Death Race 2 (2010)

Explores the origins of the first "Frankenstein" car driver, Carl "Luke" Lucas, who died in a race at the beginning of the first film.

Director:

Roel Reiné

Writers:

Paul W.S. Anderson (characters and story), Tony Giglio (screenplay & story)

Stars:

Luke Goss, Lauren Cohan, Sean Bean

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Luke Goss	...	Carl 'Luke' Lucas
Lauren Cohan	...	September Jones
Sean Bean	...	Markus Kane
Ving Rhames	...	Weyland
Tanit Phoenix Copley	...	Katrina Banks (as Tanit Phoenix)
Patrick Lyster	...	Warden Medford Parks
Deobia Oparei	...	Big Bill
Frederick Koehler	...	Lists (as Fred Koehler)
Robin Shou	...	14K
Danny Trejo	...	Goldberg
Joe Vaz	...	Rocco
Danny Keogh	...	Dr. Klein
Hennie Bosman	...	Xander Grady
Warrick Grier	...	Calin
Sean Higgs	...	Hillbilly Con

Storyline

After a botched bank robbery attempt, the skilled getaway driver, Carl "Luke" Lucas, finds himself sentenced to the maximum-security correctional facility, Terminal Island, to fight for his life on Death Match: Weyland Corporation's profitable pay-per-view gladiator TV show. However, in search of even greater profit, the steely TV producer, September Jones, comes up with Death Race: a lethal car race where the most dangerous inmates compete against each other in heavily modified vehicles. Now, Carl has a choice: win five races to get his freedom, or forever rot in jail. Will his decision mark the beginning of a new era and the birth of the ultimate Death-Race driver, Frankenstein?

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Plot Keywords:

murder contract | person on fire | tv personality | tv broadcast | prison on island | 

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Taglines:

3 Days. 10 Killers, 20,000 Rounds of Ammo.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for brutal violence, pervasive language and some sexual content

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Twisted Metal, the driver of Roadkill is named Marcus Kane, Markus's character is possibly a reference to the game since its heavily inspired by it.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 17 mins) When the car makes a 180 degrees turn you can see the camera car in the right of the screen.

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Quotes

Markus Kane: You kill me, I kill you.

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Alternate Versions

Released together on home video. the Unrated Version is ~ 1 minute and 45 seconds longer than the R-Rated Version consisting of 4 additional scenes.

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Connections

Followed by Death Race 4: Beyond Anarchy (2018)

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Soundtracks

Switchback
Written by Klayton
Performed by Celldweller
Courtesy of FiXT/Position Music

User Reviews

Misleading title, minuscule budget, but massive thrills

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.

Details

Country:

South Africa Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 January 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Death Race II

Filming Locations:

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Moonlighting Films, Universal Pictures Productions GmbH, Capital Arts Entertainment

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1