There seems to be little to no love in the world for the Wachowski’s take on ‘Speed Racer’. Granted, watching the commercials and the trailer, I figured it was a migraine waiting to happen. Considering how terrible the last two Matrix movies were (or, at least, how not-for-me they were), I figured I could write ‘Speed Racer’ off and concentrate on better stuff, like ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.’
Well, we all know how part of that turned out. Who would’ve guessed that ‘Indiana Jones’ would be one of my least favorite movies of the year and ‘Speed Racer’ would be right up there at the top?
No doubt this has somewhat to do with low expectations – I was pretty sure I was in for an FX ride and not much else. But not only does the movie have an honest emotional pull, it also feels like the Wachowskis are having nothing but fun for the first time in their lives. Gone is all the self-seriousness of ‘Bound’ and ‘The Matrix’ (both of which I loved) and in its place is a lightheartedness and straight sincerity, veering easily away from the parody that I was sure an updated cartoon from the 60s would inherently bring.
At the heart of it, it’s good vs. evil, that timeless beating movie heart. Every character is dealing with it, from those in the margins all the way up to Speed. They’re all wrestling with past mistakes, looking for solutions, and everything in their world revolves around racing. It’s just kind of awesome to watch all of this come together, to have an actual story going on when you come down off the highs of the action.
It also helps that there’s not a false move in the casting. I’m not any kind of mega-fan of the show, so who knows if the Wachowskis messed with something they shouldn’t have. But everyone is pulling their weight – I can’t think of anyone who took a backseat to the FX, which it seems would be infinitely easy to do in a movie like this.
Which is credit that also has to be passed on to the Wachowskis. A part of what blew me away about ‘The Matrix’ was that great blend of story and FX. The two elements needed each other to accomplish what the Bros. were going for. It’s the same thing here – you start to feel like the world you’re in is coming from these characters – they aren’t just inhabiting it for a short time along with you.
I haven’t yet read a fully enthusiastic review about this movie, which astounds me. Were people trying to kill this thing for some reason? This was the most ambitious movie of this year aside from The Dark Knight! Is there no love for the Wachowskis? Are people freaked out about the sex change? Really – there’s no reason that ‘Crystal Skull’ should make $400m and this couldn’t even break $50m.
Regardless, it’s good. Way better than anyone told you. See it.
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I saw this in the theater and thought it was great. It was a literal translation from cartoon to live action, and I don’t think the wachowskis were given the credit they were due for this movie.
You know I hate to disagree with you, Craig, but while I thought the ambition and sincerity of the Wachowskis was apparent in every frame, I was bored off my ass the entire time.
If anything it proved to me that there is such a thing as being too faithful to source material — in this case I don’t think there was anything to be faithful to. The original “Speed Racer” was a light-as-air pop culture throwaway. Why treat a primitive cartoon from the 60s as reverently as Jackson did Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings?
Leaving aside the caricature-y acting (which was, granted, absolutely appropriate to what the Wachowskis were going for — they were nothing if not consistent in their approach to the movie), the main reason for my boredom was the extended (and expensive) action sequences: they contained within them exactly zero iotas of suspense as not a single identifiable rule of physics was adhered to. How can I grip the armrests in white-knuckled suspense wondering if Speed’s really going to make that jump if I know that, following the rules of physics in this movie, Speed could probably jump the Empire State Building doing barrel rolls all the way and stick the landing? How, I ask you?
But, to perhaps negate all of the above, I did see it in a drive-in, where the audio/visual is less than exceptional. So maybe a screening in a real theater might change my mind. But there’s no way I’d do that, so…
(Also, to perhaps negate all I said above, I kind of really like the last two Matrix movies.)
Thank you, Speck for being intelligent.
Buuuut seriously – there may be another reason for our differences on this one, Brian (besides the fact that you clearly commented for Satan and this post is his work and not yours) which is: You saw it on the big screen and I watched it at home. At home, I could take in every frame. But on a larger screen – I wonder if the impact was dulled because it kind of looked like a blur? It does move incredibly fast. I’m not sure I would’ve liked it had I seen it in a theater.
Really? You liked Reloaded? Revolutions I can understand… but Reloaded? We should totally movie-review-duel.
Haha. Yes we should movie-review duel. Yeah, Reloaded is the weaker of the two sequels, but the freeway sequence is, for me, enough to justify its worth.
Anyway, Merry Christmas!