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* '''[[BMW E32]]''' - Siad's car. Destroyed after driving onto a Death Head while pursuing Grimm.
* '''[[BMW E32]]''' - Siad's car. Destroyed after driving onto a Death Head while pursuing Grimm.
* '''The [[Dreadnaught]]''' - A [[semi-trailer]] built by Hennessy with [[.50 caliber]] [[Browning heavy machine gun]]s, [[flame thrower]], spikes on the wheels, [[bulldozer blade]], [[caltrops]] and a M1A1 tank [[turret]]. Destroyed after running into a Death Head activated by Frankenstein and Joe.
* '''The [[Dreadnaught]]''' - A [[semi-trailer]] built by Hennessy with [[.50 caliber]] [[Browning heavy machine gun]]s, [[flame thrower]], spikes on the wheels, [[bulldozer blade]], [[caltrops]] and a M1A1 tank [[turret]]. Destroyed after running into a Death Head activated by Frankenstein and Joe.
* '''[[Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor]]s''' - [[Police car]]s driven by prison guards pursuing the escaping Machine Gun Joe and Ames. The lead police cars are burned and crushed in a [[pile-up|pile-up accident]] by Frankenstein after spilling half of his car's gas tank all over the police.
* '''[[Chevrolet Chevelle|Chevrolet Chevelle SS]]''' - Custom [[muscle car]] driven by Case, arriving at the junkyard in [[Mexico City]], before the ending.
* '''[[Chevrolet Chevelle|Chevrolet Chevelle SS]]''' - Custom [[muscle car]] driven by Case, arriving at the junkyard in [[Mexico City]], before the ending.


Revision as of 14:14, 4 March 2009

For other uses, see Death Race.
Death Race
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPaul W. S. Anderson
Written byPaul W. S. Anderson
Produced byPaul W. S. Anderson
Jeremy Bolt
Roger Corman
Paula Wagner
StarringJason Statham
Joan Allen
Tyrese Gibson
Ian McShane
Natalie Martinez
Music byPaul Haslinger
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
August 22, 2008
Running time
105 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$45 million
Box office$73,762,516

Death Race is a 2008 action film produced, written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. The film is a remake of the 1975 film Death Race 2000, based on Ib Melchior's short story "The Racer", and stars Jason Statham in the lead role. The 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.

Plot

The United States of America, 2012: The imprisoned population is so vast that private companies are hired. In Terminal Island Prison, "Death Race", a gladiator-like fight to the finish competition is held to raise funds.

The film begins six years later by showing a race near its end. Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson) and a famous masked driver known as Frankenstein (original Death Race 2000 star David Carradine) engage in a bloody battle in which Frankenstein wins, but at the cost of heavy injuries and eventually death. Six months later, Jensen Ames (Jason Statham), an ex-racecar driver, is framed for his wife's murder. Ames is sent to Terminal Island Prison where he immediately becomes enemies with an Aryan brotherhood gang, led by Pachenko (Max Ryan). He is taken to Hennessey (Joan Allen) who tells him that the gang will kill him without her help. Thus he is coerced by the warden to become the new driver of late Frankenstein's car. The warden tells Ames that she knows about his baby daughter left in foster care. She also states that prisoners are freed upon winning five Death Races, but since the legendary Frankenstein had 4 wins at the time of his death, he would only require a single win. He agrees to race.

"Death Race" consists of three different stages. The first stage is an elimination round with the sole goal being to come out alive and to eliminate as much of the competition as possible. In each race, there are three activation switches, Swords, Shields, and Death Heads. These power-ups are in the form of lights on the ground that are activated when passed over by a car. Swords activate offensive weapons, shields activate defensive weapons, and death heads activate a spiked wall that impales the car and the racers inside. The wall then goes back into the ground, killing anyone inside. In the first race, Grimm is killed by Joe by being struck as a"pedestrian", resulting in a gruesome "head-exploding" shot. Jensen survives the race, killing one racer but coming in last place. During the second race, the goal is again to survive. Hennessey plots against Frankenstein, hoping to use his popularity to keep ratings up. The race starts and much to the dismay of the racers and crews a gigantic semi-truck armed with a tank turret, called the Dreadnought is released. After killing multiple racers, the truck is destroyed when Joe and Ames team up to activate a Death Head that destroys the Dreadnought.

In the third stage, Joe and Ames must race one final time to the winner. Prior to the race Hennessey has a bomb planted under Frankenstein's car, and then manipulates the race to favor Joe. However, her plans are ruined when Joe and Ames escape. Hennessey sends all her police force in pursuit and succeeds in capturing Frankenstein's car. However, Ames had escaped from his car leaving his navigator, Elizabeth, dressed up in his costume. Joe and Ames hitch a ride and escape to Miami. Meanwhile, using the bomb from Frankenstein's car, Coach kills both Ulrich and the warden. Six months later, Ames has his daughter back and Joe is working on living a clean life free of crime. As the two work on a car in their new home, a car pulls up and Elizabeth steps out to join the two.

Cast

Cars

The cars in the movie are real vehicles that have been heavily-modified with armor plating, machine guns and defensive weapons

Production

In March 2002, 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.[5] 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.[6] 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."[7] 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.[8]

In April 2007, actor Jason Statham entered negotiations to star in Death Race, with production slated to begin in late summer or early fall.[8] 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.[9] Filming on Death Race began in Montreal in August 2007.[2]

Release

The film was originally scheduled for release on September 26, 2008, but was moved to August 22.[10]

Critical reaction

The film has received mixed reviews from critics. It currently holds a 42% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes,[11] and a rating of 41 out of 100 on Metacritic.[12]

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."[13] Keith Phipps of The Onion's 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."[14] 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.[15] Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle called Death Race "one of the most boring drags of all time."[16]

Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "an ill-advised and severely wussified remake."[17] 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."[18] 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."[19] 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."[20]

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.[21]

The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on August 19, 2008.[22]

Home video release

The DVD and Blu-Ray was released in America on December 21st, 2008. There was also an Unrated edition released. The Blu-Ray version of the movie features a Digital Copy of the film.

Similarities to the original

  • Frankenstein wears a mask and black leather jumpsuit. When outside his car he never removes his mask.
  • Machine Gun Joe[23] is a gangster in this version as well.
  • Like Matilda The Hun, there is a character with a fascist theme.[24] Pachenko is leader of a white power skinhead gang who wears a swastika and a Confederate flag.
  • In both films there is an 'all-American' contestant: the cowgirl Calamity Jane and ex-NASCAR racer Travis Colt. Both have names related to the Old West (Jane was named after a gunslinger, Colt was named after the gun) and both are blown up; Jane is destroyed by a landmine and Colt's Jaguar XJS crashes and explodes.[25]
  • All but two of the cars have a female navigator[26] (one contestant drives alone while Joe's navigators are men).
  • Frankenstein's navigator is under orders to stop Frankenstein winning the race in both versions.[27]
  • There is more than one Frankenstein. When the original dies a replacement is trained to take on his role.
  • The Death Race is used to entertain and divert the populace's attention from the country's dire economic crisis.[28]
  • Joe kills members of his own pit crew.
  • Frankenstein's navigator disguises herself in his costume to deceive the authorities
  • In both films there is an authoritarian tyrant: Mr. President (original) and Hennesey (remake) who get killed by Frankenstein at the end.[29] Both their deaths involve a bomb; in the original Frankenstein planned to kill the president with a grenade while in the remake Ames sends Hennesey the explosive she planned to kill him with before his last race. Ultimately its Coach who detonates in revenge for tampering with his car.

References

  1. ^ "First Look: Death Race Battle Scene". 2008-05-28. Retrieved 2008-05-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e Borys Kit (2007-08-08). "Buckle up: Allen joins Uni's 'Race'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Borys Kit (2007-08-21). "The 'Race' is on for Martinez". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ The Cars of Death Race part 2, IGN (Jan 30, 2008)
  5. ^ Patrick Lee (2002-03-18). "Paul W.S. Anderson reanimates a game group of zombies in Resident Evil". Sci Fi Wire. Retrieved 2007-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Calum Waddell. "August 17: Roger Corman's DEATH RACE 3000 update". Fangoria. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  7. ^ Stax (2006-06-28). "Castlevania, Death Race Buzz". IGN. Retrieved 2007-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ a b Borys Kit (2007-04-23). "Statham in 'Death Race' driver's seat". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Paul WS Anderson talks Death Race". Total Film. 2007-07-31. Retrieved 2007-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Death Race Rescheduled for this Summer". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  11. ^ Death Race, Rotten Tomatoes
  12. ^ Death Race, Metacritic
  13. ^ Death Race review, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
  14. ^ Death Race review, Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club
  15. ^ Death Race review, Robert Koehler, Variety
  16. ^ Death Race review, Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
  17. ^ Death Race review, Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
  18. ^ Death Race review, Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
  19. ^ Death Race review, Nathan Lee, The New York Times
  20. ^ Death Race review, James Berardinelli, ReelViews
  21. ^ Dan Goldwasser (2008-08-01). "Paul Haslinger scores Deaf Race". ScoringSessions.com. Retrieved 2008-08-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ http://www.amazon.com/Death-Race-Paul-Haslinger/dp/B001DWGBYI/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1218504741&sr=8-15
  23. ^ http://www.stomptokyo.com/badmoviereport/reviews/D/deathrace.html
  24. ^ http://www.nickschager.com/nsfp/2008/08/death-race-2000.html
  25. ^ http://uk.cars.ign.com/articles/879/879375p4.html
  26. ^ http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv-entertainment/film/film-reviews/2008/09/26/film-of-the-week-death-race-115875-20752751/
  27. ^ http://www.badmovies.org/movies/deathrace2k/
  28. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072856/
  29. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/death_race/
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