"Speed Racer" looks nothing short of revolutionary

TOPH TUCKER ‘08

When the Wachowski Brothers released The Matrix in 1999, it was groundbreaking (for obvious reasons). When they followed it up with V for Vendetta in 2006, they maintained a similar feel (totalitarian regime, underground resistance, dark and gloomy and everything) but more or less left the crazy special effects sequences at home. The trailer for their latest endeavor, then, comes out of the blue—unless you consider that half the premise of their films is just shaking things up.

Speed Racer, visually, is everything that The Matrix is not. Bright, colorful, cartoony, vibrant, ever in-focus, and done with an even greater reliance on CGI. The trailers, in many parts, feel downright goofy… but amazing.

I highly suggest you watch all four.

We’ve had some pretty interesting films this past year from a special effects standpoint, from über-stylized 300 to stunning over-the-top Michael Bay awesomeness in Transformers. Industrial Light & Magic got robbed of a VFX Oscar this year; though they held two of the three nominations, for Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, ultimately the lackluster (in my humble opinion) The Golden Compass took the cake. (Our readers seem to agree--in our poll, 82% picked one of the ILM films over Compass.)

Here’s hoping they get due credit next time.

UPDATE: Looking at the IMDB credits, I have no clue who the main effects company is, but I like ILM so I'll stand by my earlier statement. :)