Death Race : Express & Star:

Loosely based on the 1975 cult favourite Death Race 2000, Paul WS Anderson’s follow-up to Alien Vs Predator is a turbo-charged action-thriller set in a bleak future (2012, no less) in which reality programmes continue to dominate television and the internet.

Against this gloomy backdrop, convicted murderers race in the ultimate pay-per-view battle for survival, burning rubber with a fury as scriptwriters Anderson, Robert Thom and Charles Griffith strip out characterization and realism in their hunt for maximum carnage.

The snappy title sums up Anderson’s ambitions perfectly.

Death Race is a noisy, hulking beast that takes ghoulish delight in dispatching its cardboard cut-out protagonists in an orgy of head-on collisions and explosions.

Square-jawed hard man Jason Statham is perfectly cast as the hero of the hour, a three-time speedway champion with a need for speed and an aversion to any emotion in his delivery of the admittedly clumsy dialogue.

‘Sounds like the odds are stacked against us,’ he tells his navigator as they screech around the booby-tracked circuit.

‘Then do what you do best: drive,’ she pouts.

As it turns out, this is all Statham does, and a lot of the time he’s wearing a metal mask which adds depth to his facial expressions.

Doting family man Jensen Ames (Statham) is framed for the slaying of his wife Suzy (Janaya Stephens) and ends up in Terminal Island maximum-security prison, run by no-nonsense warden Hennessy (Joan Allen).

She presides over Death Race, a three-day showdown on the facility’s specially constructed course.

Vehicles are equipped with shields and weapons, including machine guns and cannons, which are activated by driving over lit squares dotted around the lap.

Hennessy offers Ames his freedom if he agrees to race as the mythical masked driver Frankenstein against three-time champion Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson), Pachenko (Max Ryan), Travis Colt (Justin Mader), Grimm (Robert LaSardo) and 14K (Robin Shou).

Ames reluctantly agrees and prepares for his big day behind the wheel of a Mustang V8 Fastback, aided by lead mechanic Coach (Ian McShane), pit crew Lists (Frederick Koehler) and Gunner (Jacob Vargas), and sassy navigator Case (Natalie Martinez).

However, Hennessy doesn’t intend to play fair, bending the rules with the help of her assistant Ulrich (Jason Clarke) to ensure record viewing figures as the race streams live over the internet.

Death Race is a non-stop assault on the senses, whether it be the deafening soundtrack, Niven Howie’s hyperactive editing or Anderson’s insatiable hunger for crash-bang-wallop destruction.

Oscar nominee Allen brings gravitas to her thankless role as the ice maiden who tells Ames, ‘foul language is an issue for me,’ setting up the expletive-laden tirade later in the film when Hennessy’s plans fail.

She spits out the film’s best line with relish - ‘Release the Dreadnought!’ - but gets her comeuppance without any fanfare.

When the film screams out loudest for spectacle, Anderson opts for restraint.