Strong and Moving!

So much average

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The first must-see film of the year.

Until the part that Carl Lucas died from the burns, it was fairly watchable, but after that, the Sc-Fi part came (where he was turned Frankenstein), and I didn't like it anymore. Had they cut the Frankenstein-part, then maybe the movie overall had been a bit better. The Frankenstein-part killed the fun for me... Also the movie was a bit too long, after the death of Carl Lucas, I lost my interest, and only watched to the end because I like to watch the whole movie, especially when already watching longer than an hour. Also a lot of things that seem illogical for me, and a bit too much sex-related stuff... Sorry, but 1 out of 10 for me...

After a bank robbery something unexpected happens and those involved manage to escape excepting Lucas who is caught and sent to a prison where the most dangerous, unscrupulous murders are locked. The director puts them to a battle to the death witch is broadcast on national TV for the relish of the people. Lucas is immediately forced to participate in order to rescue a colleague who has no experience in any sort of battle. One day hell breaks loose and all the prisoners manage to enter the ring and beat each other so the show must be broken. Since rating are low now they must find other type of entertainment so September comes with the idea to organize a race till the death with modified cars where they can have access to weapons and other items.If this sequel included Jason Statham it would been much great. We see the actor who is replaced how is trying to be as good as him but can't. Even so the looks are similar but the talent is not the same. But a good movie in witch action scenes are present and is not a total disappointment.

DEATH RACE 2 is a surprisingly entertaining little straight-to-video sequel to the Jason Statham starrer, itself a remake of a Roger Corman cult classic of the 1970s. I'd even go so far as to say this is as much fun as the first film, although it has only a fraction of the budget and only one returning cast member, as far as I can tell. For DEATH RACE 2 captives the vibrant, adrenaline-fuelled spirit of the first film and Dutch director Roel Reine, himself a veteran of a dozen B-movies, proves to be a better director than Paul W. S. Anderson.To be sure, this is far from a great film and it falls down particularly in regard to the actors, all of whom are ill-serviced by their parts. Luke Goss is nothing more than a dome-headed dunderhead, an obvious stand-in for Statham but one that lacks that actor's trademark intensity and scowl. Lauren Cohan fares little better as an overly-obvious arrogant journalist type, while Danny Trejo has virtually nothing to do in the stock role of car mechanic. The two big names present in the cast, Sean Bean and Ving Rhames, are particularly wasted, given roles which require them to sit around and do absolutely nothing else. Each has about five minutes screen time tops.Still, the screenplay is packed with violent incident, which is always good, and I like the way the smaller budget is disguised by having combatant vs. combatant fights early on instead of car chases. There's only one real chase here, towards the end, which is pretty decent, although I could have done without the laborious twist in which it turns out that…well, you'll have to watch it for yourself to find out. Even with the many detractions, DEATH RACE 2 is a B-movie done right, with all of the high-octane action you could hope for.

Death Race 2 (2010) * 1/2 (out of 4) This direct-to-DVD flick is being sold as a sequel to the 2008 film DEATH RACE but it's actually a prequel and tries to show the early history of the man who would become known as Frankenstein in the following film. In this film, Carl Lucas (Luke Goss) gets sent to prison after killing a cop in a botched robbery and once there he realizes that a female wacko is filming death matches between the prisoners. When the TV ratings on this drops she decides to make it more interesting by offering a race to the death, which would give prisoners their freedom. DEATH RACE 2 has a lot of tough talk but the film never backs any of it up and in the end we're left with a pretty lifeless movie with no guts or glory. The biggest problem is that everything in this movie is pretty tame. This includes the story, the action, the violence and the blood. Now, I understand that the 2008 film was a "pretty" version of DEATH RACE 2000 but why on Earth would they deliver something so tame in this prequel? I mean, you know you're going straight to DVD so why not deliver something fun, wild and over-the-top? The filmmakers didn't even have the guts to show Lucas as a bad guy and just wait until you see how they filmed the cop getting killed. The producers wanted to make sure that you still liked this guy no matter what. Even worse is an incredibly awful love story that is thrown in for no apparent reason. There's a reason romantic comedies don't have bloody violence so the producers of this film should have realized that the people renting a movie called DEATH RACE 2 don't want romance. Goss isn't too bad in his role but he's really not given much to do. Ving Rhames and Danny Trejo both pick up paychecks, which they both deserve. The rest of the supporting cast is pretty much what you'd expect in a film like this. DEATH RACE 2 isn't a complete bomb but it's pretty useless and fails on most levels that should make it a fun exploitation film.