Many wonder why the studios insist on churning out so many  remakes. The answer is simple: they own the rights. And despite the fact that remakes are always a bit risky - for only very few stand up to the quality of their predecessors to which they are invariably compared - they can, if properly marketed, capitalize on the success, fan-base and cult status of the original. 

This is obviously what the production companies (Cruise/Wager, Impact Pictures and Relativity Media, among them), together with distributor Universal had in mind when they let director/screenwriter/producer Paul W.S. Anderson (RESIDENT EVIL, ALIEN vs. PREDATOR) eviscerate the already trashy DEATH RACE 2000.

Already cheap and mindless, Roger Corman’s 1975 work, featuring a very young Sylvester Stallone as one of the leads, at least had some wry political satire to commend it. But its one-man-band director - in best Rodriguez tradition - has seen fit to substitute this with more speed, more gore, lots of nauseating, un-steady-cam cinematography and hysterical editing, accompanied by abysmal dialogue.

In the not too distant future, when financial markets have collapsed (sound familiar?) and society as we know it has broken down, the chief source of entertainment for the suffering masses is the murderous “Death Race”, a sort of vehicular “Rollerball”, where prison inmates compete against each other in a 3-day life or death event. When long-hailed champion, the masked driver Frankenstein, is killed by an opponent, unscrupulous prison warden Hennessey (Joan Allen) fears that the race might lose its allure. Thus, it is most timely when former racing champion Jensen Ames (Jason Statham), is convicted of murdering his wife - wrongly, of course - and given into Hennessey’s custody. She makes it clear that if he wants to win his freedom, he will enter the race, don Frankenstein’s mask and keep the legend alive. But before long, the racing driver realizes that his life is threatened by more than just his opponents on the track.

Apart from its brainlessness, its brutality and gore make the movie hard to stomach were it not for the surprising quality of its ensemble cast. Jason Statham, (TRANSPORTER franchise, CRANK, and BANK JOB), demonstrates once again that he is one of the coolest contemporary action heroes on the screen. Oscar-winner Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson (in the original Stallone role), and the brilliant Ian McShane elevate the film to something almost resembling entertainment; together they make the best of the absurd dialogue until it is almost tolerable.

Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham, Ian McShane in DEATH RACE

Made for an undeclared budget, to date, DEATH RACE has grossed just under $66 million worldwide; over half of that in the US since its release there on October 10, 2008. It has only just come out is some major foreign territories, so box office numbers are still coming in.

Unless you’re into mindless action or a hardcore splatter fan, my advice is to save the price of a movie ticket and wait for the game to come out on Play Station. Then you can enjoy your own death race in the comfort of your own home.

DEATH RACE (US 2008); Genre: Action; Running time: 104 minutes; Rated R; Distributor: Universal Pictures International: US release date: August 22, 2008; German release date: November 27, 2008: Director/Writer: Paul W.S. Anderson (screenplay/screen-story), Writers: Robert Thom, Charles Griffith (1975 screenplay Death Race 2000), Ib Melchior (1975 story Death Race 2000); Main cast: Jason Statham, Ian McShane, Tyrese Gibson, Joan Allen; Cinematographer: Scott Kevan; Composer: Paul Haslinger: Production designer: Paul Denham Austerberry; Editor: Niven Howie

Poster/Photo (c) Universal Pictures International

(Chronicles of Riddick Trilogy, Babylon A.D. (coming out soon), Knockaround Guys, A Man Apart, Saving Private Ryan, Boiler Room, Strays, The Pacifier)

This man was born B.A., the deep, gravely voice and the muscular physique meshed perfectly in every role he has appeared in. He exudes the mindset of a man who doesn't give a rip about the law or society and what they think. Every role he's played has been B.A., heck he was even a Bad A. in a children's movie! In which he broke down doors, dodged traps, and fought ninjas, let's see the Rock do that in his Disney movie.

Brad Pitt

(The Ocean's Trilogy, Troy, Fight Club, Se7en, Spy Game, Snatch, Mr. & Mrs. Smith)

I've been told by too many girls that Brad Pitt is what every girl dreams of: he's suave (Ocean's), he's strong (Troy), and he can take a punch and not look like a puss (Fight Club). Granted he's had some roles that are not so manly especially his upcoming movie with him aging backwards, looks like a heart warming tale of crap, but like Gerald Butler further down the list his B.A. movies and general style more than make up for it.

Mark Wahlberg

(Max Payne (coming out soon), Four Brothers, Shooter, We Own The Night, The Departed, Invincible, The Italian Job)

Now here's a guy who might not always get a coo from the lady folk, but whenever a guy hears that name they know it's gonna be an action packed movie. Forget The Happening, we'll act like it never happened (corny joke), but take a look at his resume and tell me he isn't B.A. He is starring in the upcoming Max Payne movie which is based on a video made by Rockstar Games, in this movie he portrays the main character who is gritty and B.A. to the core. It could end up being the most B.A. movie to come out for a long time (unless it's running against Babylon A.D. Vin Diesel's movie).

Clint Eastwood

(Dirty Harry Movies, and countless westerns)

One of the first B.A. actors, he made everyone's day as the unforgettable Dirty Harry who shot first and asked questions later (which is the way I like it). His famous western roles as Josie Whales and the Stranger With No Name, are the epitome of don't care attitude mixed with the strength and ruthless to exact revenge.

Gerard Butler

(300, Beowulf & Grendel, Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life, Dracula 2000)

Even though he almost ruined any chances of being considered B.A. by starring in P.S. I Love You, he managed to be so amazing in 300 that the testosterone eminated from that movie wiped away all the estrogen that came out of other movies he was in. He will forever go down in history as King Leonidas, ripped, furious, and savage with so many B.A. quotable lines that I could write a whole other article focused on that.

Jason Statham

( Death Race (coming soon), Transporter Series (#3 coming soon), Crank (#2 coming soon), The Bank Job, War, Chaos, Dungeon Siege, The One, Snatch)

Though he has an English accent that most love to hate, no one can hate his balls to the wall demeanor or I'll just punch my way through tactics. A few years ago most people had never heard of him, but now his name is synonymous with B.A. and action, and his B.A. rating is only increasing with 3 extremely B.A. looking movies coming out in the near future to only solidify the fact.

Karl Urban

(Doom, Path Finder, The Chronicles of Riddick, The LOTOR Trilogy)

His codename from Doom says it all: Reaper. I can't really think of a better B.A. name then the very name that personifies death incarnate. He takes on Vikings single handedly, and battles thousands of orcs while barely breaking a sweat. Plus he is the only person I've ever seen get in a fight with Vin Diesel and not end up dead (The Chronicles of Riddick).

George Clooney

(The Ocean's Trilogy, From Dusk Till Dawn, Batman & Robin)

He's a super smooth criminal with just the right right things to say (Ocean's) or he's a super smooth crminal who'll shoot you in the head (Dusk) or he's a super smooth ninja crime fighter (Batman & Robin), need I say more?

Denzel Washington

(American Gangster, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, Inside Man, Remember The Titans)

The first minute in American Gangster made my jaw drop, heartless, cold, and violent, and he bucks the traditional thought pattern, and defines a realistic B.A. Or he can be absolutely a monster in Man on Fire, doing whatever it takes to get the job done. And a bonus is that he's only ever been in one bad movie, Out of Time, don't see it, it's a waste of time.

Hugh Jackman

(X-Men movies (X-Men Origins: Wolverine coming soon), Van Helsing, Swordfish)

Everyone who has even remotely heard of X-Men is excited about Hugh returning to the silver screen to to play as Wolverine, the cigar chomping, claw slashing, sarcastic B.A. comic book character. And in Van Helsing he took on werewolves, a giant Mr.Hyde, and Dracula himself, let's see someone else do that.

Honorable Mentions: Bruce Willis, Daniel Craig, Mel Gibson, Matt Damon, Sean Patrick Flanery, Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris, and Sean Connery.

Therefore, when there is an episode of violence caused by a female action hero it is not the same as what we see when there is an episode of the same kind originated by a male one. Like it was implied before, in the latter type there is usually more gore, more blood, more brutality, whereas in the former there is usually not so much of any of that. Gina Arnold explains it very nicely in her article “Bad Ass Girls on Film - Is it a Good Thing When Women Beat the Crap Out of Men at the Movies,” by saying that the violence that we find in a female action hero movie “lacks the viciousness we tend to associate with fighting [and it is] stripped of danger and cruelty and the ugly and mean competitiveness that taints the violent actions of the male world.” What is more, male action heroes happen to get hurt more often and more seriously than female ones: Bruce Willis' character in “Die Hard” lacerates his feet severely after having to walk barefooted over broken glass; Mel Gibson's one is tortured in “Lethal Weapon”; Brendan Fraser's one in “The Mummy” is sentenced to death by hanging and just as he is being hanged they revoke the sentence so they cut the rope and he lives, but he still went through the torture. We practically never see any of these severe wounds or acts of brutal aggression happening to female action heroes, but we do see it happening often to vulnerable or fragile female victims in many movies. However, when we do see things like these happening to female action heroes, the movies which includes them do not seem to receive the acceptance of the audience. Such was the case of the movie previously mentioned “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” in which Geena Davis' character, Charly, is tortured and also receives one too many punches which covered her in bruises and blood. We must wonder what the reason for this lack of acceptance is. Perhaps it is that we are still not ready to see a woman who appears to be so strong and fearless in such a vulnerable position, since this is exactly what we have seen for years in movies where women were the victims. The audience wants something new, and that is why they like female action heroes.

What we can conclude from this is that there is a noteworthy importance placed on the hero's body. Susan Jeffords claims in her book Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era that “what determines a hero is the possession of a hard body. Though other characters may be quick-witted, charming, experienced, or clever, without the hard body to go with, they cannot be heroes.” Notwithstanding, this may be true for male action heroes, but it is certainly not the case for female ones, as has been already analyzed and explained. Female action heroes are all of what Jeffords mentions, plus they have the hard body. Moreover, they have the beauty and sex appeal that women naturally possess and they make it work to their advantage. And this beauty and their well shaped bodies are probably the equivalent to the focus on the body that we see occurring in male action heroes: the latter get hurt, and the former look pretty.

I'm glad I did. This is definitely one of the best action flicks I've seen in a long time. Why? Because it's probably the most realistic action flick I've seen in a long time. And not just with action, but with the way the characters are portrayed in a way you'd never expect from a “traditional” action film.

The film, which is the fourth in the series despite not having a number after its name (it was originally going to be called “John Rambo”, but director/star Stallone decided against it, to avoid comparison to the recent Rocky Balboa), starts with Vietnam veteran John Rambo still living in Thailand, working as a snake wrangler and charting out his boat. A group of missionaries approach him, wanting to hire him to take them into Burma so they can provide humanitarian aide.

Knowing that Burma is a war zone with the Burmese army terrorizing local villages and fighting with the local rebels, Rambo refuses. He eventually gets talked into it by Sarah (played by Julie Benz of Buffy the Vampire and Angel fame), one of the more idealistic members of the group. When Rambo learns that the group has been captured by the Burmese army, he goes with a group of mercenaries to rescue them, bringing him back into conflict once again.

What makes this film so good is that, as I've mentioned, is very realistic and very true-to-the-world. It opens up with actual news footage of the conflict in Burma, so you know right off that it works with real world events. Many of the characters, particularly the Burmese army and the mercenaries, are portrayed very realistically, instead of traditional movie villains and rogues with ideals they think no one else understands.

There's no fancy character names and no one's spouting one-liners that fans will be quoting for ages to come (Rambo does spout a few memorable lines, but that's more his character in this case than being an action hero). Rambo does use his trademark bow-and-arrow, but only for one scene and probably because that's all he's got, and save for a rather large gun used by the mercenaries' sharp-shooter, all the weapons are the type that probably more likely to be used in combat situations.

There's actually a bit of a theme here in realism versus idealism. You got Rambo, a realist in every sense of the way, having fought in Vietnam and later thrown into all sorts of world conflicts and battles in the previous movies. He knows what the world is like and that it'll take more than fancy talk and dreams to change it. So this puts him at odds with the missionaries, who are confident they can change things and are shocked at the brutality Rambo uses in situations.

But at the same time, Rambo is affected by them, particularly Sarah, whose words about life outside of fighting get him thinking. This sparks one of the more interesting scenes in the film, a dream/flashback sequence containing clips from the previous films, particularly ones with Colonel Trautman (played by the late Richard Crenna, thus enabling the character to appear in the new film in some way), where he says Rambo needs closure in his life.

To warn those of the faint of heart, Rambo does have some of the most violent and bloody action sequences ever in an action movie. People are very visibly and graphically seen ripped apart by bullets and/or blown to pieces by explosions in very graphic detail. No one is spared, not even children.

Heck, during the Burmese army's attack on the village where the missionaries are working, a child is actually thrown into a burning house by a soldier! While it's hard to tell just how much of the gunfire and their results is exaggerated, it's a safe bet that a lot of the other things that happen are very close to the actual goings-on in Burma, which makes it even more disturbing. And you thought horror movies were bad.

In any case, ultra-violence aside, Rambo is still a great film, probably the best in the series. And even you haven't seen the first three, you can still enjoy this one with little trouble. It's definitely worth checking out on the big screen.

Rating: 8 out of 10

During these twenty-five years, Police Lieutenant Scialoia follows the mob in an attempt to bring them to justice, despite their numerous evasions with prison, thanks to ties with the Italian Intelligence Services.

The cast boasts terrific performances, particularly Pierfranesco Favino as Ringleader "The Lebanese," and Anne Mouglalis as a modern day femme fatale, expediently balancing the right amount of danger and desirability.

An Italian GoodFellas meets gangster Pulp Fiction in this first rate mobster movie.

• Director: Michele Placido
• Starring: Pierfranesco Favino, Anne Mouglalis
• 4/5 Faye Lewis