The Wachowskis (Bound, Cloud Atlas) have come a long way since directing The Matrix franchise, in fact both brothers have made the transition to become openly transgender women, Larry is now Lana and Andy is now Lilli, this process started happening around the time of the release of this film, when they were still credited as The Wachowski Brothers (Lana was still Larry then). Basically in near- distant future, eighteen-year-old James "Speed" Racer (Into the Wild's Emile Hirsch) has always had a love and life for automobile racing, since he was in school, he is now the youngest driver in the WRL (World Racing League) with natural racing instincts. Speed's ultimate dream is to win the Casa Cristo Cross Country Rally, also known as The Crucible, this race took the life of his older brother Rex (Scott Porter). Speed is loyal to his family's independent business, Racer Motors, run by his parents, Pops (John Goodman) and Mom (Susan Sarandon), Speed is using his brother's car, the Mach 5 and his own Formula One car the Mach 6, both designed by his father. The owner of conglomerate Royalton Industries, E.P. Arnold Royalton (Roger Allam), makes a lucrative offer to sign to race with him, and have an astoundingly luxurious lifestyle, Royalton is angered when he declines. Then Speed uncovers a secret that many races are being fixed, top corporate interests, including Royalton, are cheating to gain profit, having denied his offer Royalton wants to ensure that that Speed will not win races. Speed has the support of his parents and his girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), he enters The Crucible, and he is going against his one-time rival, the mysterious masked Racer X (Lost's Matthew Fox), Speed seeks to rescue his family's business and the racing sport itself. In the end Speed wins the race, Royalton's crimes are exposed, and a flashback reveals Racer X is in fact Rex, he faked his death and changed his appearance with plastic surgery as part of a plan to save his family and the sport of racing, he chooses not to reveal his identity to his family, Royalton goes to jail and the Racer celebrate Speed's victory, Speed and Trixie kiss. Also starring Paulie Litt as Spritle Racer, Benno Fürmann as Inspector Detector, The Wolverine's Hiroyuki Sanada as Mr. Musha, Rain as Taejo Togokahn, Shaft's Richard Roundtree as Ben Burns, Edge of Tomorrow's Kick Gurry as Sparky and Run Lola Run's Moritz Bleibtreu as Grey Ghost. Hirsch does well as the young racing hero, Goodman and Sarandon get their time as the parents, and Allam is a suitably dastardly villain, this film is based on a cult 1960s anime show, which would explain why the world in which the characters inhabit is digitised, the backgrounds and fast-paced race sequences are filled to the brim with vibrant colourful special effects CGI, this adds to the spectacle of it, all the family will watch and enjoy entering a different dimension, a most fun sports action comedy. Very good!
Review of Speed Racer
