Death Race 2050 2017 2 out of 10
I've been waiting for them to make a good remake of Death Race 2000 for a long time. The 1975 Cult Classic featured racers in the near future of the year 2000 (LOL) as contestants in a cross country race where they score points for running people over. It was a strange film that starred David Carradine as a driver called Frankenstein and a Sly Stallone as Machine Gun Joe. The original was a cheesy dark comedy that gained cult movie status. It was a film that one wished they would remake
.....and that finally happened in 2008 starring kick ass action star Jason Statham. Unfortunately the film just didn't capture the same spirit as the original by getting rid of the main elements of the original and turned it into basically just a care race film. It also completely wasted Jason Statham's butt kicking talents. Apparently this film had 2 lower budget direct to video sequels (which I haven't seen).
Then the other day I noticed and recorded Roger Corman's Death Race 2050. Roger Corman wanted to bring the series back to it's campy roots and that he did. Unfortunately the film is a complete dud. It is just a silly super low budget remake now set in the year 2050. The movie starts off with a terrible joke as one of he racers named Terrorist Tammy ---blows up some people in the stands before the race begins. With all the recent terror attacks this scene was just in poor taste and not remotely funny. I know I'm watching a movie where drivers run people over for points, but this scene just didn't sit right with me.
The characters: The characters in this movie are lame caricatures. Perfectus (who has gender identification issues). Minerva is a rapper turned racer that sings the dumbest song possible while trying to run people over. There is a self driving car called A.B.E. that is trying to discover who he is and Tammy the Terrorist a religious cult leader. And the star of the film Frankenstein who looks like a Mad Max wannabe.
The Cars: The cars in this film are so weak. They look like they were made out of cheap plastic as part of a kids build cars reality show.
The Movie itself: The movie was just dull. There was nothing exciting about these cheap looking cars driving around empty streets with the occasionally running over of a small group of extras. The movie wanted to be Mad Max -but comes off as Slighty Annoyed Max. It was just so low budget that it had no teeth. The plot was forgettable and I wish I had just watched the trailer and skipped the film. I don't know how on earth they got Malcolm Mcdowell to play the president in this piece of junk.
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