Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #613 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-02-02
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Mayhem rules in Death Race, a head-over-heels remake of the Roger Corman cult classic Death Race 2000, in which cars become lethal weapons. The strength of this new version is its total single-mindedness about vehicular homicide; it has the virtue of no cluttering subplots or simpering sentimentality. And banish all memory of the original's wild satirical comedy: Death Race is as grim as a dinner tray to the face (a reference that will be explained in a key sequence). In a slightly futuristic maximum-security prison, cons take part in brutal races around the island prison, their violent deaths watched live by millions of viewers. Jason Statham, possibly cast because of his driving dexterity in the Transporter movies, plays a man wrongly imprisoned for murder. Joan Allen provides her brittle cool as the warden, who recruits Statham to assume the masked persona of a legendary driver called Frankenstein. Tyrese Gibson is Frankie's main rival, Natalie Martinez provides the fetching eye candy, but the acting honours go to Ian McShane, as the philosophical prison mechanic. One misses the cross-country race from the original film, as the setting here is claustrophobic and the cars are largely colorless and indistinguishable from each other. Director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil) continues to display the sensibility of a video-game addict, which will either be a recommendation or a turn-off, depending on your own tastes. At least it doesn't have the hypocritical moral blathering of something like the somewhat similar Condemned--who knew you could be so grateful for simple, straight-forward head-bashing? --Robert Horton

Synopsis
Producer Roger Corman's cult classic film Death Race 2000 gets a millennium overhaul with director Paul W.S. Anderson (Event Horizon, Resident Evil) behind the wheel. Jason Statham (The Transporter, The Bank Job) plays Jensen Ames, a prisoner who is serving a sentence for a crime that he didn't commit. But in this futuristic society, Ames can compete for his freedom with a victory in a brutal three-day race.

Joan Allen (The Ice Storm, The Bourne Supremacy), Tyrese Gibson (Baby Boy, 2 Fast 2 Furious) and Ian McShane (Hot Rod, TV's Deadwood) co-star in this high octane chase film.

Customer Reviews

Brainless but enjoyable
`Death Race' is a re-make of the Stalonne movie from the 70's and stars Jason Stratham as a framed prisoner in a futuristic world where convicts are used for entertainment in a web-based show in which they must kill each other in a brutal race. Stratham's character is made an offer where if he takes the place of an severely injured racer, the masked Frankenstein, and wins he is allowed to go free.

It hasn't got the most complex plot, in fact you could probably understand perfectly what is going on if you walked in halfway through but that doesn't stop it from being a very enjoyable action film. The near-futuristic setting, the fast-editing and strong violence make this film very reminiscent of the classic action films of the 70's and 80's, like the original Death Race 2000, The Running Man and the more recent The Condemned.

If you like films with tough good guys, sick and unlikeable bad guys and non-stop action for 100 mins then I definitely recommend this one. 3.5/5.

Jeremy Clarkson
Death Race is a superior film, but sadly it isn't the classic it could have been.

Cinematography - grimy, brown/ grey, drab, perfect 10/10

Actors - Statham excels as Jensen Ames, unemployed steelworker drawn into the Death Race by corporate evil. Ian McShane (of all people) turns in a creditable performance as Coach, the technical mastermind behind Ames's wheels for the Death Race. And Natalie Martinez is perfect in the role of Ames's navigator, the parabolic Elizabeth Case.

So far, so good.

The script's wheels start to wobble a bit after the first hour of the film - stage II of the Death Race isn't much more than a concatenation of orange explosions like you see in films when there's nothing else to do apart from blow stuff up. After stage II the film picks up again and has a just-about-satisfactory finale.

But too many holes in the storyline, like how comes prison Governer Hennessey (a Nurse Ratched for the 21st Century) can do audio wire-taps in the garage but not in the actual cars (where much explicatory dialogue is presented)? And how does (spoiler warning) Ames get reunited with his kid after breaking free? It's not like someone on the run can just rock up and take custody. Etc etc

Good film. But it could easily have been a classic with a bit more thought put into it.

ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ MEETS MAD MAX 2!!! IT'S EVERYTHING THAT THE ROLLERBALL REMAKE WAS NOT!!!!!
Taken at face value, this is a cracking mix of prison movie and futuristic thriller.
The stunts/FX look mostly for real, with CG kept to the minimum.
The tooled up cars are the stars here, especially with all the added firepower (spikes, miniguns, RPGs, Napalm etc). The races & chases are the best and most violent since 1981's Mad Max 2 (and better than in the enjoyable Doomsday) and check out one of THE best car rolls that I've ever seen!
A good ensemble cast for this type of movie, and Jason Statham must have spent months in the gym - loved the Slipknot syle mask that Statham races
in too. It's highly stylised action, and the editing/photography is first rate.
Clearly a decent budget; the minigun bullets alone must have cost a packet!
Interesting nod to The Last Boy Scout at the movie's VERY satisying denouement.
Pitched in USA 2012, after an economic collapse, the background to this looks disturbingly credible at this time...
The director takes some stick at times, but this film delivers exactly as it promises, and despite the fact it's big & dumb, it gets the 4 stars from me.