Death Race (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Death Race is a 2008
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
[1] 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.
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. Drivers are paired with navigators to assist them with maintenance, weapons, and track guidance. A single Death Race takes place over three days, and if a driver can survive and win five races, they’re freed, although nobody has ever done so as they all end up dead eventually.
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 Jensen to clandestinely assume the persona; Ames would only need to win one race to earn his freedom and take back his baby daughter since Frankenstein won four. His maintenance crew, Coach (
Ian McShane), Gunner (
Jacob Vargas), and Lists (
Frederick Koehler) quickly acquaint Ames with his competition.
On the first day, Ames meets Case, who also knows he’s not the real Frankenstein. Jensen 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 either man, just stop them from winning so Frankenstein could remain in Death Race. Jensen then personally dispatches Pachenko, and temporarily teams up with Machine Gun Joe to destroy a massive 18 wheel tanker that kills the other competitors. 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 secretly has an explosive planted under his car before the start of the third round. 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 previously discovered by examining footage of another racer’s demise. Hennessey tries to activate the bomb, but the crew had found it and removed it prior to the race. Ames and Joe make it past the bridge, split up, and attack helicopters follow Ames. Case offers herself as bait in the Frankenstein costume to repay the old Frank, and because she’d already been given her release papers. She is captured while the two men escape.
Later, Hennessey is given an anonymous gift in recognition of her record-breaking ratings. It turns out to be the bomb she originally meant for Jensen, and Coach remotely detonates it, blowing up her office with her in it. Six months afterward, Joe, Ames, and his baby girl are shown living honestly in Mexico, where Case joins them.
- 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.[2][3]
- Joan Allen as Hennessey, the sadistic prison warden.[3]
- 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.[3]
- Ian McShane as Coach, Frankenstein's loyal head mechanic and a voluntary inmate.[3]
- Natalie Martinez as Case, Frankenstein's navigator.[4]
- Max Ryan as Pachenko, a rival driver Ames clashes with several times.
- 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.
- 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 apparently crashed so many times that he has to wear a mask to cover his disfigurements. He possesses an almost reckless desire to win, leading him to take risks in his final race that ultimately led to his death on the operating table.
The cars in the film are real vehicles that have been heavily modified with armour plating, machine guns and defensive weapons:
- Frankenstein's Monster - A Fifth-generation Ford Mustang armed with 2 M134s, smokescreen, napalm and oil slick for defense,[5] as well as a 6-inch-thick (150 mm) detachable steel plate on the rear bumper 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.
- 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. Destroyed by the Dreadnaught's turret after catching onto the chained caltrops.
- Pachenko's chop top - A chop top, 1967 Buick Riviera GS (serial #494877H903903) armed with 4 German hood-mounted MG-34s and 2 internal PPSh-41 submachine guns also with 2 Uzis mounted in the grille. Crashes into a beam after being blinded by smoke from Ames, and Pachenko is later killed by Ames by snapping his neck.
- 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. It is destroyed by the Dreadnaught's grenade launchers.
- 1972 Buick Riviera "Boat tail" - Riggins' car. Is blown up in the 2nd stage, along with Carson caused by The Dreadnaught. Caltrops for Defense and twin Browning M1919 machine guns in the passenger side windscreen.
- Jaguar XJS - British sports car driven by Travis Colt with 2 .50 cal M2 Browning machine guns. Set on fire by Ames and loses control, being tossed in the air after being T-boned by Joe.
- Chrysler 300C - Luxury sedan 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. It loses control after hitting caltrops from Riggin's "Boat Tail" and is blasted off the track by 14K's missile launcher, and Grimm is later killed by Joe's vulcans.
- BMW E32 - Siad's car. Armed with a single M134. Destroyed after driving into a Death Head while pursuing Grimm.
- The Dreadnaught - An 18 wheel tanker modified by Hennessy with .50 caliber Browning heavy machine guns, a flame thrower, Grenade launchers, spikes on the wheel hubs, bulldozer blade, chained caltrops and a M1A1 tank turret. Destroyed after running into a Death Head activated by Ames and Joe.
- 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS - Custom muscle car driven by Case, arriving at the junkyard in Mexico City, before the ending.
[edit] Production
In March 2005, following the succes 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 (which owns television and internet rights to the original, with the former currently being handled on Paramount's behalf by
Trifecta Entertainment & Media) 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.
[6] Comingsoon.net reported that "Paul saw his film almost as a prequel if anything; almost the genesis of the Death Race,"
[1] though the film is referred to primarily as a remake in reviews and marketing materials.
Two 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.
[7] 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."
[8] 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.
[9]
In April 2007, actor
Jason Statham entered negotiations to star in
Death Race, with production slated to begin in late summer or early fall.
[9] 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.
[10] Filming on
Death Race began in
Montreal in August 2007.
[3]
[edit] Release and reception
The film was originally scheduled for release on September 26, 2008, but was moved to August 22, 2008.
[11]
[edit] Critical reception
The film has received generally mixed reviews from critics. It currently holds a 42% "Rotten" rating on
Rotten Tomatoes,
[12] and a rating of 41 out of 100 on
Metacritic.
[13]
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.
[14] 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."
[15] 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."
[16] Marc Savlov of the
Austin Chronicle called
Death Race "one of the most boring drags of all time."
[17]
Peter Hartlaub of the
San Francisco Chronicle called the film "an ill-advised and severely
wussified remake."
[18] 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."
[19] 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."
[20] 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."
[21]
[edit] Box office
The film grossed $36,316,032 in North America and $39,391,483 in other territories, totaling $75,677,515 worldwide.
[22]
[edit] Home media
The DVD and
Blu-ray were released in the United States on December 21, 2008.
[23] 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.
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.
[24]
The soundtrack was released on August 19, 2008.
[25]
[edit] Prequel
Main article:
Death Race 2A prequel to the film,
Death Race 2, went through production in South Africa.
[26] The film, directed by
Roel Reiné, stars
Luke Goss,
Ving Rhames,
Sean Bean, and
Danny Trejo.
[27] It was released
direct-to-DVD.
[28]
