Death Race
Universal Pictures | Release Date: August 22, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
3
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The New York TimesNathan Lee
The movie is legitimately greasy, authentically nasty, with a good old-fashioned sense of laying waste to everything in sight -- including the shallow philosophizing and computer-generated fakery that have overrun the summer blockbuster. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Nothing in director Paul W.S. Anderson's schlock drawer--prepares you for the peppy, good-time nastiness that is Death Race. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
It honestly delivers the goods without all the preachy moralizing about violent entertainment and cultural ruin. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
Statham is an essential tough guy, what the Brits call "well'ard," as self-assured as Lee Marvin. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Statham moves with such easy grace that you don't have to work hard to believe him. And if he can stand up to Joan Allen, melting her predatory stare with his own molten gaze, then it's clear he's not just the prettiest guy on the prison block, but also the toughest. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss
Though the picture doesn't deserve to appear on any critic's 10-best list, it observes the minimum standards of modern action films, which is to say it looks smarter, talks sassier and moves faster than almost anything else on the market. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
This new version has absolutely none of the distinctive tongue-in-cheek black humor that was the keynote of its model and the trademark of its original director, Paul Bartel. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Soft sexual and racial jabs replace the more daring political commentary of the original, a crude classic from the Roger Corman factory. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This movie is about mayhem on wheels, tough guys viewers can root for, and villains whose comeuppances audiences crave. That's what Death Race is all about and, for what it is, it does a solid job. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Death Race is our unshaven Brit hero's inevitable comeuppance: The Prison Job. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom Russo
Smartly, Anderson makes some eclectic casting choices that keep the story from feeling as though it's populated by video-game characters. Read full review
60
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)
It's nothing more than an enjoyable, ridiculously macho B-movie romp, but it's derson' best movie since the underrated Event Horizon. Perhaps, at long last, he' starting to find his - yep - top gear. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
It's the perfect end-of-summer film, and a sign that summer needs to end soon. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterStephen Farber
The best you can say about the movie is that it isn't boring. It's fast-paced, but it isn't really well made. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
OK, so no plot, really. Read full review
30
Washington PostPhilip Kennicott
It isn't so much a movie as a superheated, highly conductive miracle substance for the pure transmission of masculine aggression and misogyny. Read full review
30
VarietyRobert Koehler
As hard as metal and just as dumb, Paul W.S. Anderson's Death Race couldn't be further from producer Roger Corman and director Paul Bartel's goofy, bloody 1975 original, "Death Race 2000." Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Paul Bartel's "Death Race 2000" is a beloved camp item, but this slick, loud, violent remake is pitched at the video game crowd. Read full review
30
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Well, you've got to say this for Death Race: It knows what it is and doesn't apologize for it. What it is, incidentally, is junk. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
An ill-advised and severely wussified remake. Read full review
20
L.A. WeeklyAaron Hillis
With its inexplicably watchable shotgun-riding bimbos, unconscious homoeroticism and "Shawshank Redemption" ending, The Fast and the Frivolous here is almost so bad it's good. Almost... Read full review
12
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It is an assault on all the senses, including common. Walking out, I had the impression I had just seen the video game and was still waiting for the movie. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Anderson has neutered the original film's outrageously transgressive macadam mayhem and completely stripped the story of its pointedly political social satire, making this Death Race one of the most boring drags of all time. Read full review
0
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Here's hoping Allen's static Hennessey is due to an extreme acting choice and not plastic surgery. It would be tragic to lose a natural smile to star in garbage like Death Race. Read full review
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