Go ‘Speed Racer’ trailer

By Mark Pollard | Published December 14, 2007

A live-action adaptation of the classic anime TV series SPEED RACER is making its way to the big screen in 2008 and it’s directed by MATRIX TRILOGY’s Wachowski brothers. This may seem an odd fit until you see the first trailer that Warner Bros. recently released.

The film stars Emile Hirsch in the title role as a talented race car driver out to live up to the standards of a deceased brother he idolizes. When Speed turns down an offer to race for Royalton Industries, one of several companies manipulating some of the world’s biggest races, the corrupt owner makes it his mission to see that the young driver never crosses another finish line in his custom racer, the Mach 5.

With the support of his loyal girlfriend, Trixie (Christina Ricci), Speed teams with his one-time rival, the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) and attempts to save his family’s racing business by trying to win a death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible.

There isn’t a filmmaker around who knows how to adapt anime-style action to live action better than the Wachowski brothers, with the potential exception of Robert Rodriguez, and although SPEED RACER is definitely more family friendly than their past works, the action appears to be as hot as ever.

I am not a big fan of computer effects in action sequences but if you’re going to use the technology you might as well go crazy and that appears to be what the Wachowskis have done. They’ve also maintained their interest in producing slick martial arts combat to compliment the other action elements. What really stands out is the tone, a driving momentum that, at least in my mind, seems to captures the spirit of the original series and action anime in general.

Japanese martial arts movie fans should appreciate the casting of Hiroyuki Sanada in a supporting role. Hopefully, the Wachowskis will get as much use out of his screen fighting ability as they did from Collin Chou in the MATRIX films. It’s doubtful he could look any worse than he did in RUSH HOUR 3.

As someone who grew up watching anime in the late ’70s and early ’80s I can only hope that SPEED RACER is not only a success but leads to big screen adaptations of other anime classics like BATTLESHIP YAMATO (aka STAR BLAZERS) and MACROSS (aka ROBOTECH). It seems to be happening already with more recent manga and anime titles. Most notably, James Cameron is working on a big-budget version of Yukito Kishiro’s BATTLE ANGEL ALITA series while Ronny Yu is putting the finishing touches on a live-action remake of BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE.

SPEED RACER – Film Trailer