Genre: Action
Released: 2008

Well, The Wachowski Brothers (can you still call them that since one of them is a girl now?) have finally redeemed themselves after making The Matrix Revolutions. But you see, they had me fooled! The trailers for Speed Racer were absolutely horrendous and I HAD NO DESIRE to see the film at all. I was actually dreading it. Well, let me tell you, this movie was pure fun for its entire 2 hours and 10 minutes. IT DOESN'T EVEN FEEL THAT LONG because you are just launched into amazing race sequences pretty much the entire film. The Wachowski Brothers are obviously most famous for creating the The Matrix, which will always go down as one of the most groundbreaking films ever made. That movie changed filmmaking for years to come and is still mind blowing to watch today. I am not saying anything you haven't heard before though. They also directed a little film called Bound, which contained a great lesbian sex scene between Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly. The only thing they have really been involved in as of late was that they had a writing/production credit for the amazingly underrated film; V For Vendetta. That movie deserved so much more hype than it got. It is almost like everyone has now forgotten the film.

Now, let me start off by saying that I have NEVER seen the Speed Racer television show. I know a lot of people were big fans of it, but I never really got into it. So this review you are about to read is solely based on what I saw in this film. I am aware that a lot of people who watched the show will be comparing it to that, but try to watch the film as a film itself and forget about the past. A lot of people have trouble doing that, always saying that the book is better than the movie. I understand that things are based on other things, but sometimes films should just be judged by themselves. Speed Racer stars Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, The Girl Next Door), John Goodman (The Big Lebowski, Death Sentence—he had a great part in this if you didn't see it), Christina Ricci (Black Snake Moan, The Adams Family), Matthew Fox ("Lost," Vantage Point), Susan Surandon (Dead Man Walking, The Client), Paulie Litt (who had a great role as Spritle in the film) and Robert Allam (V for Vendetta).

The movie really benefits from all of its amazing visuals and special effects. You could tell that the majority of the film was shot on a green scene; much like Sin City, where they add in all of the backgrounds digitally. The story focuses around a young guy, Speed Racer (Hirsch), who has always had it in his heart since he was a kid to be a racer. His dad (Goodman) happens to own a business where he builds race cars and his older brother, Rex, is actually a racer. While Speed is growing up, he is always asking his brother if he can go with him to all of his races. One day though, tragedy strikes and Rex is killed. The movie is mainly taking place when Speed is a young man and he is now starting to become a superstar. The one motto that the Racer family has always had though is that they are independent. They don't work with sponsors. When a HUGE sponsor comes to them and tries to sell them a deal where they could get paid more, things start getting ugly. Mr. Royalton (Allam), who runs Royalton Industries, wants to have Speed Racer on board, but when Speed finds out that the racing business is dirty and the winners are fixed, he sets out to make things right and turn racing back into fun and reality; not a money-making machine. Matthew Fox plays a guy name Racer X, who wants to help Speed Racer out these corporate A-holes who want the racing business to be about money and lies. Ricci plays Racer's girlfriend, Trixie, who has been with Speed since they were in elementary school. Speed's mom is played by Susan Surandon.

Overall, this is one of the most colorful, visual, fun and exhilarating movies I have seen in a while. Like I said, I had no desire to see it. When the movie first started out, for about the first 20 minutes, I didn't like it. The way it was edited together going from past to present with each cut, was starting to get really annoying, but eventually the style grew on me and I started to like it more and more. You get used to the way they want you to watch this film. It is definitely very uniquely shot and edited.

The race scenes are absolutely stunning to see on the big screen. They are so freaking intense and you are always on the edge of your seat when you are watching these scenes. You just wanted to jump in the car with Speed Racer. I just loved the effects when the car would jump up or there would be a huge collision and explosion. Everything just looked amazing.

Emile Hirsch did a fantastic job. I can't imagine how hard it must be for actors to imagine the set and environment they are in. Since a lot of this was blue/green screen, I am sure he was just sitting in a fake car with nothing around him during the shooting. The fact that he is able to act like what is going on around him, is nuts. They did the same thing for Sin City and you saw how well that turned out. There is a feature on the special edition DVD of Sin City, where you can watch the entire movie in 12 minutes as it was shot on the green screen with no special effects added in. If you want to see how it is done, that is the best lesson.

The movie is definitely deserving of a 4.5 BDK rating. It must be seen in theatres. Now listen, the movie is very cheesy and obviously unrealistic, but it is just a really fun popcorn flick and you will not be bored. It was just nice to see something fresh like that. They kept it very old school and had some pretty funny 70s and 80s type shots and music. This is definitely a movie you should have on your must see summer list.