Point-by-Point: Speed Racer 6/10

Speed Racer takes on the corrupt racing world to avenge the memory of his dead brother. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer. Go Speed Racer, go.

The Good: Man this movie looks good. And while the story devolves into super-long (but again, very pretty) car races, the opening sequence, with Speed going against his brother's record, is truly a masterful bit of storytelling. Efficiently giving us a back story through super-imposed flashbacks and dialog while the present is going on behind everything, the first 15 minutes convey a lot of information and emotions in a visually interesting way. Watching young Speed imagine himself racing around in a cartoony hand-drawn car making engine noises change to him flying around the track in a just-as-cartoony-yet-far-more-polished car show that the Wachoskis can add substance to their style.

The Bad: The rest of the movie. Ok, maybe not quite, but it sure gets boring about halfway through. It was a huge let down from the promise the beginning showed. And while I admire their resolve to stick to the source material, the little boy and his chimp are amazingly annoying. Anytime they appeared on screen, my brain just started going "End. End. End. End endendendendENDENDENDEND!!!!!" Seriously. Really bad.

The Ugly: As I mentioned, I hate the chimp and kid. I also hate the fact that they forced me to watch the chimp throw his poop at a bad guy. Because that's what chimps do.

Points Pondered

• I was going to say that Matthew Fox did a great job as Racer X, but then I realized that he was playing the same character as he does in Lost, We Are Marshall and probably anything else he's ever done.


• Really, the racing here is the kind of spectacle NASCAR aspires to be. And in fairness, if NASCAR started adding loops, cliffs, spikes and other awesome track features, I'd start watching.


• Roger Allam is the new Tim Curry. Of course, his evilness here is probably just residual from V for Vendetta where he played Lewis Prothero.


• There's something to be said for a self-made hero. Characters like Spider-Man just kind of stumble into their powers. Speed Racer (and Iron Man) are both talented individuals who work hard at being the best. I'm sure an essay delving into this would be highly interesting. Hint hint, Ann.