The New Hollywood <em>Speed Racer</em> Didn't See Coming
The Wachowskis’ bizarre 2008 adaptation of the ’60s anime was a paean to creative freedom—that bombed at the box office behind the success of <em>Iron Man</em>.
The of the Wachowskis’ are the definition of sensory overload. The audience processes a colossal amount of storytelling at once, as our hero, Speed (Emile Hirsch), prepares for a pivotal race. The film cuts between his childhood, when he’s already obsessing over cars and his older brother’s star racing career; his adolescence, falling in love with the girl next door and learning how to drive; and the race itself, in which he’s trying to break his (now-dead) brother’s record, competing with a literal ghost. Beyond all that plot, there are the unusually overwhelming visuals; every scene pops with primary colors
