Summer movies mean adrenaline. This summer we've gotten a fair amount of that via superhero flicks. August has seen some decent action/comedies ("Pineapple Express," "Tropic Thunder") that, while hilarious, didn’t totally satiate our venturesome needs. This weekend we get our prescribed dosage in "Death Race" based on the 1975 film "Death Race 2000" (read Kurt Loder's review of "Death Race" here). Now before you speed out to the theater to catch the first viewing of this supercharged action piece, try racing over to the store to pick up these older gems that really know how to get your heart pumping.
THE RUNNING MAN (1987)
If Arnold Schwarzenegger pumps adrenaline, this film bleeds adrenaline. A future TV game show takes prisoners and lets them fight for their freedom on a human obstacle course. The trick you ask? No one gets out alive. So when Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger), a wrongly convicted (aren’t they always) prisoner, finds himself having to fend for his life and freedom, us in the audience get to see some pretty classic future brutality. If you thought contestants had it bad when Simon or Paula ripped into them, how about if Simon had a chainsaw or Randy with a sharpened hockey stick?
SHOPPING (1994)
Director Paul W.S. Anderson’s first feature film stars Sadie Frost and a 22-year-old Jude Law. Like "Death Race," "Shopping" takes place in the future, this time in Britain,and also features disastrous car race scenes, but a younger brand of bandit. Although this film doesn’t take place entirely in prison, these youngsters stir up enough trouble to find themselves there from time to time. Different from "Death Race," these kids aren’t racing for their freedom from prison as much as for their freedom from boredom.
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
I thought this might be too obvious a required viewing partner to "Death Race," but it can always be included because it’s so good. The best car chase scenes on celluloid. Without CG, we kids of today wonder how they accomplished these amazing chase scenes barreling down open streets. I have no idea, but I love to watch it over and over. Think the car chases in "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City," but in real life, on real streets, with real Gene Hackman.
** FOLLOW MTV MOVIES BLOG ON TWITTER! **