Film/Television Review: Race Against Time (2000)
In recent years we became accustomed to US Supreme Court decisions with far reaching, unforeseen and usually devastating long term consequences. The premise of Race Against Time, 2000 Canadian science fiction film directed by Geoff Murphy, suggests that such state of affairs will continue in the future. The plot is set in (then future) 2018 USA, ten years after US Supreme Court has ruled that suicide is a human right. The decision was gradually exploited by greedy medical corporations like Lifecorps, specialised in organ harvesting. It targets destitute people in the streets and offers them a year of life in luxury if they agree to get killed and donate their organs. Protagonist James Gabriel (played by Eric Roberts) has agreed to to this scheme for different reasons; his meagre salary of construction worker doesn’t cover the cost of therapy that cure his mortally ill son. He signs the contract, but the money comes too late to save the boy. Grief-stricken Gabriel tries to withdraw from contract, but corporation considers his body as its property and sends team of “collectors” led by cruel Burke (played by Cary Elwes). Gabriel is forced to go into hiding and the only help he gets is from Alex (played by Sarah Wynter), bounty hunter who initially only wants valuable “merchandise” for herself.
Race Against Time, made for television, has a premise very similar to Freejack, 1992 science fiction film in which protagonist had to run from powerful corporation having legal right on his body. Interestingly enough, both films were directed by Geoff Murphy, New Zealand film maker with a many decent action films in his career. It is his experience and professionalism which he, among other things, displayed as 2nd unit director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, that compensates for the cliches and predictability of the script written by Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman. Race Against Time also benefits from very good cast, mostly Eric Roberts and Cary Elwes. Roberts, who has spent previous few decades playing villains, obviously enjoys opportunity to play a protagonist who happens to be an ordinary man, and this works even better when this character is confronted by villain played by Elwes, who was usually playing protagonists. Murphy’s direction even manages to compensate for the budget limitations of television production and the near future imagined in 2000 looks credible despite poor special effects. This all results in highly entertaining film, but some of the enjoyment among today’s audience might be tempered by realisation that script authors didn’t exactly miss when presenting their vision of dark and dystopian future, that includes individuals losing all their rights and dignity while ruthless corporations that manipulate medical data thrive on their misery.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
