Death Race 2

Death Race 2, the prequel to the 2008 Death Race, shows how Death Race came to be. The movie for being a straight to DVD release looks likes a high budget Hollywood movie with 1/4 of the budget of the first one. The acting is not top notch but does have a interesting cast with Sean Bean and Dan Trejo. If your a fan of the dark gritty style of the first Death Race then you'll enjoy this film, however, i do feel that they could have been more original and changed a few things to make this film stand apart from the original.

pros- Good action sequences

good cast

very well put together

cons- could have been more original

some of the acting could have been improved

I know that like most of you, as well as I, were not expecting much from a straight to DVD sequel from a theater movie which included a few famous actors & had a great budget while this sequel had fewer actors & budget.

The entire movie as you will all know is a prequel explaining the beginnings of Frankenstein. The story flows quite nicely and explains a lot about the origin of Frankenstein while a little bit of the guy who becomes Frankenstein.

The movie is well worth the watch if you're interested on learning more about the back story to Death Race 2. That's what this film is for, not to deliver a sequel that brings more action, blood & gore (although it does) but it brings in quite a story.

I don't want to spoil anything as far as the climax, but overall the whole movie is like any typical straight to DVD sequel. Has some action here, talking there, all flows like a regular movie.

What made my jaw drop, and I mean drop even the second time I watched it, was the ending. The ending is phenomenal, truly amazingly executed. It leaves you with no questions (as long as you followed the story) and leaves it set up for Death Race 1.

Overall, worth the watch if you got the time.

It is set in a near future with testosterona macho men and based on the classic movie by Paul Bartel, but here adding much more action and violence. It deals with a thief called Lucas, Luke Goss, who is assigned by his chief, Sean Bean, to carry out a bank heist, but it goes wrong and then he is locked in a maximum security prison at Terminal island. There is developed a thrilling race in which the skillfull driver Lucas accompanied by a gorgeous copilot, Tanit Phoenix Copley, participate at the exciting and amazing race contending with other heinous and bloody participants. The race is televised by pay per view and presented by a beautiful host, Lauren Cohen, and Luke is given an opportunity, if Lucas wins 5 races, to have a big reward: to be freed. As he attempting to survive the perilous competition by pitting other inmates to get an early release.

This is a run-of-the-mill prequel, a high-octane guilty, grindhouse reboot pleasure. This Death Race follow-up exploring the origin of the violent race called Death Race, it is the ultimate sporting where contestants get score point for running drivers down, a futurist international sport with plenty of violence where the pilots contend for hitting other vehicles, but it is also a predictable fare with familiar scenes and non-sense plot . Not as brilliant but no worse than previous and successive entries. It is made in brainless and rudimentary masculine fashion filled with macho men and sexy, provocative and wonderful girls. It is a tightly packed film with noisy action, fights, car crashes, twists and turns. Stirring and surprising script written by Paul Anderson, who produced too, he formerly directed Death Race with Jason Statham and he also made Resident evil, Soldier, Event horizon , Alien vs Predator and Mortal combat

The picture was professionally directed by Raoul Reine, but it doesnt reach nowhere near he satirical impact and playfulness of the original movie. Followed by other sequels with similar technician and artistic team. Raoul Reine has directed various Tv series as Black sails, Wu assassin, Knighfall, Redball legend, Inhumans and some films, such as : The Admiral, The lost tribe, The bear. Raoul is an expert on sequels such as : Hard taget 2, The condemned 2, The man with the iron fist, 12 rounds 2, Seal team eight, Redbad, The Marine 2.

This film is based on the original Death race 1975 also produced by Rogen Corman directed by Paul Bartel with Sylvester Stallone, David Carradine, Simone Griffith. Followed by Death race 2oo8 by Paul W. S. Anderson with Jason Statham, Tyrese Gybson, Jacob Vargas, Joan Allen, Natalie Martinez. Death race Inferno with Luke Goss, Tanit Phoenix, Dougray Scott, Frederick Koehler, Robin Shou. Death race 4 Beyond anarchy with Lucy Aarden, Nicholas Aaron. There is also another film titled Death Race 73 by David Lowell Rich with Lloyd Bridges, Roy Thinnes, Eric Braeden, but it nothing to do with the saga produced by Roger Corman. Rating 6/10 a really indescribably violent action movie.

Be honest, was the 2008 Death Race film (itself a remake of the 1975 B movie Death Race 2000) actually avant garde cinema? No it was not! It was a loud, visceral, simple action movie; all style, little substance in the grand Paul WS Anderson tradition. This cheap direct to video prequel, not a sequel as the "Death Race 2" title might seem to imply, is just more of the same. Heck even the main characters looks the same only with different names.

Now fans of the 2008 crash and burn thrill ride of a movie are in for a treat here. In Death Race 2, we discover the origins of the dangerous game; how it went from a simple prison fight caught on camera to full blown TV ratings dependent gladiatorial combat and then, to boost ratings, the brutal Death Race. Anybody remember the cool sounding masked Driver "Frankenstein" who appeared at the beginning of 2008's Death Race? Well here is his origin story too. Before he became the famous Frankenstein, Carl Lucas (Luke Goss) was a getaway car driver for a crime boss Markus Kane (Sean bean). A heist gone wrong landed Carl a life sentence at Terminal island penitentiary, a prison famous for its broadcasts of "Death Match". With ratings of Death Match plummeting, one of the organizers "September Jones" witnesses Carl's driving skills and decides to revamp the games into "Death Race". Nine cars, three rounds, five wins to freedom. The no holds barred car-nage has just begun. As Carl puts his skills to the test, his former boss is planning his death, and he has someone on the inside to do it.

Sound familiar? To say that the writers were lazy is an understatement. They basically took the exact same character types from the 2008 film and changed their names to be new characters. In other words, we got all the uninspired lines, one dimensional (and slightly racist) characterization, and minimal character development of the original show, but none of the star power the likes of Jason Stratham and Tyrese Gibson. Star power alone was what made the original character bearable and now with that gone, they are not as interesting to watch. Fans would recognize Robin shou and Frederick Koehler reprising their roles of "14K" and "Lists".

The main attraction here has always been the cars and the carnage. Despite having less than one third of the budget of Paul WS Anderson's 2008 film, Death Race 2 does a wonderful job of replicating all the excitement and adrenaline of the races. Perhaps too good a job as some scenes look 100% copied and pasted from that film complete with similar camera angles, same chain of events and even similar lines of dialog. The cars themselves and the sets do not look as well designed as its predecessor but remember, this took place before the 2008 film and as such cars get rebuilt and the place gets upgraded as the days go by.

With the target audience being those who loved the brainless 2008 Death Race, Death Race 2 delivers no more than what they expect. If you thought its predecessor was bad, Death Race 2 would not change that impression. It is fun, it is violent, it is a glorified B movie just like Roger Corman's DeathRace 2000 and Paul WS Anderson's remake, and it is surprisingly well shot for a direct-to-video film. Definitely worth at least a rental but do familiarize yourself with the 2008 movie before jumping into this.

First things first. This is a mid/low budget sequel following a partially successful remake of a classic 70s cult movie. So it is obvious that this film is going to blow!

Well it does, but not that bad. The action is great, the spirit of the uber-powerful uncaring corporation is encapsulated superbly by Lauren Cohan; Tanit Phonex is painfully beautiful and the plot chugs along happily.

You can't take the film too seriously, I mean it appears that barbaric, run-for-profit women's prisons of the future all provide their inmates with extensive make-overs before a riot, but it is good fun.

The main stumbling block is the dialogue, it really is awful. I sincerely mean that, awful.

This film greatly out-stripped by expectations (which were low) but if you like action and gorgeous women then this is definitely for you.