A while back, Entertainment Weekly compiled a list of the "25 Most Shameless Paycheck Roles of All Time." The roster included such notables as Sean Connery, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Judi Dench.

If the magazine ever updates the story about "embarrassing money grabs," I have a nomination: Joan Allen, three-time Oscar nominee and Tony Award winner, who turns up in "Death Race" as a blonde so chilly, even Hitchcock would have rejected her.

She plays Warden Claire Hennessey, the amoral head of Terminal Island, where the worst of the worst prisoners are sent. They engage in road races where the prisoners literally fight to the death -- as bloodthirsty subscribers watch at home.

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'Death Race'

1 1/2 stars = Bad
Ratings explained

• Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Ian McShane.
• Rating: R for strong violence and language.
• Web site: deathracemovie.net

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Allen, who wears spiky black heels with tailored suits as she walks through the prison yard, gets to deliver lines such as: "I want you to become Frankenstein. ... Release the Dreadnought. ... We're going to kill him, of course," and one that is as vulgar as it is nonsensical and repeats during the end credits.

Turns out the economy has collapsed in 2012, and private corporations are running the prisons and staging races that promise repeat winners their freedom but deliver grisly deaths instead. Terminal Island is where Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) lands after losing his job at a steel mill, being framed for the murder of his wife and separated from his baby daughter.

The warden wants Ames, who happens to have been a speedway champion, to take over for the prisoner and popular racer known as Frankenstein, who wore a face mask. Ames doesn't have a choice and needs just a single win in the three-part race to gain his release papers.

Of course, that's if he lives that long as he faces off against Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson), Slovo "Angel Wings" Pachenko (Max Ryan), head of the neo-Nazi gang, and others.

Ames, who drives a Mustang V8 Fastback tricked out with machine guns, flamethrowers and napalm, has a pit crew of sorts led by Coach (Ian McShane) and a navigator (Natalie Martinez) shipped in from a women's prison. With one exception, the sidekicks are busty women in low-cut tops, tight jeans and salon-perfect hair.

"Death Race" is a reworking of Roger Corman's 1975 "Death Race 2000," about a cross-country road race in which drivers scored points by running down pedestrians. David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone were among the cast.

Statham does tough guy effortlessly, and McShane gets to be the master of the one-liner. But this isn't about the acting, it's about the cars and the violence and the payback and the payoff.

"Death Race," directed by British-born Paul W.S. Anderson ("Mortal Kombat," "Resident Evil," "AVP: Alien vs. Predator"), is for moviegoers who like their action down, dirty, dastardly and deadly. Not to mention loud.

It made me want to release a few weapons, but I sure hope Joan Allen bought herself something nice with the paycheck.