Speed Racer

[cinemanarchist]

Looks like it's not even going to break $20 million for the weekend.

[Kal]

it did. barely. 20.2

i still want to see this.

[cinemanarchist]

20.2 is the studios number and many in the industry are saying that it's highly unlikely it can do the business on Sunday to get there. Go see it...fun times.

[Ghostboy]

The last 45 minutes are fairly enjoyable (from the ice cave onwards) but the first hour and change are godawful...boring and ugly. If this were 80 minutes, it would probably worthwhile as an enjoyable trifle. But it's not, and it's pretty much impossible to recommend as a result.

[john]

I take back everything I presumed about this film. I was fucking wrong.

This was strange, kinetic, and beautiful. It creates a landscape that's almost obscene in it's aggressiveness and renders it into something wholly original and immersive. It's a fever dream of a film.

It is simple on every level but the technical and makes no allusions otherwise.

It probably could have used twenty minutes shaved off of it's run time, but I still had a terrific moviegoing experience. If you have kids, take them, they will fucking love it.

[modage]

i'm about 15 minutes in, and this is aw-ful.

[Alexandro]

I kind of loved this movie. For all it's imperfections, it's a go for broke deal and I have to respect that. This is of course way better than the Matrix sequels, and for that alone it should be considered a step in the right direction for the wachowskis.

Even though it is too long, they managed to recreate effectively the kind of energy and pumped up frenzy I felt when watching action cartoons like Speed Racer when you I was a kid. This is how it seemed back then, wild and loose. I bet kids are loving this shit.

I understand if people hate this, but to me it was enjoyable even in the bad parts. And yes, that stuff with the kid and the monkey was brilliant. I don't think I was able to hold back the laighter every time they appeared. That kid deserves his own spinoff...

Visually is incredible. I think critics dismising this film as "unwatchable" need to get a new job. This is 2008. Kinetic mtv style films are old by now. The first film of this kind was, what? Natural Born Killers? That was 14 years ago. It's like the idiots complaining about shaky cameras in movies at this point. We need to welcome every possibility of storytelling and visual design and language. Critics comparing this with the action crap out there really missed the boat.

Someday I'll watch this on acid. Im sure I'll laugh my ass off.

[RegularKarate]

YES!  Very much agree with Alexandro (except for taking acid... those days are gone and trapped in a bottle in the back of my brain, hopefully never to come out again)..

In fact, while I was watching this (alone) I said out loud "I kind of love this movie".

Totally get why people hate it and don't think any less of those who do, but boy-oh-boy it was a great ride the whole way.

[cron]

i wish i'd written a better comment on this movie than the one i posted when i saw it, but i still love it.

[Gamblour.]

Agree with these comments. I saw this on Blu-ray twice. It was really hard to follow stoned, and the second time not stoned it was like being on drugs, which I find of movies I think I should watch on drugs. Visually, it's incredible. I even love the story, although a lot of the details get lost for me (like why Rex was disgraced, but who cares?).

I loved the fight scenes too! My god, they were so inventive and visually beautiful. I agree that the Wachowskis have taken a step in the right direction, utilizing the imagination and inventiveness they brought to fight scenes with bullet time to the fight scenes in this film, especially the one in the mountains. That was just brilliant!

This film is supposed to be so much fun, and it's never truly bad. When there are so many truly bad movies out there, why hate this one? I fucking loved it.

[cinemanarchist]

This film may possibly find its way onto my top ten list this year. I fully expect to be banned if that does indeed end up happening. It was the most fun I had at the movies this summer and the imagination on these guys/gals is just ridiculous.

[Fernando]

I liked this too, my only beef is that I wish the wachows gave a greater sense of the car's speed, I don't remember much POV shots so I felt it lacked those, other than that it was a fun film.

[pete]

something for the whole family!
it was ugly in the beginning, but then you forget that you're watching an ugly movie.  the ending is beautiful.
and the editing is coherent; you could tell what is going on!