SPEED RACER (2008)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

In its 2008 debut, SPEED RACER was lambasted by film critics. According to many of them, the Wachowski Brothers, who both wrote and directed RACER, neglected a linear storyline in favor of high-definition FX and lots of gaudy pastel colors. Audiences didn't embrace the movie either, though I've always wondered if RACER might have lost some ground because in the U.S. a much better action-film, IRON MAN, had debuted the week before.

Re-screening the movie recently, I didn't think the gaudy visuals were a drawback. The film also delivered well on the familiar characters of the anime series as reworked for American distribution. The 52-episode series, which boasted many more installments than the short-lived manga on which it was based, had been a favorite syndicated cartoon in the U.S. for years, and the Wachowskis did a job of casting the familiar faces. Lead Emile Hirsch captured much of the youthful confidence of Speed Racer, and though he was not a draw, bigger names played his support-cast. John Goodman brought a grumpy formidability to Speed's father Pops. He thinks Speed too young to be a professional racer, due in part to the mysterious disappearance of Speed's older brother Rex (Matthew Fox), who defied Pops regarding the racing game. Susan Sarandon brings her repute to the role of Speed's mother, and the most one can say is that she gets more lines than did the nugatory "Mom Racer" of the TV show. The program's comic-relief characters, Speed's little brother Spritle (Paulie Litt) and his pet chimpanzee (played by two chimps), are actually tied into the plot for once and so prove a little less annoying than usual. And Christina Ricci as Speed's girlfriend Trixie gets to be much more of an inspiring figure than in the TV show, and even gets to dish out a few judo chops to bad guys (something the manga original never did). The Wachowskis even found small roles for the voice-actors from the Americanized cartoon, Corrine Orr and Peter Fernandez.

What the movie misses, though, is the pulpy spirit of the animated cartoon. The manga may have been mostly a sports-manga, concerning Speed's quest to become a great racer despite his father's opposition. But the TV show had to fill 52 episodes with lots of thrilling adventures of Speed, his crew and his marvelous race-car the Mach 5 (modeled in part on the Aston-Martin from the film GOLDFINGER). Thus the cartoon has Speed journeying to foreign lands to battle assassins and evil masterminds, or trying to outrace conveyances even more bizarre than the Mach 5 (which, to be sure, was also a feature of the manga).

But instead of finding a way to exploit the SPEED RACER franchise to supply dazzling adventure, the Wachowskis chose a predictable plot about a super-rich guy, the absurdly named Royalton (Robert Allan), who recognizes Speed's racing talent and tries to tempt the young man with a contract to race for his corporation. Speed is tempted by this corporate devil but ends up hewing to his father's desire to keep their business independent. But Royalton is a sore loser and uses both legalities and dirty tricks to end Speed's career.

I realized that in essence the Wachowskis had just updated the old "cruel banker forecloses on vulnerable homesteaders" trope. Now, there are a lot of relevant critiques one could make of big business, but I find it hard to believe that many Americans were terribly worried about corporate control of professional racing. In fact, while I don't follow racing myself, I've the impression that much of the appeal of the NASCAR circuit is that the racers, with whom the fans identify, can make big bucks by allowing companies to sponsor them. 

Therefore, even though there are some lively sequences in RACER, Royalton is a weak and uninteresting villain, and Speed's climactic race for a victory that will give him financial independence merely seems pre-ordained. And that takes all the excitement out of even the most raucous FX-scenes. It might've been more compelling to exploit the character of "Racer X"-- lost brother Rex using a masked identity to travel around doing spy-stuff-- so that Speed got mixed up in Racer X's attempt to take down an evil mastermind. But another live-action SPEED RACER film is not likely to come around in my lifetime.