Reviews

First half of the movie is all about climate impact. Which is fair, and I DON'T have an issue with. There are certain things (like sinking islands) that absolutely 100% cannot be debated. What irritated me about this one was the rampant sexism.

Relatively early on, the star (female) makes a show about not needing a man to take care of them, with one of the male leads saying that there's nothing wrong with a man protecting a woman. Yadda, yadda. Typical mindless drivel. On to the movie.

Injury - Female, assisted by Male / Death - Male / Death - Male / Death - Male / Injury - Male, assisted by Female lead / Death - Male (while engaging in self-righteous indignation) / Death - Male (while protecting a Female) / Death - Female* / Death - Male / Death - Male (Heroic sacrifice) / Death - Male

*Oh look, she was just hiding the whole time!

For a movie with a female lead, and that obnoxious speech about equality, and not needing a man, and all the setup for the lead to be the hero...... aaannnd no. Men make all the sacrifices. ALL the Females live. ALL the Males die. Sounds like modern equality to me, right?

I watched this ~5 years ago when it first came out, and every now and then, I just get a flashback - particularly of the 'emotionally cruel' opening sequence, and I just had to give it a re-watch. I understand why others have hated this and 'didn't understand why' and call it a 'waste of time' - but IMO, they are so wrong. This is Game of Thrones in Death Race form. Nobody is safe. Everyone is capable of cruelty. Set up a hero, and they fall. Set up a villain, and they fall. They fall victim to the watchers. They fall victim to human cruelty. They fall victim to human fragility.

For those who say it's poorly acted..... Maybe - but that's not the point of the film. For those who say it's poorly written... I disagree - nothing here gets stale or repetitive. Is it Homer's Odyssey? Of course not, and it doesn't try to be.

"Race or Die, Only One Lives" - This movie is EXACTLY what it claims to be, and full credit to the production team for that.

Gotta love how they bought themselves 30 minutes by agreeing to re-open the auction site in the middle of the day in Baltimore, then set up with a SWAT squad in Jersey, late at night... Plus the bad guys were all just sitting in a warehouse playing cards instead of, you know, using the tech? So what exactly was the point of that 30 minute window Arquette was so proud of? There are shows that are bad because of concept or budget... This was just bad because there was clearly no interest in making it good. Reminded me a LOT of NCIS: LA. Over the top, silly, and trying absurdly hard to be cool (therefore failing miserably, because it's impossible to TRY to be cool).

** Being a documentary, I don't think "spoilers" really apply, this is really just talking about the first few "chapters". ** The first issue brought up is regarding Monsanto seeds, which is a very legitimate complaint - but it's a complaint about the wrong thing. The business around Monsanto seeds is that they are sterile; meaning you have to re-purchase a crop on an annual basis. There is no discussion about whether this seed is superior or inferior, just that it's "bad", "expensive" and "traps farmers".

Then they go into a grocery store, and get outraged that some of the pre-packaged foods are *possibly* sourced from GMO ingredients. I turned this awful piece of trash off soon after this - the fatal blow to my sanity was when; while talking to another parent about whether she is concerned about GMOs; her two <5 year-old kids were both grabbing for a piece of icing-topped cake, and the author says "it's making them violent"...? The reality is that humans have been modifying food for as long as agriculture has existed. For example, wheat is not a naturally occurring plant - it's a grass with microscopic seeds. Thru selective breeding, humans have turned this inedible plant into a global food staple. GMO is what is successfully feeding the world.

*** Look at the other reviews on this page. The three 10-Star reviews were written by people with ONE review in their library. The two that gave it 1-Star have many diverse reviews in their logs. Who do you believe is giving you an honest answer?

What made the first two interesting is that the victims were legitimately less-than-wonderful people. This one starts off right with two crack-heads trying to trick Rusty into being robbed - their deaths were justifiable.

The rest of the movie is Rusty trying to get even with SIX young adults, because ONE had the nerve to splash gravel on his rig (ooohhhh nasty - definitely deserving of a death penalty). The primary female victim is the most innocent of the bunch, wanting to go to the cops to tattle on her FRIEND.

Joy Ride has been built around the "Revenge Thriller" premise - and completely missed the boat on this one... It's just a psychopath killing for fun.

OK, this wasn't the worst movie I have ever seen. However, of all the movies I've ever seen that TRIED to be good - this is by far the worst. Aside from the utterly ridiculous time-crossing and locations of the ancient creatures (exactly how long do you expect a Woolly Mammoth to survive in Egypt's desert?) And what were Mammoths doing around the time of semi-civilized man, considering they died out ~60,000 years ago... Did the writer / director forget the name of their own movie? And, ummm, predatory ostriches? Then there's the geography... Let's just hop from what seems like Northern Europe to Central Africa, won't take too long... And backtrack to Egypt - to continue the the stupidest love-interest story in the history of film.

And beyond all those "technical inaccuracies" - the acting is atrocious, the writing is pathetic, the green-screening is amongst the worst I've seen this decade - regardless of budget, and there isn't a single likable character in the whole mess.

Like I said, this is a movie that refuses to makes jokes of itself when it's obviously needed, therefore, (at least I think) is trying to be good & serious... And for that absolute utter failure, it is truly appallingly bad. Considering the expectations one would have for this film (including budget & marketing), I have to call it the most disappointing movie I have ever seen.