Staham and co try to add touch of class

The new Death Race, loosely based on 1975's cult favourite Death Race 2000, imagines a time in the not-so-distant future when sensation-hungry audiences tune in to watch violent demolition derbies where convicts in race cars smash and maul one another.

This ultraviolent movie has been engineered to stimulate exactly the kind of audience blood lust that the script ostensibly deplores. Young males will lap up the gore, though the movie won't reach beyond the core audience of car nuts and action freaks. Most of the comedy is missing from this more realistic remake, which begins at full blast with the obligatory frenetic cutting and deafening sound effects.

The script by director Paul WS Anderson quickly sets up the premise: Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is framed for the murder of his wife and sent to a maximum-security prison, where the devious warden (Joan Allen) offers him a chance at freedom if he wins the death race against the prison's most sadistic killers. Of course, she has no intention of honouring her pledge, but she underestimates Ames, who knows how to kick butt as well as burn rubber. Meanwhile, Natalie Martinez – the one that featured in Amr Diab's hit video, Ne'oul Eh – plays Case, Ames' female sidekick.

The best you can say about the movie is that it isn't boring. It's fast-paced, but it isn't really well-made. Like so many contemporary directors, Anderson pumps up the volume and edits with a machete to disguise the fact that he can't stage a complicated action scene with visual clarity. Or is it the studio bosses who mandate all this frantic cutting, fearing that audiences will tune out of a chase scene that isn't sliced and diced to a fare-thee-well?

The cast is a little tonier than you usually find at such parties. Ian McShane is entertaining as the worldly driving coach. Allen seems to be channelling Nurse Ratched; she's a cool, smiling cobra. As for Statham, his body is fearsome, and he confidently struts through the picture.