Speed Racer is by far the best film of the decade so far

[Animal Boything]

just stopping by to drop some knowledge

on you plebes

seriously quit talking about all of these other movies

that don't mean shit once you have seen speed racer

it's coming out on dvd soon

and then people will slowly start to realize their mistake

ten or twenty years from now

when every film scholar in the world is using it as an example

of a film that fucking changed everything

you'll be telling people you saw it when it came out

to sound cool

mark my fucking words

[BrotherLovesDub]

can you get more acid or was that your last tab?

[dubman]

FUCK YEEEEAAAAAA SPEEDRACER PLEBS

[grady]

Get me a tab of said illicit substance and I will try watching more of the film.

On a technical level I can see what you're getting at, but otherwise, they did what Lucas did on the three Star Wars prequels but the technology has improved and computers are faster. It's all green screened. David Tattersall, the director of photography on the Star Wars films, was the DP on Speed Racer too so they got someone versed in the technique to shoot the film.

I'm basing all this on the 25 minutes or so I watched of the film while waiting for the movie I was seeing to start a few months back at a local cinema where I ducked into the Speed Racer auditorium. I wish I would've gone back to see Speed Racer but it was gone within three weeks from the Portland market.

[Animal Boything]

I was just going to let that post stand alone and move on, but I've had something of a change of heart. I had my fun and I might as well explain myself.


First of all, I was sober as hell when I saw Speed Racer. In fact, I was tired and grumpy and I watched it in a shitty second-run theater with uncomfortable seats and serious audio problems... but I was so completely blown away by that film that I went back the next day and watched it again. It wouldn't have been the last time, either, if my schedule had permitted. If I had known what was in store, I would have gone well out of my way to see it in Imax. I feel like I'll have to watch it 50 times to take everything in.

I don't remember the last time I was this anxious for a DVD release. I'm practically watching the clock. (September 16th!!!)

Speed Racer is, to say the least, greater than the sum of its parts. Most of the techniques used in filming it are not entirely new, but what it represents is a culmination of a lot of modern cinematic ideas into something I've never seen before. Clearly comparisons can be made to the Star Wars prequels, which I personally felt were also underrated (the second one in particular), but a more accurate comparison might be Sin City, another movie filmed almost entirely without practical sets. Where Sin City used green screen technology to create stark, minimal film noir, Speed Racer instead created a candy-colored dreamscape of boundless kinetic energy.

What's more interesting is the film's incredible editing. Many scenes are carefully layered such that you're looking at several different places or times simultaneously. The film opens with Speed Racer attempting to beat his dead brother's unbroken time record at the local track. The actual race is intercut with scenes from his childhood, fond memories of his brother, hints of his ill fate, and the original record-setting race. Finally, it actually shows the "ghost" of his brother's car weaving around and through his own. Speed pulls ahead, but his foot eases off the pedal at the last second, the ghost car breezes past him to the finish line, and his brother's legacy remains intact. It is an amazing, powerful scene, and it succeeds brilliantly at establishing the lead character's motivation in a few short minutes.

The filmmakers' greatest achievement, oddly enough, was how they took the story's saturday morning cartoon origins to heart and made no effort at all to ground the movie in reality. Within the first minute, it becomes clear that you should not expect the familar rules to apply. The characters' names are a good example: the hero's first name is "Speed" and his last name is "Racer." His dad is named "Pops Racer." Almost anyone else who tried to adapt this story would have explained these away as nicknames... a useless insult to the viewer's intelligence, and an all-too-familiar one. The genius of Speed Racer is that such mundane trivialities are universally ignored in favor of the poetic simplicity - and the fun - of a classic cartoon. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, everybody can be identified by their brightly-colored costume, and a plucky young man in a race car is here to save the day.

A large chunk of the film's running time is dominated by races that move at 700 mph over neon Hot Wheels tracks the size of small cities or through fantastic vistas of dangerous, otherworldly terrain. All the cars come standard with bizarre gadgets that James Bond could only imagine. The action is so intense and so relentless that when it lets up, briefly, for the characters to have a quiet conversation, it almost feels like the world is ending - but soon enough, Speed is strapped again into his iconic white car, ready to take on a few more impossible odds.

The film's cast was perfect. It was important in a movie with such an outlandish premise to cast actors who could sell the strangest of lines. All of the roles are filled not only by extremely respectable actors, such as John Goodman and Susan Sarandon as Speed's parents, but by actors with an uncanny resemblance to their cartoon counterparts. It's hard to name a more inspired move than the casting of Christina Ricci as an anime girl, for example. Through all the madness, they kept the emotional core of the story intact, giving us a reason to root for the hero.

I suppose the movie isn't for everyone, but it's an absolute certainty that it's destined to be, if not a success, a cult classic of the highest order. A lot of critics - even critics who hated it - called it a window to the future of filmmaking. Those few people that saw it with the right kind of eyes will really have no choice but to show it to everybody they know. I personally plan on buying copies of it for several people. Slowly, Speed Racer will find the audience it deserves.

[myrrh]

Okay, solely based on your recommendation I went out and picked up this dvd.

I thought it would be crap, but damn, I think it was truly mind-blowing. They managed to capture everything about Speed Racer in a live action movie, which to be honest I thought would be impossible.

The races are so spectacularly dense that I need to watch it a couple times to catch everything that is going on.

One thing that I thought was great was the editing and how they interlaced the flashback scenes with the action scenes. Like in the beginning, which you mentioned, but also when they are racing through the desert and they flashback to show everyone getting bribed.

I also recommend this, if not just for the eye candy factor. However, I found myself at the end really enjoying this movie, as a solidly good fun flick.

[joethelion]

wait...

what?! This actually was a good movie? damn... now I feel like I should at least rent it, based on the above comments...

side note - didn't it turn out that Racer X was really Speed's (supposedly) dead brother? or am I just making that up?

[IsiliRunite]

Dear Joethelion,

Speed Racer was so bad it was funny.

-me

[gillenium]

hahahahaha this thread made my day

[negative1]

interesting how some people travel through time to get the dvd
thats coming out on september 16th..

yes, there were cool special effects and eye candy..

but i'm sorry....i went back and watched the old school original
deathrace 2000 yesterday, to prepare for the release of the
new version next week..

and that movie blew speed racer away, but then again stallone
and david carradine were up and coming back then.....and the
movie was more of political / social commentary anyway...
none of which speed racer had..

then again, speed racer, could become a cult classic too..

later
-1