In the near future, 2012 to be precise the population burgeons and economy dies a slow and painful death, businesses close and it seems everyone is capable of turning to a life of crime. In order to furnish her pockets with cash, and to make use of the increasing amounts of prisoners in her prison Hennessey (Joan Allen) creates the reality TV sports show Death Race. In Death Race prisoners must race against each other in a three day, three event race. If a prisoner wins a race five times he is freed, given a full pardon in fact, if he loses, well it's best put that the losers don't get to discover the reality of losing, the only way out of Death Race is first across the finish line, otherwise your bound to be in the morgue.

Frankenstein (David Carradine reprising his role from the original movie) is the champion that all the viewers love to see, 90 million viewers in fact; Hennessey's pockets have never been so full. The problem being that after four matches Frankenstein finally breathes his final breath, dying in the prison hospital from severe injuries on his forth successful race. This leaves Hennessey with a problem, but luckily due to disfiguration Frankenstein could be replaced; the trouble being the only man capable of racing as well as Frankenstein is hard working family man Jenson Ames (Statham) who is sadly for Hennessey on the wrong side of the prison walls... What on earth can she do about that?

Death Race is a real no-brainer of a movie, a traditional action packed blockbuster; the sort we got so familiar with towards the end of the 1980's. There is nothing much to think about, a pretty shocking grasp of reality, and some poor judgement choices in the way the story goes, but what does this matter to me, I loved it. Death Race is the same sort of fun packed nonsense we all saw and loved in movies like Robocop. It's bloody, it's violent, but the time passes by like the blinking of an eye. The storyline overview I gave you to open this review quite literally takes you no more than five minutes into the movie, rather like real life racing it's so fast paced that there is no time to think about anything else. Once you allow yourself to be submerged into the world that is Death Race there is no coming out until the end credits roll.

Statham, and I have to hand it to the guy delivers the second movie in a row of his I have to confess enjoying, the first being The Bank Job. Now I really enjoyed The Bank Job, a sort of thinking man's (or woman's) action movie, but that does not even hold a candle to this, unless of course your one of those anally retentive souls that concerns yourself with realism, and accuracy. If we wanted realism and accuracy why go to the cinema or watch a DVD? Get outside and see reality for yourselves! For those that like to take your action with a pinch of salt, this is the place to be and as a much as it pains me to say it, I could see no other actor filling the shoes that Statham delivers here.

But forget Statham, he is the little fish, it was McShane that drove me to see the movie, and what a great job he did keeping me in it. As Coach, McShane is the engineer on the car that Frankenstein buys, engineer and trainer, and a very quick minded, and quick mouthed character too. He is the Mr. Miyagi, the Apollo Creed to Rocky, in fact he is every great action characters rock. This is a thousand miles away from Lovejoy, and the unusual casting of this star I believe has secured McShane the start of the career this very talented actor deserves.

There are a whole huddle of villains in the movie Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson), Pachenko (Max Ryan), and Gunner (Jacob Vargas); but none of these are any competition for Joan Allen's Hennessey. Hennessey is the hardest and most ruthless female villain of a movie for years, changing the rules as she sees fit and ending the lives of those that cross her for the sake of it. Hard to believe that this is the same Allen who played Veronica Guerrin (Renamed Sinead Hamilton in When The Sky Falls), or the loving wife in the Ice Palace. There is nothing gentle about Hennessey, and the smiles and female methods of seduction fool no-one here. You can almost see the enjoyment in her eyes as she clearly loves to be bad.

It's inevitable that Death Race will be criticised and mocked, it will get rotten tomato awards, maybe a Razzie; but if your want, nay need a bit of light relief and a teleport back to the movie making style of the 80's then this has the power to be your big Autumn Blockbuster.

Rogue, played by Jet Li, is an individualistic strange man with scars all over his face that is hired by the Yakuza and the Triads in San Francisco for protection, killing, and breaking deals. He's extremely well skilled in swords, guns, and martial arts. The main plot of the movie has Jack (Jason Statham) chasing Rogue (Jet Li) with some other FBI agents and some incompetent police tagging along.

Overall this movie was pretty good. If you like action movies then this is worth renting. If you were not a huge fan of this genre I would skip over it for something more inventive. My rating would be a 3 out of 5.

The robbery goes ahead but not without its problems and they manage to get away. However things get nasty when it emerges that a Soho porn king/gangster also has incriminating evidence in the vault and things turn nasty as he tries to get it back.

The Good:

The script is based on a true story which always makes interesting viewing. It briefly made headlines and then disappeared due to a Government D notice, gagging the press for 30 years. This gives the film an air of mystery about it as we know we are watching things the Government and police would prefer us not to know about and a bit of scandal involving the Royal Family is always a winner and this (apart from Jason Statham) is what I think will mainly appeal to American audiences as they always seem interested in things to do with the British Monarchy.

The characters are fun and well liked. Jason Statham is in a role he seems very comfortable with. It is rather similar to the parts he had in Lock Stock and Snatch which had a down to earth realism about them. There are some rather heart warming scenes between him and his little girls including one where he is dancing with one at a friend's wedding. We do also get to see him in action as well and although his character is likable he still has that manly quality that appeals to both male and female audiences.

The other characters are also good, particularly the rather comedic Dave played by Daniel Mays and Saffron Burrows is well cast as a former model who gets caught up in scandal.

The film has a fun retro feel taking us back in time to 1970s London and its T-Rex theme tune will instantly catch you.

There are some pretty tense moments mixed in with some pretty good one liners that make the movie what it is. It isn't overly violent or over the top nor is it a comedy but what we do get is pretty well balanced.

The Bad:

As much as we love to see Jason Statham's fight scenes the one in this seemed a little silly as he was fighting someone a lot bigger than him and it was as if it was written in the film just because of who he is. There will be those on the other hand of cause who don't care who he was fighting, again because of who he is.

There was a sex scene between Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows cut from the film. This wouldn't have been a problem really if it hadn't been for a scene later on in the film when them having sex is referred to and the audience is meant to assume it happened after a kiss which we do see.

My View:

All in all The Bank Job is an enjoyable film which works well on many levels. It is pretty much a man's film but is not overly violent enough to put women off who will be attracted to the drama and scandal as it is a true story.