Speed Racer (Warner Brothers)
Once Around the Track Is Enough
Speed Racer is the second big movie of the summer after Iron Man. The hype for this film has been high and the trailers promised an action packed, visually stunning movie feast. The film delivers on the action and the visual images but somehow the heart of the film is missing. Speed Racer is a movie that is all fluff and no substance.
The Wachowski Brothers of Matrix fame have created a movie that has stunning graphics but no realism. This is an alternate universe where Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) lives, a universe where all the colors are brighter and all the action more intense. Here there are car races that take place on giant raceways that twist and turn with no relation to the land on which they are placed.
Speed is born to race. His older brother Rex (Scott Porter) was a great racer but died in a crash. Speed is haunted by his memory and wants to do everything Rex did and more. His father (John Goodman), mother (Susan Sarandon), younger brother (Paulie Litt), and girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci) all support him in his racing efforts.
One day Speed is contacted by a wealthy industrialist named Royalton (Roger Allam). He wants Speed to race for him and points out all the reasons Speed should sign. But Speed is conflicted. He wants to support the family name and business, which also involves producing race cars. Still his decision will set up the action conflicts that dominate the last half of the movie.
The film is full of day-glo colors and intense special effects. They are vibrant and pulsating in the racing sequences. It is a look that is new and daring. It would be great if this was a backdrop to a truly compelling story, but it isnt. The only portions of the film that truly capture our interest and imagination are the actions and identity questions surrounding Racer X (Matthew Fox). He is a mysterious man who seems to be on Speeds side in all matters.
Hirsch was great in the film Into the Wild but here he seems to have checked his personality at the door. He lets the race car speak for him and never creates a character outside that car. Ricci tries to liven him up some but she is a cartoon character who never gets a chance to break loose either.
Goodman and Sarandon are typically supportive parents. They are okay in their roles but dont add anything special. It is only Fox who manages to be mysterious and involving in any way. You care about his character and want to know more about him, but hes not telling.
The movie is rated PG for profanity and violence.
There is a sameness to the story from beginning to end. You never feel as though the movie is headed anywhere but around the track. And around the tracks it goes over and over and over. Maybe if Hirsch had been a little more dynamic, maybe if the plot had been a little more involving, maybe if the movie had not clocked in at two hours and fifteen minutes; maybe then the whole thing would have been more enjoyable.
I scored Speed Racer a slow moving 4 out of 10.
