Death Race (2008)

Finally a great action movie!

I've seen this movie twice now, and there's just something wonderfully primeval and pure about it, kicking ass with real stunts (no computer cheating) from the very beginning.

The story takes place in some near future where crime has gotten out of control, and private companies now run prisons for profit. Prisoners are offered a chance of freedom by joining a "death race", where they race eachother live in front of millions of online viewers. Win your freedom, or die trying. But when there's money in crime, and the viewers want blood, how far will some go to get their way...?

Jason Statham is a natural badass, and hugely beefed up for this film. In fact he's so big he can't stand up straight! Joan Allen is perfect as the merciless prison director, and pretty much all roles are well cast. Add to this some good driving, explosions, fight scenes, a smokin' hot lady, and this movie is one of my favorites in a long time.

Runtime: 98 min
Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane

9 (2009)

Only a year after Wall-E, the dystopian post-apocalyptic animation "9" hit the screens with none other than Tim Burton among the producers. As a big fan of course I'm excited!

9 is (obviously) the nineth creation of a scientist, predicting that man would eventually lose the war against machine. Giving them not only life, but actual souls, these puppet-like creatures are the last hope to fight the robots and save the world.

To make action out of animation must be difficult, especially when trying to maintain the 'cute' mask. My guess is that these creatures somehow represent children, supporting the constant double meaning that "children are our future" (the tagline on the cover is 'When our world ended, their mission began'). It is cute, but I get a bit genre-confused. On the other hand - amazing animation! The creativity on evil robots is never ending.

Yeah, we got it, robots are bad. The references to both communism and nazism are also very obvious, with warnings that great wars can have even greater consequences. I'm missing the cool score from the trailer, and some of the action is a bit obvious (there's more scares and jumps than actual action), but all in all I really liked it. Didn't even check the time once.

Runtime: 79 min
Starring: Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Connelly

Repo Men (2010)

Sci-fi action from a near future, where artificial organs have become big business. It's creepy to think how real this prospect might be... People in desperate situations signing ridiculously expencive contracts for artificial organs, then later being hunted down by so-called "reposession men" because they're unable to pay. Remy (Jude Law) is the best of all the repo men. He does his job effectively and skillfully - cause it's just another job, right? Until he gets a metal heart himself.

The movie wants you to think about what you're doing with your life; that what you do is what makes who you are in the end. This message is almost too clear. Some parts make less sense, like the girl he picks up and falls in love with half way through, and there's a middle section that makes you look at the time a lot. The music is really good though, and a lot of cool action scenes, there's blood everywhere for those who like that... All in all it's a good movie that manages to pick up the slack at the end.

Runtime: 111 min

Starring: Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga, Liev Schreiber

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

I was looking forward to this one, expecting great action, but this turned out to be some seriously disturbed stuff... It's not that the movie wasn't good - it was - but it was just a bit too much horror film and torture for my taste. Gerard Butler is great of course, one of the reasons I wanted to see it in the first place. And the story is clever! But they seemed to be more interested in grossing people out than using the clever story to its full potential...

Basically, it's about the family man Clyde Shelton (Butler) watching his wife and daughter being raped and brutally murdered by some asshole criminals, and then the worst one of them gets only 3 years for being cooperative. Left completely alone, Shelton plots vengance on both the lawyers who made the deal and the whole corrupt justice system. And apparently, they did not know who they were fucking with...

Runtime: 108 min

Starring: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx