Kicking off the summer season are several films: The Forbidden Kingdom, Iron Man, Speed Racer, etc. But what no one seemed to expect was Iron Man’s huge success. It made over $100 million in the first weekend, a huge feat, and followed it up the following weekend with half that. Unfortunately, this meant that whatever movie was released the next weekend would be caught in its wake. This undesired job fell to Speed Racer, which is a shame because it really is a good film.
Speed Racer stars Emile Hirsh as, well, Speed Racer. Yes, “Speed” is his first name and “Racer” is his last. The cast also includes Christina Ricci as Speed’s girlfriend Trixie, John Goodman as Speed’s dad, and Susan Sarandon as his mom.
As you may have guessed, the Racer family is into racing and Speed is no exception. The film opens as he daydreams in class, imagining himself driving the family’s famed Mach 5. After school, he is picked up in the said vehicle by his semi-famous racer brother and taken to the racetrack for a test drive. It becomes clear from the beginning that Speed has a special relationship with his brother Rex. This makes it all the more heartbreaking when Rex leaves the house and is killed in a car crash in the infamous Casa Cristo off-road race.
Flash forward several years when Speed is the racer in the family. He wins a race on the racetrack that his brother had taken him on and is subsequently offered a partnership with Royalton industries—a large racing company. Upon meeting the manager and touring the company’s huge facilities, Speed decides to stay with his family’s small racing business and say no to Royalton. This prompts Royalton to inform him that from now on he will not “win, place, or even finish the race.” The rest of the story deals with Speed’s efforts to prove Royalton wrong, which he obviously does. Yet despite its predictability, Speed Racer is one wild ride.
You may have heard of Larry and Andy Wachowski. They’ve directed big action flicks such as The Matrix Trilogy and V for Vendetta. Speed Racer is new territory for them. It is definitely a family film. There is no language, sexual material, or over-the-top violence. Everything is done in a comical fashion with a very whimsical color scheme. With that said, the visuals are amazing. Almost every background is computer generated, and the races are spectacular. Not surprisingly, racing takes up much of the film; and it could get very monotonous. However, it is filmed in such a way that each race seems unique; and it is easy to follow what each of the individual racers is doing. In the final race, the Grand Prix, I almost got the same sense as watching a film like Remember the Titans. You know what’s going to happen, but they give you enough reason to doubt it that the event becomes very suspenseful.
Speed Racer is a very well done and acted film. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s too bad that it’s done so badly at the box office, not being helped along by family film rival Prince Caspian. Regardless, I definitely recommend seeing it, especially on the big screen. The imagery was incredible and the message of family and of striving for one’s goals was excellent. Go Speed Racer, Go!!
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