Death Race 2 is a 2010 action film that was directed by Roel Reiné and written by Tony Giglio, who co-developed its story with Paul W. S. Anderson. The film is a co-production between South Africa and Germany, and is the prequel to Anderson's 2008 film Death Race—which itself is a prequel to 1975's Death Race 2000—and the second installment in the Death Race franchise. Death Race 2 stars Luke Goss as Carl "Luke" Lucas, a convicted cop killer who is sentenced to life in a for-profit, maximum security prison, where he is forced to compete in the titular reality show to earn his freedom. Fred Koehler, Tanit Phoenix, Robin Shou, Lauren Cohan, Danny Trejo, Ving Rhames, and Sean Bean appear in supporting roles; Koehler and Shou reprise theirs from Death Race. Death Race 2 was greenlit as a prequel that tells the origin story of the franchise's protagonist Frankenstein without the directorial involvement of Anderson, who was retained as producer, and the appearance of Jason Statham. Reiné signed on to direct the project and filming began in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2010. Universal Pictures released the film direct-to-video through its home entertainment division on January 18, 2011, although it set the earliest release date for the United Kingdom to December 27, 2010. Death Race 2 received generally favorable reviews. Reiné also directed a direct-to-video sequel, Death Race 3: Inferno (2013).

Plot summary

Getaway driver Carl "Luke" Lucas attempts to rob a bank for the crime boss Markus Kane. During the robbery, two police officers enter the building. Luke tells his accomplices to abort the robbery but they refuse; Luke intervenes, resulting in the Death of one of the robbers. Luke kills an officer and abandons his accomplices to fulfill Markus's wishes. Luke is captured following a chase and sentenced to prison. Six months later, he is sent to Terminal Island. Markus orders a hit on him, convinced Luke will trade information about his crimes for immunity, even though he vows never to do so. Terminal Island is a for-profit, maximum security prison that is controlled by Weyland Corporation, which hosts "Death Match", a televised pay-per-view competition in which two convicts are forced to fight to the Death or submission. The prisoners are given access to weapons or defensive items to use. Death Match is hosted by September Jones, a former Miss Universe model who lost her title due to allegations of her having a sexual relationship with the judges. September now works for Weyland Corporation owner Weyland to generate profit from the pay-per-view subscribers of Death Match. Luke meets Lists, Goldberg, and Rocco, and catches September's attention after protecting the cowardly Lists from an attempted assault. Luke rejects September's demand he fight in exchange for prison privileges and spurns her sexual advances. In retaliation, September chooses Lists to fight in a Death Match against Big Bill, a physically imposing Black opponent from whom Luke protected Lists. Luke intervenes by jumping into the arena; convict ring girl Katrina Banks briefly assists him from outside the cage. During the fight, a riot is sparked by racial tension; convicts force their way into the arena and some of them attempt to rape the female convicts. Katrina defends herself and the other women, who are then evacuated. Guards intervene and Luke surrenders; he then talks with Katrina. Realizing Luke is still alive, Markus puts a $1 million bounty on his head, allowing some of the prisoners to kill him. September launches an offshoot of "Death Match" that Weyland names "Death Race"; to earn their freedom, prisoners must win five races driving heavily armed, reinforced vehicles over three days, and female convicts must play navigators for each racer. Luke enters the Race with Katrina as his navigator, and Lists, Goldberg, and Rocco as his pit crew. After winning the first Race, Weyland congratulates Luke and brings in Katrina as a prize. Once left alone, Luke and Katrina briefly converse and have sex. Later, Markus purchases Katrina and offers her freedom if she kills Luke within 48 hours. During the second Race, all of Luke's opponents except 14K, a member of the triad whom Luke saved from being killed by another racer, attempts to kill Luke and earn Markus' bounty. Katrina tells Luke the truth about Markus' offer. In the late stage of the Race, Luke ejects Katrina from the car after discovering one of his pit crew has sabotaged it. Defenseless, Luke is blown up by Big Bill's heat-seeking missile; Big Bill's navigator fatally stabs her partner after he kills his own pit crew and grabs her by the throat. Katrina and Luke's pit crew fail to save Luke from the burning car. Unbeknown to everyone but September, Luke survives albeit badly burned; she coerces him into joining the Race in a mask under the moniker "Frankenstein". As the last Race begins, a triad assassin executes Markus in his mansion as 14K's favor to Luke, Lists fatally stabs Rocco for sabotaging Luke's car, and Luke reverses and runs over September, killing her. Intrigued by his new identity, Katrina then asks Luke whether he has a real name, and he replies, "Of course I do". She smiles as they return to the Race.

Cast

Additional members of the cast include Patrick Lyster as Warden Parks, DeObia Oparei as Big Bill, Hennie Bosman as Xander Grady, Joe Vaz as Rocco, Danny Keogh as Dr. Klein, Warrick Grier as Calin, and Tanya van Graan as Holly.

Production

A prequel to writer-director Paul W. S. Anderson's 2008 film Death Race, which itself is a prequel to 1975's Death Race 2000, was put into development by August 2009. Screenwriter Tony Giglio described the prequel, which was tentatively titled Death Race: Frankenstein Lives, as "an origin film, in every sense", exploring the origins of the "Death Race", and the characters Frankenstein, Case, and Lists. Giglio conceived the protagonist, Carl Lucas, as a stark contrast to the Jason Statham character that headlined the previous film, saying: "He wasn't framed. He's not fighting to get out to save his children. He's a convicted cop killer. A guy who's worked for the [American] mob his whole life. A true anti-hero." Universal Pictures greenlit Giglio's script in November 2009. Neither Anderson nor Statham returned for the prequel due to other commitments, though Anderson remained as producer with Jeremy Bolt and Mike Elliott. Dutch director Roel Reiné signed on to direct in December 2009. On March 1, 2010, it was reported Reiné had begun filming Death Race 2 on location in South Africa and that Sean Bean had joined its cast of Luke Goss, Lauren Cohan, Ving Rhames, Danny Trejo, and Frederick Koehler. The film is a co-production between Germany and South Africa, and attracted tax breaks for being filmed in South Africa.: 6  Filming in Cape Town, South Africa, took 30 days on a $6–18 million budget; Reiné acted as camera operator on some action scenes.: 6  An abandoned cement factory near slums outside Cape Town was used for the prison,: 6  and Goss stated a freeway was shut for about five hours to allow filming of his daytime hot pursuit sequences.: 03:24–03:31  An AOL Moviefone journalist who served as an extra wrote Robin Shou was nearly killed on set when a rapidly descending metal gangway narrowly missed his head. The extra, Jason Newman, said a miscommunication between Shou and the stunt coordinators on his prison-fight sequence with Hennie Bosman led to the incident. Of this near-Death experience, Shou said he "has never been so shaken". Stunts were performed with very little computer-generated imagery (CGI), a decision that was influenced by Reiné's affinity for 1980s action films using this approach.: 5  According to Goss, he and Reiné decided some shots of his driving sequences would be filmed as he drove the cars, citing the 1968 film Bullitt as an influence.: 03:16–03:23  Three of the cars in Death Race, including a Ford Mustang, were incorporated into the prequel to add series continuity. The filmmakers acquired new units of these cars, rebuilding them "from scratch" to resemble their appearances in the previous film.: 7 

Release

Universal Pictures released Death Race 2 direct-to-video through its home entertainment division on January 18, 2011, although it set the earliest release date for the UK to December 27, 2010.: 1  Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain R-rated and unrated versions of the film, and bonus material including featurettes on the cars, stunts, and the canonicity of the film; deleted scenes; and a feature-length commentary by the director Roel Reiné. Universal released a double-feature collection containing Death Race 2 and Death Race on October 9, 2012. All four films in Universal's Death Race franchise were released in a collection on October 2, 2018. According to The Numbers, as of June 2024, home-video sales of Death Race 2 in the United States were $8.4 million, with 218,000 ($4.04 million) DVD copies sold in its opening week, making it a decent debut for a straight-to-DVD release. In the same week, 50,000 Blu-ray copies were sold.

= Sequel

= The "ardent global following" of Death Race and its prequel sparked Universal's interest on a sequel, Death Race 3: Inferno. Reiné and screenwriter Tony Giglio returned for the sequel, as did Luke Goss, Danny Trejo, Ving Rhames, Fred Koehler, Robin Shou, and Tanit Phoenix, alongside series newcomers Dougray Scott and Hlubi Mboya. Filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa, in late 2011. Universal 1440 Entertainment released Death Race 3: Inferno direct to video on January 22, 2013.

Reception

According to a 2024 retrospective from Slashfilm: "Between the relentless bloodbath and the thrilling lack of logical consequences, Death Race 2 never fails to astonish and entertain". While scoffing at the idea of "prequels to remakes", Salon.com said Death Race 2 is "better than it has any right to be". Cinematical, a now-defunct film blog within AOL Moviefone, wrote: " ... Death Race 2 maintains what made the original enjoyable while still striving to stand on its own two feet", and Arrow in the Head said it "goes through the same action-orientated motions of its predecessor with above average results". Many reviewers said the film is better than Death Race; Dread Central and IGN described it as a worthy prequel that improves upon its Paul W. S. Anderson-directed source material. Total Film said the film made his "look like an overlooked cult classic by comparison", and the Daily Mirror said it is "[b]rimming with guns, girls and growling engines" and that car enthusiasts would likely enjoy it more than a wider audience. According to Winnipeg Free Press: "this movie is no Death Race". Despite the criticism, Screen Daily found the action scenes "nicely staged". The set pieces of "Death Match" received good reviews: Den of Geek considered the fights to be "exhilarating", and according to Total Film, they are among the film's "guiltily enjoyable moments". DVD Verdict found the film "guilty" of "running on empty", and The A.V. Club called it boring and amateurish, and ultimately "a waste of time". Other reviewers considered it to be an entertaining, full-bore action film, notwithstanding issues with the narrative in terms of plot, character, and originality. Critics named Luke Goss, who is known for his supporting roles in Blade II (2002) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), as a worthy successor to the prior film's Jason Statham. Total Film said Goss exudes "a skin-crawling, [Christopher] Walken-esque screen presence" while carrying the film "through its more face-palm moments and its videogame cut-scene narrative"; and DVD Talk credited him with "supply[ing] the picture with a minuscule sense of personality" in "a thankless role". Some critics credited Danny Trejo, Ving Rhames, and Sean Bean with keeping the film entertaining. According to The Record the actors delivered "scenery-chewing turns", and Exclaim! said Trejo and Rhames underused in roles that are "so modest and glazed over". Den of Geek said the film struggles with its treatment of female characters, and that Tanit Phoenix and Lauren Cohan were made to play Goss' love interest and a "ruthlessly ambitious arch bitch" devoid of emotional depth and dignity; according to the reviewer: "I think what's more of a shame, though, is that the female cast wasn't given the same attention as the males". Total Film said the acting is "awful" but that Bean at least "provides welcome respites from all the prison-based dullness". DVD Talk commented the film's goal is to show not acting prowess but bloody violence, guns, and women as sexual objects, citing Cohan's "agonizing, cleavage-popping performance" in a promiscuous role as an example. Cinematical and Screen Daily called Death Race 2's production values spectacular for a direct-to-video release, whereas ComingSoon.net criticized them as shoddy. Exclaim! said: "Visually, Death Race 2 is impressive ... but Reiné relies on too many clichés, such as elongated slow motion and a horrible electronic soundtrack seemingly pulled from a decade-old [The] Matrix clone, which grates more than entertain". ComingSoon.net said Reiné abandoned plot for "tons of flashy slow-motion shots, multiple 360-degree pans and countless 'cool looking' inserts". DVD Talk described Death Race 2 as "a visually stimulating picture that keeps to basic ingredients", praising its stunts, "crisp cinematography", and willingness to fully take advantage of its premise "with a little more spunk". IGN credited Reiné with making the film look slick and more expensive than its budget suggests on Blu-ray, while HorrorNews.net found the editing "top notch" and the soundtrack "pretty bad ass". Den of Geek said the film "still had moments of unfinished effects ... but, if anything, it added to the B-movie charm", and Fearnet found it "quite a bit better than what normally passes for a 'DTV sequel'".

Footnotes

Notes

References

External links

Death Race 2 at IMDb Death Race 2 at the Internet Movie Cars Database Death Race 2 at Rotten Tomatoes