A few years after wrapping The Matrix trilogy, the Wachowskis directed the live action adaptation of the Speed Racer anime. My local theater recently played it for a limited showing, I believe to celebrate the re-release of the movie in 4K. This local theater showing was the first time I’d seen the movie or heard anything about it.
Speed Racer has colorful set designs, exaggerated hairstyles and clothing, and saturated visual effects as if the live-action actors were placed in a cartoon. This cartoon aesthetic was great. Everyone being obsessed with car racing was also great. Even the main character’s name was literally Speed Racer.
The pacing and chaotic video editing style sometimes reminded me of Elysium, but Speed Racer made it clear that this chaos was intentional. The scene demonstrating this best was also great. In it, Speed becomes demoralized as he listens to the antagonist tell him that racing is rigged according to the sponsors. Interspersed with this dramatic conversation are cutaways to Speed’s brother Spritle and their chimpanzee Chim-Chim having a comedic side adventure. It felt like a mockery of ensemble-cast TV shows that cut between multiple, parallel storylines. Speed Racer‘s parody featured only a relatively short, dramatic, continuous moment split into multiple parts by a relatively long, comedic, time-skipping side adventure for no reason! It was so weird, so bizarre, but also so good!
Overall, it was a fun movie.