Speed Racer

[Thirdmango]

The fact that Irish hates SR is oddly comforting. All is right with the world.

This.

Irish it's hard for me to understand your critisisms of the soul of the movie when every tv discussion you've had in the past month has been based on ratings and placement of characters and stories around commercial times. You seem very structured in your opinions and not really someone who bases things on soul. Like a scientific viewer of movies versus and artistic viewer of movies.

[Irish]

Irish it's hard for me to understand your critisisms of the soul of the movie when every tv discussion you've had in the past month has been based on ratings and placement of characters and stories around commercial times. You seem very structured in your opinions and not really someone who bases things on soul. Like a scientific viewer of movies versus and artistic viewer of movies.

You're right, I usually don't. But this movie is remarkable in its lack of humanity. Everything in it is polished to a high sheen, even the people. They come off as automatons, machinma.

I'd say the only two actors who approach human (and who also seem to know exactly where they are and what kind of movie they're in) are Roger Allam and Matthew Fox.

I think the style is so overhyped (and rightfully so) that the substance is undervalued -- and remember, the substance is anchored by a rock solid foundation that is forged on the chemistry/performances of Sarandon and Goodman, both of whom deliver touching and heartfelt moments that rise above the genre of live action family film.

There is little substance. Where it exists (around the Racer X character), it is badly handled.

Sarandon and Goodman don't have any particular chemistry together. When they're in the same room together, they barely acknowledge each other's presence. When they aren't, they're delivering tearjerker supporting roles that are precisely timed and fixed.

Speaking of which, I don't understand the high praise for them in this movie. They're pros who have been around a long time and here they do exactly what I'd expect them to do: deliver a professional level performance.

But there isn't anything in those performances that's particularly remarkable, outside of, well, just them being them. (Seriously, have you ever seen these two give a bad performance in the last twenty years?)

The movie isn't anchored on anything, much less anything human. That's its big problem.

[TGM]

What little I've seen of this film I didn't like, though reading through this thread makes me really want to actually give this movie a proper viewing.

[monolith94]

I'm glad you at least give Roger Allam some credit at least. His monologue in this movie was so, so brilliantly performed.

[max314]

A lot has been made of the performances in the film being wooden.

I agree — they are wooden. But I think that's kind of the point.

What's fascinating is that much of the dialogue in Speed Racer is essentially stripped of subtext. With the exception of Royalton and Racer X, characters generally say exactly what they mean.

There's an earnestness to the style, and one that clearly harkens back to the original TV show. So I see this as a deliberate choice, especially since we've seen in films like Bound and The Matrix just how sophisticated their dialogue can be.