Death Race is a 2008 American science fiction action film produced, written, and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and starring Jason Statham. Though referred to as a remake of the 1975 film Death Race 2000 (based on Ib Melchior's short story "The Racer") in reviews and marketing materials, director Paul W.S. Anderson stated in an interview and the DVD commentary that he thought of the film as a prequel. A remake had been in development since 2002, though production was delayed by disapproval of early screenplays then placed in turnaround following a dispute between Paramount Pictures and the producer duo Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. Death Race was acquired by Universal Studios, and Anderson re-joined the project to write and direct. Filming began in Montreal in August 2007, and the completed project was released on August 22, 2008.
A direct-to-DVD prequel to the film, Death Race 2, was released on October 31, 2010.
Plot
In 2012, the economy of the United States collapses. Unemployment and crime rates skyrocket, and the sharp increase of convicted criminals leads to the privatization of prisons for profit. For pay-per-view entertainment, a modern gladiator game called “Death Race” is invented at the Terminal Island penitentiary using the prisoners as players. At the end of one race, a masked driver named Frankenstein (David Carradine) is nearing the finish line against his only surviving competitor, rival Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson). His navigator, Case (Natalie Martinez), reports that his defensive weapons are malfunctioning, and is ordered to eject from the car shortly before Joe blows it up. Six months later, Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is sent to Terminal Island after being framed for his wife’s murder. The warden, Hennessey (Joan Allen), informs Ames that – unknown to the public and other racers – Frankenstein is dead, but as he was so wildly popular, she wants to keep his legend alive for the ratings. She coerces Ames to clandestinely assume the persona; Ames would only need to win one race to earn his freedom and take back his daughter since Frankenstein won four, and by wearing Frankenstein's mask, only few people will know he's not really Frankenstein. His maintenance crew, Coach (Ian McShane), Gunner (Jacob Vargas), and Lists (Frederick Koehler) are among those who know this and quickly acquaint Ames with his competition.On the first day, Ames meets Case, who also knows he’s not the real Frankenstein. Ames has a rough first go, coming in last place, and three racers are eliminated. His defensive weapons also mysteriously malfunctioned, just like last time. Ames pieces together that one of the racers, Pachenko (Max Ryan), was the one who stabbed his wife at the behest of Hennessey so she could recruit him as Frank’s replacement for huge profits. During the second stage, Ames forces Case to admit that she has been sabotaging Frankenstein’s car on the orders of Hennessey in exchange for her release papers. Case was never meant to kill Frank or Ames, just stop them from winning so Frankenstein could remain in Death Race. Ames then breaks Pachenko's neck and temporarily teams up with Machine Gun Joe to destroy massive 18-wheel tankers (express train) with many weapons that kills the other competitors to boost the ratings even higher. This tips Joe off to Frank’s real identity, and afterward they have a talk.
Hennessey, aware that Ames knows her angle, tries to maintain the ruse of granting him freedom but asks him to consider staying on permanently as Frankenstein. As a precaution, she has an explosive planted under his car before the start of the third round, knowing she can replace Ames as she used him to replace Frankenstein. The stage begins, and Hennessey manipulates the track in Joe’s favor from her control room. Right when Joe appears victorious, they both escape through a damaged wall discovered by examining footage of another racer's demise; Hennessey unsuccessfully tries to activate the bomb, which was removed by Coach and the rest of the maintenance team. Hennessey then sends attack helicopters after Ames and Joe, who make it past the bridge that connects the island to the mainland and split up, and the helicopters follow Ames under Hennessey's orders. Case offers herself as bait in the Frankenstein costume and mask to repay the old Frank, and because she’d already been given her release papers. She is captured while the two men escape on a freight train.
Later, Hennessey is given an anonymous gift for her record-breaking ratings; it turns out to be the bomb she originally meant for Ames, with a note saying; "WARMEST REGARDS, YOUR MONSTER!". At that moment, Coach remotely detonates the bomb and proceeds to break the fourth wall by looking into the camera and saying "I love this game". The explosion kills Hennesey and Ulrich. Six months afterward, Joe, Ames, and his daughter are shown living honestly in Mexico where Case joins them. Ames then reflects on how no one could love his daughter more than he does, and that she is his chance at something else, which to him is "all that really matters".
Cast
- Jason Statham as Jensen Ames, a falsely-convicted prisoner coerced to drive in the arena, taking the name "Frankenstein" from the man who came before him.
- Joan Allen as Hennessey, the sadistic prison warden.
- Tyrese Gibson as Joseph Mason (a.k.a. Machine Gun Joe), a sociopathic racer who looks to use Death Race as a means to escape from prison. He alone uses male navigators, because his navigators are killed so often that when he used women the ratings would fall due to squeamish audiences.
- Ian McShane as Coach, Frankenstein's loyal head mechanic and a voluntary inmate.
- Natalie Martinez as Case, Frankenstein's navigator.
- Max Ryan as Pachenko, a rival driver Ames clashes with several times (who also killed Ames' wife and framed him for it).
- Jason Clarke as Ulrich, Hennessey's right hand man.
- Frederick Koehler as Lists, another member of Frankenstein's pit crew and a compulsive data collector.
- Jacob Vargas as Gunner, Frankenstein's car repairman.
- Justin Mader as Travis Colt, a disgraced ex-NASCAR driver seeking to rebuild his career by winning the race.
- Robert LaSardo as Hector Grimm (a.k.a. The Grim Reaper), a certified psychopath driving in the race who loves and worships Hennessey (believing her to be the avatar of the Hindu god of death).
- Robin Shou as 14K, a tenth-generation Triad member, sent to business school, held a degree from MIT.
- David Carradine as Frankenstein, the most popular driver in the history of Death Race. (cameo voice-over, reprising role in original 1975 film Death Race 2000) He has crashed so many times that he has to wear a mask to cover his disfigurements.
Cars
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- Frankenstein's Monster- A modified, 5th Generation Ford Mustang with dual M134s, napalm, smokescreen and oil slick for defense, along with a rear mounted detachable steel plate called the Tombstone.
- Dodge Ram Machine Gun Joe's truck, armed with a cowcatcher, 4 hood-mounted Browning M1919, 2 side-mounted Vulcan cannons and Russian RPG-7s on the roof.
- Porsche 911- Driven by the Chinese convict 14K. With 2 WW2 German MG-42 belt-fed general purpose machine guns and 4 hood-mounted missiles with 4 on the roof.
- Pachenko's Chop Top- A 1966 Buick Rivera Chop Top armed with 4 German hood-mounted MG-34s and 2 internal PPSh-41 submachine guns also with 2 Uzis mounted in the grille.
- Pontiac Trans Am- Carson's Car. Has a M134 aiming backwards for defense and a .50 caliber turret on top of his car which is operated by his navigator.
- Buick Rivera "Boat tail" - Riggins' car. Caltrops for Defense and twin Browning M1919 machine guns in the passenger side windscreen.
- Jaguar XJS British sports car driven by Travis with 2 .50 cal M2 Browning machine guns.
- Chrysler 300C- driven by Grimm armed with 3 hood-mounted FN MAG58s with no stocks and a missile on the passenger side roof and an oil slick for defense.
- BMW E32- Siad's car. Armed with a single M134.
- The Dreadnaught - 18 wheel tankers modified by Hennessy into armored vehicles with 10 Road Train trailers, 50 caliber Browning heavy machine guns, flame thrower, rocket launchers, spikes on the wheel hubs, bulldozer blade, chained caltrops and a M1A1 tank turret.
- 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS - Custom muscle car driven by Case at the end of the film.
Production
In March 2005, following the success of Alien vs. Predator, director Paul W.S. Anderson revealed that he was directing a remake of Death Race 2000 (1975) entitled Death Race 3000 at Paramount Pictures based on a script by J. F. Lawton. The remake would be produced by the producer pair Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. Anderson described the remake as a riff on the first film. "It's not a straight remake at all. The first movie was an across-America race. This will be an around-the-world race. And it's set further in the future, so the cars are even more futuristic. So you've got cars with rockets, machine guns, force fields; cars that can split apart and re-form, a bit like Transformers. Cars that become invisible," the director explained. Comingsoon.net reported that "Paul saw his film almost as a prequel if anything; almost the genesis of the Death Race," though the film is referred to primarily as a remake in reviews and marketing materials. by barbara scottTwo years later, Roger Corman, the producer of Death Race 2000, elaborated that he had an option agreement with producer Tom Cruise, and that Cruise would portray the lead role. The director said that Cruise had not been happy with the first two screenplays and that a third one was underway. In June 2006, producer Jeremy Bolt reported that Anderson would direct the remake of Death Race 2000 after completing Resident Evil: Extinction (2007). The producer described the remake's new tone: "We've basically taken the idea of reality television and extended it twenty years. So it's definitely a comment on society, and particularly reality television, but it is not as much a parody or a satire as the original. It's more straight." The following August, Paramount ended its relationship with Cruise/Wagner Productions, and Death Race was placed in turnaround. According to reports, when the project was discovered available, Universal Studios acquired it. Cruise and Wagner resumed their roles as producers, and Anderson returned to write and direct the film.
In April 2007, actor Jason Statham entered negotiations to star in Death Race, with production slated to begin in late summer or early fall. Anderson described that Death Race would take place in a prison, and that the film would be "super-violent" like its predecessor. "It has little echoes of the original – a lot of people get run down, but rather than having the points system, which had no pay off anyway, it's a pure race. It's more like Gladiator, with the last person standing – or driving, winning," explained the director.Filming on Death Race began in Montreal in August 2007.
Release and reception
The film was originally scheduled for release on September 26, 2008, but was moved to August 22, 2008.Critical reception
The film has received generally mixed reviews from critics. It currently holds a 43% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a rating of 41 out of 100 on Metacritic.Robert Koehler of Variety called Death Race "as hard as metal and just as dumb" and criticized it for removing the humor of Death Race 2000.] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film half a star (out of four), calling it "an assault on all the senses, including common."Keith Phipps of the A.V. Club said the film is "ideal for those who want to watch a bunch of cars blow each other up, without having to think about it all that much." Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle called Death Race "one of the most boring drags of all time."
Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "an ill-advised and severely wussified remake." Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News gave the film one and a half stars (out of four), calling it "junk" and saying that "the chases are pretty cool, but there's absolutely nothing else to see." A positive review came from Nathan Lee of The New York Times, who said that "the movie is legitimately greasy, authentically nasty, with a good old-fashioned sense of laying waste to everything in sight."James Berardinelli of ReelViews awarded Death Race a score of two and a half stars (out of four), saying that it's "weak when it comes to things like plot, character, and acting, but it's very good at provoking visceral reactions."
] Box office
The film grossed $75,677,515, of which $36,316,032 was from North America.Home media
The DVD and Blu-ray were released in the United States on December 21, 2008. There was also an unrated edition released. The Blu-ray version of the movie features a Digital Copy of the film. In the DVD commentary, Anderson further elaborates on his thought of the movie as a prequel more than a remake.Music
The score to Death Race was composed by Paul Haslinger who recorded the string portion of his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage.The soundtrack was released on August 19, 2008.
Prequel
Main article: Death Race 2
A prequel to the film, Death Race 2, went through production in South Africa.The film, directed by Roel Reiné, stars Luke Goss, Ving Rhames, Sean Bean, and Danny Trejo.It was released direct-to-DVD.
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