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Synopsis

The story begins with Speed Racer who is a young man with natural racing instincts whose goal is to win The Crucible, a cross-country car racing rally that took the life of his older brother, Rex Racer. Speed is loyal to the family business, run by his parents Pops and Mom. Pops designed Speed’s car, the Mach 5. The owner of Royalton Industries makes Speed a lucrative offer, Speed rejects the offer, angering the owner. Speed also uncovers a secret that top corporate interests, including Royalton, are fixing races and cheating to gain profit. With the offer to Speed denied, Royalton wants to ensure that Speed will not win races. Speed finds support from his parents and his girlfriend Trixie and enters The Crucible in a partnership with his one-time rival, Racer X, seeking to rescue his family’s business and the racing sport itself. —IMDb

Director

Original

Andy Wachowski

The younger half of the writing-directing-producing team The Wachowski Brothers, Andy Wachowski dropped out of Emerson College in Boston to pursue a career in show business. Collaborating with his older brother Larry, the duo completed their first script which was optioned by producer Dino De Laurentiis and eventually became the Warner Bros. feature “Assassins” (1995). Another writer polished the script, so the finished product, starring Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas as hit men, veered between generic actioner and character study and ended up a box-office disappointment.

The Wachowskis chose a chancy project for their directorial debut, “Bound” (1996), a romance-thriller featuring Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon as criminal lesbians in love. Drawing on influences as varied as Billy Wilder (“Double Indemnity” 1944), Roman Polanski (“Chinatown” 1974) and Sam Raimi (“The Evil Dead” 1983), the brothers set out to create a modern film noir that would invert the genre. With… read more

Original

Lana Wachowski

Born on June 21, 1965, in Chicago, Illinois, Lana Wachowski grew up as Laurence Wachowski with younger brother Andy. The two entered filmmaking as screenwriters and directed 1996’s film Bound before going on to helm the groundbreaking Matrix films. They later produced V for Vendetta, and directed the films Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas. Lana has also become a lauded spokesperson for transgender rights.

Early Life and Career

Lana Wachowski was born on June 21, 1965, to parents Lynne and Ron Wachowski. Lana grew up as Laurence Wachowski (also known as Larry Wachowski) in Chicago, Illinois, with younger brother Andy Wachowski. Though biologically male, as a child Larry also identified with girls, existing between both genders and later struggling with depression and suicidal ideation due to social stigma.

Wachowski attended Whiney M. Young Magnet High School, taking on TV and theater programs, before going on to Bard College. She eventually dropped out to work for a… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 34 wall posts.
Picture of Daniel S.

Daniel S.

11Mar13

Video-games movie for video-games fans. I liked it very much. I don't understand why it was a flop.

Picture of Kirby

Kirby

25Feb13

Dazzling, colorful, and a whole lot of campy fun. Fuck the haters.

Picture of Koalacanth

Koalacanth

13Nov12

Beautiful and fun, but lacking something.

Picture of Ty Landis

Ty Landis

24Oct12

A dazzling showcase of movement and color, Speed Racer might seem like an odd project for the Wachowski’s to take on; it’s rather quite the contrary. Andy and Lana are almost too perfect a duo to take on a film where worldbuilding is the most crucial of necessities. Their work on The Matrix trilogy, while often frustrating, had the same assured audacity and detail within; a trait which makes Speed Racer the eye-popping visual wonder that it is. Above all else, the Wachowski’s constant themes are held intact within this film’s kinetic framework: Destiny and family stand above all else. While the film runs probably 20 minutes too long, there’s no rejecting the intensity of the Wachowski’s vision and execution. Each and every set piece has its own individual makeup and uniqueness, but this is all amounts to little without the busy color scheme and cohesiveness of the action. The Wachowski’s ambition has now brought them to Cloud Atlas, again, all too fitting given their prior films, it’ll be interesting to see if they can evolve with such a work.

Brandon Isaacson and LaFleur like this

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 139 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
Blank

Speed Devil

By Daniel Kasman on June 13, 2008

Upon return from Cannes, I saw two movies in rapid succession. The films probably should not be combined into any sort of synthetic criticism

read article

Movie Review: Speed Racer

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
Well, its now week 2 in the Summer 2008 box office race and the next film up is “Speed Racer”……
read on Twitchfilm.com

SPEED RACER review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
For many years, Hollywood had been threatening to unleash a big-budget live-action adaptation of the iconic 1960s cartoon “Speed Racer”. Everyone from Johnny Depp to Nicolas Cage was rumored to be involved
read on Twitchfilm.com

Speed Racer Review - Live Action Anime Bliss

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
Coming at your faster than a bolt of lightning, the Wachowski Brothers Speed Racer kicks cinema into the 5th dimension and is 10,000 volts of gooey fun at breakneck racing speeds of visual excitement that
read on Twitchfilm.com

Speed Racer Review - Live Action Anime Bliss

By Twitchfilm.net on July 16, 2010
Coming at your faster than a bolt of lightning, the Wachowski Brothers Speed Racer kicks cinema into the 5th dimension and is 10,000 volts of gooey fun at breakneck racing speeds of visual excitement that
read on Twitchfilm.net

SPEED RACER review

By Twitchfilm.net on July 16, 2010
For many years, Hollywood had been threatening to unleash a big-budget live-action adaptation of the iconic 1960s cartoon “Speed Racer”. Everyone from Johnny Depp to Nicolas Cage was rumored to be involved
read on Twitchfilm.net

Movie Review: Speed Racer

By Twitchfilm.net on July 16, 2010
Well, its now week 2 in the Summer 2008 box office race and the next film up is “Speed Racer”…
read on Twitchfilm.net

Lists

Displaying 5 of 91 lists.

Reviews

Displaying 3 of 3

Pourquoi tant de haine ?

By Benoît on December 17, 2012

Voilà certainement un film qui divise énormément. Sur bon nombre de sites spécialisés, le film est complètement démonté tant par la critique que par les spectateurs. Speed Racer a d’ailleurs fait un…  read review

Italian review

By GekkoP on December 21, 2011

Fra i tanti delusi e stanchi dopo il terzo capitolo di Matrix, c’ero anch’io. Uscii dal cinema pronto a bastonare i fratelli Wachowski. V for Vendetta mi ridiede un po’ di speranza, ma ancora non me…  read review

Untitled

By Christo​pher Smith on October 11, 2009

Way too much work went into this movie. The Wachowski’s have crammed every frame with so much glaring colors, meticulous design, noise, and energy, then sent it whirling at a breakneck speed – the…  read review

Forum

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