No Pain, No Rain

I had the great pleasure of watching Speed Racer this afternoon with my brothers and my mum (happy mothers' day, mum!) and it was a treat. If you haven't watched it, please do, and remember to buckle up, keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times and there will be no premature ejections. I meant...never mind.

So anyways, the stories not all about racing, if that's what your afraid of. It goes beyond the typical sports storyline of rivalry and garang-ness so common in the genre. Not to say that there aren't any, because there's plenty in fact, but what is different about this show is that it's not afraid to go beyond the flash and dash of racing. It delves into the involvement of the invisible hand of consumerism and materialism into what many sees as pure sport.

The attention given to the background of the races is a worth foil to the adrenaline-pumping showdowns. The visuals and the excitement come fast and furious during the races. Perfectly rendered dream-like machines speed past a world which exists only in fantasy. The details are jaw-dropping, and there are many little touches that is worthy of one's eyes. The choreography of the cars FREAKING JOUSTING with each other is another sight to lo and behold. I guess one can't expect any less from the guys who brought us the Matrix.

There was a fight-scene towards the end of the show which was just awesome. I mean, seriously awesome.

The characters are well-developed, mostly. The family felt very close throughout the movie, and there are relationships which are on a very deep emotional level, such as brother-brother relationship, and father-son relationship. There's also Speed's (That's the main character's name. And his last name is RACER. SPEED RACER, holy carp) relationship with his girlfriend which got very very suggestive for a PG movie, but what the heck, I liked it. Oh, and Christina Ricci, who played the love interest, is. as. hot. as. freaking. hell.

Seriously. Everything about her had me caught.

Look out for Racer X (pronounce it really fast, and you'll know who he is!). There's a twist, and then another in the movie regarding certain characters, and it was very well-played.

I was irritated by a few characters though. The youngest brother and the random chimp was the first. I had no idea what their role was, and their relationship with Speed was minimal, almost non-existent. They provided comic relief, sure, but they were unfunny. I'm sorry, but visual gags make me gag. But puns do not.

AND RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Funny thing that happened before the movie: when we went in, the Rain shampoo commercial was playing, and my mother started laughing, and so did the couple just in front of us. It was the way he struggled with "My name is Rain," my mum said. Oh, and everything else he says in that commercial is retarded.

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"With the world watching...my hair!"
"I like black, black is confident, black is good!"
"My name is RAIN!"

Anyways, his role in the story was minimal, retarded, and made no sense. Goodness, his sister wasn't even pretty. At least he was. Rain plays this racer called Taejo, who depends on Speed to help him win some race, which will prevent his father's company from collapsing. And then he causes some "traitor-ing", which affects the story but for a smallest bit, and then he does some random celebrating here and there and his gone. Which is good, I guess, because I had some difficulty understanding what he was saying.

Not that I hate Rain. I like him, I admire him. He was voted the 2nd Times Most Influential Person (it was won by the nintendo guy) by the people, beating Stephen Colbert, who I voted for. I condemned Rain at first, but after watching an episode of the Colbert Report which featured Rain, Rain has gained my respect, my awe, and my heart. Watch this clip to see what I mean:



REAL MAN PLAY DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION!