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| W A R N I N G ! S P O I L E R S A H E A D ! P L O T P O I N T S R E V E A L E D ! |
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| e-me (bmf@bigmoviefreak.com) blog me Creative property of W.L. Kwa. A completely personal and non-profit endeavor. |
| It didn't win, though it did place, and I enjoyed watching the race After seeing everybody’s reviews and comments and the poor box office results for Speed Racer, I’m more convinced than ever that for many people, including critics themselves, summer movies are all about action and special effects than they care to admit. Good stories, acting and direction are all but secondary, and act as mere leverages for critics to justify liking junk-food cinema. Speed Racer happens to be that rare movie to prove this hypocrisy, with a story and performances that are better than what you would expect from its ilk, delivering what critics often claimed to have wanted in their popcorn movies. Yet action and aesthetics were their foremost complaints when it comes to reviewing this movie, and somehow the plot, acting and direction (which were far from bad) got unfairly skewered in the process. Maybe it’s because people haven’t forgiven the Wachowski brothers for the Matrix sequels. It’s easy to forget that these guys wrote and directed Bound and the first Matrix movie, plus adapted the screenplay for V for Vendetta. Prior to that, these guys wrote stories for comic books, so clearly their specialty is in writing. With Speed Racer, they used their knack in writing to craft a simple, heartwarming tale about a family of racers who refuse to bow down to corporate pressure. It’s not exactly the greatest story ever told, but definitely a few notches up from Transformers and even Pixar’s Cars. Furthermore, the Wachowski wrote and directed the drama and talking bits in a way that was actually quite traditional, intimate at times, but most importantly emphasised on the actors’ performances, instead of treating the scenes as mere fillers for the action sequences. (The Star Wars prequels are good examples of filler offenders.) Action-wise, the Wachowskis seemed more like proponents of traditional action choreography than CG advocates. Mostly of the action in the Matrix movies were live-action stunts and martial arts, despite the CG-centric nature of the movies. Bafflingly, the directors went the opposite direction in terms of Speed Racer’s action and effects sequences. The frenetic and garish racing world of Speed Racer resembles the product of a brainstorm between George Lucas, Michael Bay and Robert Rodriguez in Spy Kids mode. Strangely, it’s not as hard to follow as Transformers’ bash-‘em-ups, but you’ll still need to pass The Bourne Ultimatum's endurance test first. Perhaps the anti-Speed Racer sentiment is understandable if you didn’t like Transformers either. That said, I really dug the insane CG car action, which has its own unique charm. (The producer Joel Silver called it “car-fu”.) Some minor asides: My utmost respect to composer Michael Giacchino of The Incredibles fame, but apart from some brief appearances of the original Speed Racer cartoon tunes, Giacchino’s score hardly stands out. It gave apt support to the visuals, especially in the final race, but a big, mainstream movie score needs hummable tunes (e.g. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman, Lord of the Rings, etc.) I guess it’s hard to beat the catchy original, but why not feature the original tunes more prominently then? In conclusion, I felt that Speed Racer is a pretty good action adventure movie with dazzling effects and a nicely written and directed family drama added into the mix. I almost forgot to mention that it was also quite funny, especially with the opening sequence and the comedic duo of Spritle and Chim Chim. I was also pleasantly surprised to see John Woo-centric gun action and sexual innuendos that somehow managed to toe the PG rating line. I can’t understand the overreaction to the special effects that led to the lambasting of the movie’s writing and acting performances as well, which are nowhere near the levels of The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones that some people were claiming. I suspect people are going to warm up to it in a couple of years, eventually turning it into a cult favourite. - BMF Great Speed Racer moments (spoiler alert!): - Opening sequence: flashback to school. - Young Speed and Pops watching TV together. - Speed ghost-races with his brother, Rex. - Unexpected dirty talk between Speed and Trixie while “parking”. - Trixie in a red-hot outfit. - Sticking a finger into a piranha-infested aquarium. - Spirtle and Chim Chim re-enacting their favourite anime. - Spirtle and Chim Chim ransacking the candy bar. - Spritle showing the finger. - Royalton shows his true self and chews up the scenery. - Racer X grinning. - Racer X rescuing Taejo while battling a missile-launching truck. - Racer X being badass, saying things like they should break the bad guy’s legs and make him walk all the way back. - Racer X removes his mask! - Everybody does kungfu fighting! - Cars doing jumps, using cheat gadgets, car-fu! - Mexican stand-off between the good guys and the bad guy. - Orgasmic final throttle to the finish line during the Grand Prix! - Use the Force moment when the Mach 6 stalled. - The final revelation. Written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Reloaded). Stars Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Christina Ricci, Paulie Litt, Rain, Hiroyuki Sanada and Roger Allam. Based on the cartoon series "Mach Go Go Go" created by Tatsuo Yoshida. |
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