The year is 2050 and the United Corporations of America is the quintessential dystopian mess. Only a small percentage of the population is employed, the rest eat, drink and lose themselves in virtual reality television. The Chairman (Malcolm McDowell with a fabulous hair piece) created the Death Race to entertain and as a way to control population size. It's not explained how four cars racing coast to coast running over pedestrians for points is an effective method of population control. Perhaps off screen they were distributing condoms. Shooting them out their tail pipes or something.
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| The Chairman is the Hairman |
The four drivers in this year's race include first time driver / rap sensation Minerva (Folake Olowofoyeku HELLBENDERS), the genetically engineered narcissist Jed Perfectus (Burt Grinstead), crazed cult leader Tammy (Anessa Ramsey THE SIGNAL), A.B.E. (voiced by D.C. Douglas ISLE OF THE DEAD) an artificial intelligence car and reigning champion Frankenstein (Manu Bennett from television's SPARTACUS). Each driver has a proxy, a person who wears a camera to capture footage for the benefit of the VR viewers at home. Frankenstein's assigned proxy, Annie Sullivan (Marci Miller MOST LIKELY TO DIE), is secretly part of the resistance. The resistance, led by Alexis Hamilton (Yancy Butler HARD TARGET), wants Frankenstein dead as he is a symbol of all that is wrong with the U.C.A.
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| Frankenstein meets Annie for the first time |
The 1975 original DEATH RACE 2000's appeal is its black humour and a cast that looked to be having a blast making a no budget film. The cult film was rebooted in 2008 as DEATH RACE in a slicker package that did away with the humour and running over pedestrians for points. Two sequels followed but I gave up on the franchise after watching the idiotic DEATH RACE 2 (Sean Bean's attempted Manchester accent didn't help). The Roger Corman produced DEATH RACE 2050 is a throw back to the irreverent, politically incorrect cult favourite.
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| Pomp and Circumstance |
It is often difficult, if not impossible, to re-capture what makes a cult film a cult film. The original is very much a product of its time (and low budget) and the actors, the humour, the finger flip to establishment worked well despite the thread bare production and nearly non-existent plot. Many of those same elements are found in the remake but the film just does not work. We get the same jabs at corporate America. The same satire of a culture obsessed with television and celebrity. The names may have changed, along with how television is viewed, but the focus of ridicule remains constant. Could it be that the humour of the original as interpreted here does not work any longer because we've seen it done in smarter, more evolved ways since 1975? Or perhaps the jokes just aren't as funny as they were oh so many years ago.
While I was never bored by the film, I was disappointed that CGI has yet again almost replaced practical effects in what otherwise would have been a highlight. There's a good amount of gore splashed around as the victims of the death machines aren't merely run over but eviscerated. I will not say that I'm impressed by the often over the top, project to the cheap seats acting, I was surprised by Bennett's and Miller's reading during a couple of scenes. It was if someone had spliced in scenes from a far more serous film where they just so happened to be wearing their DEATH RACE 2050 costumes. But the cheap CGI, winking at the camera by the actors so the viewers know the actors are in on the joke, and the goal of making a film so bad it's good are all par for the course for this type of film making. Whether it is DEATH RACE 2050, SHARKNADO or the latest monster reptile v. gigantic animal crap fest, the film makers don't seem to be making a film to have fun but rather aim for the garbage dump because they are being 'ironic'.
The warning flag is waving for DEATH RACE 2050.
*1/2 out of ****
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