead to get to the burning rubber and blazing guns. Death Race isn't for young kids, but older teens will be able to enjoy it for what it is -- an over-the-top piece of well-made trash that delivers precisely what you'd expect from a movie called Death Race.

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