Death Race 2050 ★½
TEN minutes into Death Race 2050 my son rightly asked: “What the hell are we watching this for?”
Released straight-to-video in 2016, most people would probably describe it as a pile of garbage.
It’s made on a micro-budget so it’s certainly not a visually attractive film. It also doesn’t fit the ‘so bad it’s good’ category because there isn’t a clear vision behind the film.
I suspect some of the crew started the short shooting period thinking a half decent sci-fi actioner was possible, but those dreams would have been shattered pretty quickly.
But, rather than giving you a completely negative review, let’s digress a little into more interesting background.
Back in 1975 a sci-fi exploitative action thriller called Death Race 2000 was released.
The story of a futuristic race across America with drivers earning points for killing pedestrians struck a chord at the time for its originality.
Starring the late David Carradine and, in one of his first appearances, Sylvester Stallone, it’s been a cult classic for many years. The premise has been oft-repeated, not just in films but also video games.
The producer of that film was Roger Corman, a legendary figure in Hollywood who has been responsible for more than 400 films.
These days Corman is still churning them out with the help of fledgling directors willing to use a micro-budget to hopefully turn a pig’s ear into a purse.
He has had some success over the past decade, predominantly with all those cheap, ridiculously-titled sea monster movies. You know, the sharktopus vs piranahdactor or whatever.
Death Race was remade in 2008 with Jason Statham and did have some decent money behind it. It was ok. Death Race 2 in 2010 (very average) and Death Race Inferno (2013), which I haven’t seen, followed.
The 2016 version is most likely the worst. I doubt it will enhance the career of anyone involved, including director G.J. Echterkamp and star Manu Bennett, a New Zealander (just for the record).
Then again, Echterkamp has one previous film, Frank and Cindy (2015), that garnered reasonable reviews so maybe we’ll reserve judgement on him for the moment.
The problem with his direction of Death Race 2050 is it’s impossible to clearly tell how bad it is because every other element, particularly the acting and special effects, are so distractingly terrible.
And, finally, there is Malcolm McDowell, the British actor whose career started in a blaze of glory in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s (If, O Lucky Man, Clockwork Orange), slammed into a wall called Caligula in 1979 and has barely recovered since.
I actually didn’t mind him in Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake in 2007, but he was awful in 31, again for Zombie.
He virtually repeats the same character he played in 31 for Death Race 2050 but manages to be spectacularly worse. He truly is chasing paycheques.