After the “Matrix” trilogy and one of my favorite movies ever, “V for Vendetta,” the Wachowskis take the cinematic equivalent of a vacation with “Speed Racer” (2008). I was never bored by this update of the cartoon, even with a running time exceeding 2 hours. But it left me with much less to think about than their previous efforts.
A style before its time
“Speed Racer” is a grand experiment in style. So it’s not a good sign that the racing is the weakest part of the film. It’s like what “Ready Player One” and “Alita: Battle Angel” would do a decade later, but those films are set in a virtual reality or an animated world.
“Speed Racer’s” non-race scenes are set in the real world – albeit with many green-screened close-ups for the sake of wild backgrounds. (The race car cockpits are also shot this way.)
“Speed Racer” (2008)
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Writers: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Stars: Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, Christina Ricci
The races themselves don’t try to resemble reality. Tracks are elevated and they swoop in wild loops, sometimes with gaps to be jumped. The Wachowskis don’t try to disguise that the races – tracks, cars, fans, and of course collisions and crashes — are created in computers.
They might’ve been cooler if they were set more in reality. “Speed Racer” is an amazing technical achievement for 2008, but a more spectacular (and real-looking) film could be made today for the same price.
The Wachowskis perhaps thought something like a car climbing a sheer mountain – as Speed Racer’s (Emile Hirsch) Mach 6 does at one point – has to be a literal cartoon. It shows you’re playing fair with the audience, perhaps.
But interestingly, the “Fast & Furious” films have now gone far beyond what cars can actually do; they’ve parachuted and jumped between skyscrapers and cliff-dived. Admittedly, they haven’t climbed a cliff – although, granted, I haven’t seen “F9” yet.
This is a long way of saying that “Speed Racer” didn’t need to be so stylized to tell its story. Still, the Wachowskis are clearly having fun, and it superficially translates. They and their team create excitement entirely in computer programs, blending race action with cutouts of excited announcers of multiple ethnicities. It’s kinetic, but not overwhelming.
An attempt at depth
To its credit, “Speed Racer” is concerned with substance. A pivotal scene finds villain Royalton (“V for Vendetta’s” Roger Allam) telling Speed all about the corruption of racing, trying to get him to come to his huge corporation rather than be destroyed by it.
But “Speed Racer” feels disconnected whereas the themes of “The Matrix” and “V for Vendetta” feel crucial. Racing is not exactly clean as a whistle, but this narrative isn’t a play on an actual conspiracy.
I like the folks around Speed, including a Super Mario-looking John Goodman as Pops and Christina Ricci as girlfriend Trixie, who also serves as a helicopter spotter during races. Speed’s thoughts of his late older brother Rex (“Friday Night Lights’” Scott Porter) add heart. The identity of Racer X (Matthew Fox), who probes the conspiracy, adds mystery.
I could’ve done without the antics of younger brother Spritle (Paulie Litt) and his chimpanzee Chim Chim, who add kiddie humor to what often plays as a mature film, or at least a family film. But I suppose it’s important to include all the toon characters.
The Wachowskis are too good to throw stuff at the screen and call it a movie, and “Speed Racer” is not one of those. No one else could’ve made this film this well in 2008. But compared to their previous work, they’ve downshifted.