The
Wachowski brothers have officially left this mortal coil. Any suggestion that a
live-action take on a frivolous '60s anime series would represent a downshift
in ambition after the Matrix trilogy is dispelled within the first few seconds of Speed
Racer, which seems
to take the concept of 600 km/hr. racing cars as aesthetic inspiration.
Painting with CGI, the Wachowskis have constructed a candy-colored future so
wholly artificial that the humans appear out of place, grafted crudely onto a
world that's evolved past them. Granted, Hollywood blockbusters like 300 and Beowulf have recently expanded the
potential of digital effects, but with nothing like the aggression of Speed
Racer, which is
borderline-experimental in the way it challenges the limits of perception. It's
forward-thinking, visionary, and much of the time unwatchable.
With a name
that really suits only one possible occupation, young Speed Racer (Emile
Hirsch) dreams of following in his legendary brother Rex's footsteps and leading
his scrappy racing family back to glory. Though haunted by Rex's tragic demise
during the cross-country, anything-goes race called The Crucible, Speed shows
enough natural talent to draw a lucrative offer from Royalton Motors, a
corporate giant intent on crushing all comers. When Speed turns down the offer,
he and his team—parents John Goodman and Susan Sarandon, girlfriend
Christina Ricci, his mischievous little brother, and a pet monkey named Chim
Chim—try to go the independent route. As diabolical forces conspire to
keep him off the track, Speed joins forces with the mysterious "Racer X," a
one-time rival turned unlikely ally.
In the
early going, the whiz-bang editing and searing primary colors in Speed Racer work like a sugar rush, but the
crash from all that overstimulation is enough to reduce grown men into sobbing
infants. The Wachowskis may be guilty of being too far ahead of the curve: Maybe
children one or two generations down the road will be able to process 135
minutes of manic, kitschy inanity, but for now, it goes down in one big,
indigestible lump. For as much control as they exert over technique, the
Wachowskis let the tone get away from them, unable to reconcile Speed Racer's bright, frivolous cartoon roots
with a heavy-headed—and baldly hypocritical—message about the
little guy standing up to his corporate masters. Here's a rare case where the
term "groundbreaking" isn't necessarily a compliment.