Death Race 2: The Straight2DVD Review

In 1975, Death Race 2000 was released. It starred David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone (pre-Rocky), and it is a dark, fun film full of political satire in that way that only dystopian movies from the 1970s can be. 2008′s Death Race (DR1) was basically a remake, and Peter Hartlaub in the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a great review comparing it to the original. Basically, the remake was nowhere near as creative.

This week saw the straight-to-DVD release of Death Race 2 (the unrated version) (DR2), and I watched the previous two films to prepare myself.

Where I get confused is why director Paul W.S. Anderson says in his DVD commentary of DR1 (according to Wikipedia) that DR1 is a prequel to the original Death Race 2000. Does he foresee a string of Death Race movies? What’s more confusing about this week’s release of DR2 is that it is a prequel to DR1. Therefore, it’s a prequel to a prequel. Is that like if George Lucas had released Attack of the Clones before The Phantom Menace? I  guess the idea is that after two films where the Death Race is confined to a prison, the third film can introduce the original film’s idea of a cross-country race. Why they took this long to return to the original film’s idea, I don’t know.

DR2 is the origin story of the Death Race racer known as Frankenstein, though originally his name was Carl “Luke” Lucas (played by Luke Goss)… because apparently in today’s cinema, we require origin stories of our heroes and villains. I actually don’t know who the heroes or villains are in this film as everyone seems to be either a convicted criminal or just a terrible person. In DR1, Jason Statham’s character was framed for his wife’s murder, incorrectly imprisoned, and just wanted to get back to his daughter. In this movie, well, you’ll see.

In the pre-credit titles (0:47 seconds in), we are told that the “Weyland Corporation” owns the Terminal Island Penitentiary. Okay, I’m just going to stop you right there. I am really tired of screenwriters mining the Weyland-Yutani Corporation name from the Alien franchise as some sort of in-joke in their screenplays. Stop it. No one thinks you’re clever.

ANYWAY, DR2 starts like DR1 with a riot and a brutal police response. Except in the first film, it was a bunch of upset factory workers who weren’t being paid enough for being overworked, and in DR2, it’s just a bunch of prisoners fighting in the prison yard. So right there, you’ve got a much different feeling to the start of the film.

Sean “I’m-just-here-for-a-paycheck” Bean plays crime boss Markus Kane who wants henchman Luke to rob a bank. There’s a moment where Kane is an ass to his girlfriend/wife and Luke just looks away, which might have been saying something about our aversion to confronting the poor treatment of women or something, but that idea never really carries forward. I guess Luke thinks Kane is too powerful. The girl just smiles and leaves the table anyway, so I guess no harm was done.

Kane gives Luke a brand-new Ford Mustang (known as the hero’s car from the first film) to use as the getaway car. Did Ford pay for the product placement? Just wondering.

ANYWAY, The bank robbery goes poorly and Luke kills a cop. Now, there is a moment here that’s basically Luke realizing what he did was wrong. Time slows down and the camera catches his “oooooooh ffffuuuuuuddddggggeee” expression, but through the rest of the film, his feelings of guilt (if he has any) are never explored. It’s basically just a way to get him to Terminal Island.

Meanwhile, Ving “I’m-also-just-here-for-a-paycheck” Rhames plays Mr. Weyland, the head of the corporation that runs Terminal Island, and all he cares about are the ratings of the precursor to Death Race, called Death Match, which is hosted by Ms. Jones (Lauren Cohan), a former Miss Universe (who lost her crown when it was revealed that she slept with all five judges). I am not making this up. The obvious joke would have been “All at once?” but no one seems to find it funny. The point is, she’s got no conscience.

So we’re on the island. And Lists (Frederick Koehler) is back! Oh how I liked him from DR1. Not really. In DR1, we didn’t learn what his crime was to end up in a maximum security prison, and considering how mousy he is, I was a little scared that he was some sort of serial killer. But in DR2, at 38:38, an onscreen graphic identifies his Criminal History as “matricide.” So he killed his mom. So that’s not so bad, right? OMG, is this film having an effect on me?! Did he kill just his mom, or many moms?

We find out that Death Match is basically the same as Death Race with its power-up pads (think Mario-Kart. No, seriously.) and need for contestants to kill one another. But there’s no racing. Or cars (except a bus in the middle of the ring that contains the power-up weapons). And if you don’t kill your opponent or get them to submit, then you both die. What kind of crap rule is that? What if you simultaneously knock each other out? Do you both wake up and see Saint Peter?

The warden is a kind, old fart who is afraid to put (our hero) Luke on the Death Match show because he’s afraid that once Kane knows where Luke is incarcerated, then he will have people kill Luke, and the warden wants his inmates safe (except for those that are put in the Death Match by Ms. Jones). See, Luke didn’t snitch on Kane when he was caught, but Kane is worried that after a month or so of prison life, Luke will sing like a canary.

Script-wise, the issue is that we already know that Kane knows that Luke is on Terminal Island from an earlier scene, so there’s no tension in putting Luke in a Death Match. All it does when Luke appears on the television is make Kane realize that Luke hasn’t been killed yet because his henchmen have enacted a plan that won’t take effect unless Ms. Jones and Mr. Weyland turn Death Match into Death Race… oh… I see now. Those two henchmen could see into the future when (SPOILER) their psychopathic killer on the inside would just happen to be on Luke’s pit crew for the Death Races and thus able to sabotage his car during the second race. Yeah, that makes perfectly no sense. It’s made clear that Luke can handle himself in hand-to-hand combat, so in the end, what harm would the rotund inside man have accomplished if the Death Race had never been conceived? He was no match for Luke. (END SPOILER)

ANYWAY, getting back to narrative tension, as with any prequel, you run the risk of having characters (who were in the first film that takes place after this film) in life threatening situations that you know they’ll survive, so the audience gets bored because they already know the outcome! List and 14K obviously survive to see the next film, so any scene with them in peril is a waste. (SPOILER) On the flip side, Goldberg (played by everyone’s favorite, Danny Trejo) survives the entire film, but in the next film appears to be replaced by Ian McShane as pit crew leader with no explanation. (END SPOILER)

And finally…

Should you see it? See, if this film were more like Death Race 2000 with a political satire bend, then yes. Or, if this film had amazing racing sequences, then maybe. But this film has neither and just plods along until the last 10 minutes which are basically the only scenes that this entire movie exists for: how Frankenstein was disfigured and then created. And if you saw the end of Revenge of the Sith, there you go.

Rent Death Race 2000 instead of either DR1 or DR2. You’ll have a much better time.

Check Out the Cast on Operation: Endgame

Operation: Endgame is what happens when two rival teams of assassins are pitted against each other.  The cast includes Rob Corddry, Emilie de Ravin, Zach Galifianakis, Maggie Q, Ellen Barkin, Ving Rhames, Jeffrey Tambor, and Bob Odenkirk.  The action-comedy, which is currently scoring 6.5/10 stars on IMDb w/ 39 votes tallied, comes out on DVD and Blu-ray July 27th.

Here’s the trailer:

And here’s a link to the red-band trailer, which is a good deal funnier.

Rhames, Bean, Trejo Sign on to Death Race Prequel

And the casting news just keeps on coming.  Now that Death Race: Frankenstein Lives has begun shooting, more casting news has come to light, and the good folks at Dread Central have it.  Ving Rhames will play a Rupert Murdoch-type in charge of the titular competition, Sean Bean a mob boss, and Danny Trejo our hero’s prison pal.

Read the full article to see who’s just been announced as reprising their role from the original.

Tournament Review: Tiresome Bloodshed

Nix at BeyondHollywood has a slightly underwhelmed review of assassins-vs.-assassins actioner The Tournament, starring Robert Carlyle, Kelly Hu, Ving Rhames, Ian Somerhalder, Scott Adkins, and Sebastien Foucan.  The mindless bloodshed, apparently, gets old.  And  the assassins aren’t all that assaassin-y:

“Indeed, the majority of these so-called ‘elite assassins’ have the combat skills and marksmanship of a crackwhore with a gun, and are really little more than fodder to be mindlessly killed off to increase the bodycount.”

Nix doesn’t go so far as to say it’s a bad film, but he certainly lowers one’s expectations.  Flick is pulling 6.3/10 on IMDb with 3,601 votes.  and 4/5 stars with 6 reviews on Amazon.

Incidentally, I’ve heard this one’s a bit of a gorefest, and between this and Ninja Assassin, I’m wondering if we’re going to see more of a melding between the action and horror genres in that aesthetic.  Thoughts?

You can buy The Tournament here.

Will It or Won’t It? – The Tournament

Every now and then a movie comes along whose distribution isn’t clear.  Will it make it into theaters?  Is it a better bet to go straight to DVD?  Will it simply be taken to rotary clubs on the back of a pickup truck?

Assassins-vs.-assassins actioner The Tournament appears to be one of those cases.  Cinematical is raving about the trailer (below), mentioning rumors of direct-to-DVD while keeping their fingers crossed for a theatrical release.

The cast includes Robert Carlyle, Ving Rhames, Kelly Hu, Ian Somerhalder, and Sebastian Foucan (founder of parkour/guy Daniel Craig chases at the beginning of Casino Royale).  Which way will it go?  Watch the trailer below (before you ask, no idea why there are Russian subtitles), then place your bets in the comments.

No, It’s Not About Sarah Palin

Ving Rhames, Danny Masterson, and Bijou Phillips star in Bridge to Nowhere, which is decidedly not set in Alaska.  Instead, four down-on-their-luck Pittsburgh pals team up with a couple of prostitutes to start a lucrative escort service.  Think of it as a less funny Risky Business.  Or Night Shift.  Or Doctor Detroit.  (Okay, lots of things are funnier than Doctor Detroit.)

Directed by Blair Underwood.  Yes, that Blair Underwood.

Buy Bridge to Nowhere (for less than $398 million) here.