THE MOVIE-                 3 stars out of 5

 

Death race, is your typical Jason Statham film in that it features plenty of car crashes, gun battles, violence, gore, death, destruction and mayhem. Frankly, I enjoyed this film better than most Statham films which caught me a little off guard. The film is set in 2012 after the collapse of the US economy ( imagine that!) where the US government has put prisons in the hands of private contractors. One of the biggest and worst, is Terminal Island run by a female warden (Joan Allen), who has created the Death Race, a pay per view internet sensation, that makes her and the prison a boat load of cash. The race takes place over three days at the prison and features heavily armored and armed vehicles driven by true mad men. The catch is that if you win five of the races, you win your freedom. However, most  participants die during the race, hence the name. This is a gritty and grimy film filled with very well filmed races and car crashes with a good plot. If you like plenty of action, cars flipping over, exploding and crashing, this is the film for you. It features both the theatrical and unrated versions of the film. Recommended.

 

THE VIDEO-                    4 3/4 stars out of 5

 

Death Race is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1. Death Race is another in what is becoming a long string of excellent looking encodes from Universal. The film has a dark and gritty look with a muted color palette which is in keeping with the look of the prison and the gruesomeness of some of the subject matter. Black level is deep which helps generate an image of excellent clarity and depth. Detail is excellent with fine details on actor’s skin and background details such as the concrete floors, leather jackets and chain link fences clearly visible, just to name a few. If you are looking for bright and bold primary colors, this is not the film for you as the color scheme tends to varying shades of grey. Nonetheless, the encode excels in the most important areas of video reproduction, namely detail, clarity, black level, depth and shadow detail.

 

THE AUDIO-                    5 stars out of 5

 

The audio on Death Race is presented in DTS HD Master Audio in a 5.1 channel configuration and is uniformily excellent. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix. Bass is deep and tight with excellent dynamics. The explosions and the car crashes really rock the room. Excellent use is made of the surrounds generating a sense of total immersion, wrapping you in a blanket of sound which is what a great sound mix should do IMHO. The overall sound design is excellent with the sound effects well placed in the mix with a seamless transition between the front three speakers and the two rear ones as vehicles race to your left and right and at times, over your head. There is really little to complain about in this mix. The overall sound is smooth and open with excellent imaging and transparency and sounds great at reference levels, which is really how this film should be experienced.

 

EXTRAS

 

As is often but not always the case with Universal titles, Death Race is chock full of extras, most in HD. Included  are the featurettes Start Your Engines: Making of Death Race and Behind the Wheel: Dissecting the Stunts. Also included is a feature commentary with director Paul W.S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt on the unrated cut only. A digital copy of the film is included as well which is Mac and PC compatible.  Bonus content exclusive to the Blu-ray release included U Control which allows you to watch the bonus content which still watching the film, the ability to create your own race which allows you to select multiple angles of race scenes as well as many BD Live features such as My Movie Commentary, My Chat, My Scenes Sharing and behind the scenes vignettes, avatars and trailers.

 

IN CONCLUSION

Death Race is a very entertaining action film that features excellent audio and video that will give your home theater rig a good work out. Recommended.