Sometimes a movie comes along that I just know I’m going to love. Death Race is not that movie. Vicious prison inmates drag racing to their deaths? Unless it happens to be an episode of Bad Girls, I think not. I have to say, though, that a certain someone has caused me to reconsider — Joan Allen, to be exact.

Allen plays Warden Hennessey, the corrupt prison matron of Terminal Island. If you’ve never quite understood the meaning of the term “sociopath,” her character could teach you. She would be quite strict, too, with authority oozing from every pore. Uh, what was I talking about again?

Oh, yes, Joan Allen as the prison warden who forces prisoners to participate in violent races and reaps financial rewards via pay-per-view broadcasts of the contests. The year is 2012, and whoever was elected president apparently did not fix the economy. The U.S. is in a depression, crime rules the streets and reality TV has morphed into a futuristic version of Extreme Gladiators called — wait for it — Death Race. The show features felons in armored cars with full artillery racing for freedom or death, with nary a Pennzoil logo in sight.

If you’re wondering why Allen took a role like this, you’re not alone. She has been asked as much at every promotional interview for the movie. Her answer? “It was just really fun.” … continue reading

Yes, you read that right. Joan Allen has just signed on to play a prison warden in Paul W.S. Anderson's 2008 Death Race.

I'll give you a moment to anticipate Allen, who is so effective at playing the strong, take-charge type, taking charge of an entire prison.

Looks like she's enjoying the idea right along with us, no?

And now I'll spoil your enthusiasm by saying that the movie, also starring Jason Statham and Tyrese Gibson, sounds ... well, awful. Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner are producing, which is a count against it already, but what's more, it's a remake of Death Race 2000, a 1975 Sylvester Stallone/David Carradine "cult classic." Descriptions vary from "a future America in which prison inmates are forced to brutally compete in an enclosed arena" (Hollywood Reporter) to "a group of contestants on a cross-country race who score points for running down pedestrians" (MTV). The warden apparently runs the show. … continue reading