Death Race, Paul W.S. Anderson’s loose reworking of 1970’s cult favourite Death Race 2000, was definitely one to file under “Guilty Pleasure”. Lots of souped-up, gun-laded muscle cars, with explosions and violent deaths aplenty and Jason Statham frowning moodily as if his very life depended on it.
Now, whether we wanted it or not (I’m not sure how I feel, to be honest), we have a straight to DVD prequel, Death Race 2. This time around, we will find out how Death Race was originally conceived of and see various souped-up, gun-laded muscle cars, with explosions and violent deaths aplenty.
Shock Til You Drop have bagged the trailer, which looks like more of the same, but in a good way. This time, we have Luke Goss (Hellboy 2, Blade 2), Ving Rhames (Con Air, Pulp Fiction), Danny Trejo (Machete, Desperado, Con Air) and Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Flightplan) and about as much incoherent, testosterone-fuelled mayhem as you could wish for.
Paul W.S. Anderson gets a credit here for the characters and story, but the script and direction are down to relative unknowns. That may explain the straight to DVD thing, since the cast is generally pretty good for what is obviously a fairly derivative film.
What do you think? Does the world need more of Death Race? Will this be one for a Friday night after a few drinks and a dodgy kebab? Or are you loving the Death Race thing? Catch the trailer below.
