Out and about with the geek posse last night during the (usually) weekly movie night. Last night was Speed Racer -- on Imax, no less. So it was me and the seven geeks (hee, sounds like a fractured fairy tale: "Web Girl and the Seven Geeks") filing in to the theater to be entertained. J and I played a little arcade action "Area 51" before the seating started; J ranked overall 6th on the game, and I ranked 8th (of course, J had played through an entire level before I jumped in so ... you know ... I'm just saying).
We hit the Imax and watched Speed Racer. It was a stunningly visual movie -- sort of like spending time inside a blender with a box of melted Crayola crayons. Everything was movement and deep primary-based colors, a constant sea of neon, frenetic action. By the end of the night, my eyes literally ached from all to which they had been subjected. One has to wonder, really, what that kind of intense, intense visual experience would be like while under some kind of chemical influence, because it was retina-melting while under the influence of just some standard Coca-cola product.
But I digress.
Plot-wise, Speed Racer was ... well, to be generous: lacking. It veered between total manga/animation and comedy and taking itself way too seriously. There was an interesting sensibility to the whole thing -- very "retro 50s-meets-the-future," as if the Dick Van Dyke Show was suddenly time-warped into the Jetsons' time frame -- but there were multiple sub-plots, some of which were just unnecessary.The movie clocked in at about 2 hr 15 min, about 30-45 minutes more than were needed. The cast was solid but really kind of wasted: I mean, you've got folks like Matthew Fox (Racer X) , Christina Ricci (Trixie) and Susan Sarandon (Mom), but the real stars of the movie were the effects. Sadly, the solid cast was rather wasted in that they were more one-note accessories used to get the cars and adventure scenes just where the directors wanted them. Add to this all some annoying characters (Speed's little brother Spitle and pet Chim-Chim come to mind immediately) and, well ...
We hit the Imax and watched Speed Racer. It was a stunningly visual movie -- sort of like spending time inside a blender with a box of melted Crayola crayons. Everything was movement and deep primary-based colors, a constant sea of neon, frenetic action. By the end of the night, my eyes literally ached from all to which they had been subjected. One has to wonder, really, what that kind of intense, intense visual experience would be like while under some kind of chemical influence, because it was retina-melting while under the influence of just some standard Coca-cola product.
But I digress.
Plot-wise, Speed Racer was ... well, to be generous: lacking. It veered between total manga/animation and comedy and taking itself way too seriously. There was an interesting sensibility to the whole thing -- very "retro 50s-meets-the-future," as if the Dick Van Dyke Show was suddenly time-warped into the Jetsons' time frame -- but there were multiple sub-plots, some of which were just unnecessary.The movie clocked in at about 2 hr 15 min, about 30-45 minutes more than were needed. The cast was solid but really kind of wasted: I mean, you've got folks like Matthew Fox (Racer X) , Christina Ricci (Trixie) and Susan Sarandon (Mom), but the real stars of the movie were the effects. Sadly, the solid cast was rather wasted in that they were more one-note accessories used to get the cars and adventure scenes just where the directors wanted them. Add to this all some annoying characters (Speed's little brother Spitle and pet Chim-Chim come to mind immediately) and, well ...
I know this movie is getting bad reviews, and in inevitable comparison to Iron Man, I can absolutely see why. Iron Man is the far superior film; it's much less visual but the plot, writing and acting are top-notch. However, Speed Racer isn't as bad as all you might read. I wouldn't say it's a GOOD movie but it's visually strong and stupidly amusing ... as long as you have a big screen TV on which to eventually watch it someday, it's worth the DVD rental, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again.
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