Picking Up Speed

Despite its name, the iconic '60s TV series Speed Racer has certainly taken its time to make its theatrical debut. Not only has more than 30 years passed since the show debuted on Japanese TV, but even the movie project has been ongoing for 16 years. Names as disparate as Hype Williams, Gus Van Sant and Vince Vaughn were all linked to the project at one point or another.

This 8 May, however, the Wachowski brothers will reveal their vision of the battle between Speed and his Mach 5 with his rival Racer X. The first directorial effort by the elusive brothers since 2003's The Matrix Revolutions is visually stunning for sure. Shot using full focus cameras that recreate the two-dimensional look of the original cartoon—where both the foreground and background layers are in focus—Speed Racer is definitely worth watching on a big screen. The question is, will it be more than just another pretty film about race cars?

Text Brian Yap