Cannonball!

David Carradine races again. His first race was in Death Race 2000 (1975). It was not too unlike this movie in that the racers were trying to get across the country in an anything goes race. The monumental difference is that in Death Race the race was wholly sanctioned and they aimed to kill people along the way for points. Check it out if you want to see Sylvester Stallone as a bad guy.

Cannonball is about an illegal cross country race starting in sunny California and ending in the streets of New York. There is a lot of horsepower and metal in this film which seemed to be a theme of the 70's (Gone in 60 Seconds, Smokey and the Bandit, Death Race 2000, Cannonball, etc.). The 70's was all about massive car pile ups and explosions too. Today we've replaced that with destruction of entire cities by either superpowered beings or large creatures. We've replaced one destruction porn with another.

Cannonball was OK. It was fine for looking at nice cars, some nice women, and some wreckage. There were occasional laughs but overall the product was mediocre. It wasn't a strong plot, it wasn't funny enough, and none of the characters stood out. Entertaining? Yes. Would I recommend it? No.