Just a day before its release, Speed Racer is a gigantic question mark. Will it draw in enough families and kids to beat Iron Man, or will it go down as a big, flashy, candy-colored bomb? Perhaps trying to pique interest in the unconvinced, Warner Bros. has put the first seven minutes of the film online, currently available only at Jeff Wells’ Hollywood Elsewhere.
These first few minutes somehow encapsulate the things that are both wonderful and maddening about the movie. You start with this insane kaleidoscopic introduction to the production company logos, with music building up, and then you cut to baby Speed in class. You get a nice little fantasy of him driving a racecar he drew in the margins of his notebook, and then cut to a parent-teacher conference. The movie constantly tries to ramp up your excitement, but ruins it but sitting you down and making you watch a slooooow scene.
But then, at the end of the clip, when you get a good look at the racing, it’s pretty dazzling. Yes, some might complain that it looks like an acid trip and/or their worst nightmare, but I love the energy in all the bright colors, the loopy tracks and the cars practically floating around one another. Plus there’s Emile Hirsch’s grim and determined face, which adds a level of earnestness that, for some reason, pulls the whole thing together.
What you don’t see in this clip is that you don’t get to see the race finish for another 10 minutes, as the Wachowskis continue cutting to flashbacks instead of letting us see the damn cars race already. It’s a problem throughout all of Speed Racer, their poor sense of pacing, but you don’t see too much of it here. These seven minutes might be some of the most fun of the film, so hey guys, enjoy it! Keep in mind, though, that if you like the visuals you see in this video, you’ll go nuts when you see it on the big screen.
