Death Race 2

Getaway driver Carl "Luke" Lucas attempts to rob a bank for crime boss Markus Kane. During the robbery, two officers coincidentally enter the building. Luke tells his accomplices to abort, but they refuse; Luke intervenes, but it results in the death of one of the robbers. Luke kills an officer and dumps off his accomplices to fulfill Markus's wishes. Luke is captured following a chase and sentenced to prison. Six months later, he is transferred to Terminal Island.

Terminal Island is a private prison controlled by Weyland Corporation, which hosts "Death Match", a televised pay-per-view competition where two dangerous convicts are forced to fight to the death or submission. The prisoners are given access to weapons or defense items to use during the fight by stepping on a marked plate in the arena. Death Match is hosted by September Jones, a former Miss Universe who lost her crown due to allegations of having a sexual relationship with the judges. She now works for Weyland Corporation owner R. H. Weyland to generate profit from the pay-per-view subscribers of Death Match. Luke meets Lists, Goldberg, and Rocco, the former he protects at times from being targeted by the other inmates.

Luke rejects September's proposal that he fight in exchange for privileges in prison and spurns her sexual advances. In retaliation, September chooses the cowardly Lists to fight in a Death Match against a physically imposing black opponent, Big Bill. Luke jumps over a barbed fence to fight for Lists and is briefly assisted by convict and ring girl Katrina Banks. A riot breaks out during the fight sparked by racial tension; convicts break down the fence to get in, and some of the men attempt to rape the female convicts. Katrina defends herself and helps the other women, who are then evacuated. When guards intervene, Luke surrenders. Markus, worried that Luke will trade information on his crimes for immunity, discovers his location at Terminal Island while watching Death Match. Afterward, Luke is well received when he sees Katrina and inquires about her well-being after the fight.

Markus puts a $1 million bounty on Luke's head and convinces some of the prisoners to kill him. Meanwhile, September comes up with the idea of converting Death Match into a race-car match where the contestants will have to race each other in heavily-armed vehicles over three days. Weyland likes the idea enough to incorporate freedom as prize to whoever manages to win five races in what he names "Death Race". Luke joins the race with a pit crew comprising Lists, Goldberg, and Rocco, during which other prisoners try to kill him to earn Markus's bounty. The female convicts are brought back to play navigator for each racer, and Katrina is paired with Luke.

After winning the first race, Luke is congratulated by Weyland, who brings in Katrina as a prize. Once left alone, Luke and Katrina briefly banter with each other and have sex. Later, Katrina is brought to Markus, who offers her freedom if she kills Luke within 48 hours.

During the second race, Luke intervenes in an altercation between two other racers and saves Triad member 14K. As a result, 14K claims to be indebted to Luke. Later in the same race, Katrina warns Luke about Markus's offer. Having discovered that their car was sabotaged by one of their pit crew members, Luke ejects Katrina from the car, which crashes after being hit with a heat-seeking missile fired by Big Bill (who is then killed by his navigator after he accidentally killed his pit crew). Katrina and Luke's pit crew fail to save him from the burning car and he gets blown up; everybody, including Markus, is led to believe Luke is dead. In reality, he survives with extensive scarring to his face. He joins the race under the name "Frankenstein", with a mask to conceal his identity.

As the last race begins, a Triad assassin sent by 14K raids Markus's mansion and executes Markus as a favor to Luke. Lists kills Rocco, who tampered with Luke's car, and Luke kills September by running her over with his car, before he races with the other competitors.

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.[6]

A sequel to 2008's Death Race was announced on November 13, 2009, when casting on the project had begun.[7] Paul W. S. Anderson did not return to direct the sequel, which had been written by Tony Giglio and tentatively titled Death Race: Frankenstein Lives, but stayed on as producer with Jeremy Bolt and Mike Elliott, nor did Jason Statham reprise his role.[7] Roel Reiné was announced as the director earlier in 2010, when shooting on Death Race 2 was underway in South Africa.[8] The direct-to-video film serves as the prequel to Death Race (which in itself a prequel to 1975's Death Race 2000[9]), featuring an origin story for its protagonist Frankenstein and a cast that includes Luke Goss, Lauren Cohan, Ving Rhames, Danny Trejo, Frederick Koehler, and Sean Bean.[8] The film was a co-production between Germany and South Africa[1] and made on a $6–18 million budget.[lower-alpha 1]

Universal Pictures released the film direct-to-video through its home entertainment division on January 18, 2011,[12] although it set the earliest release date for the United Kingdom, December 27, 2010.[4] Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain two versions of the film—rated and unrated—as well as bonus contents including featurettes on the cars, stunts and canonicity of the film, deleted scenes, and a feature-length commentary by Roel Reiné.[10][12] According to The Numbers, home video sales for the film have totaled $8.4 million in the United States and Canada;[13] it reported that the film sold 218,000 ($4.04 million) DVD copies in its opening weekend, making it a decent debut for a straight-to-DVD release. In contrast, the Blu-ray sold 50,000 copies on the same weekend.[14] Universal re-released the film on Blu-ray in a "Death Race 4-Movie Collection" combo pack, on October 2, 2018.[15]

The film was mostly well received by critics upon its release.[19] R. L. Shaffer of IGN found the film to be "a decent follow-up" to its "highly mediocre" Paul W. S. Anderson-directed predecessor with a "carefully fleshe[d] out" origin story for franchise protagonist Frankenstein despite recycling "the same testosterone-fueled homoerotic innuendo, tiresome plotting, action set pieces set to grating death metal and rap, and bored genre clichés" of the latter.[10] Reviews in Dread Central, DVD Talk, and Den of Geek concurred that the film was superior to its predecessor,[4][5][9] while that in Total Film said otherwise;[20] the former's Steve Barton further praised it as "a movie made with a far greater amount of reverence for the source material than Anderson's quasi-remake".[9]

The action scenes were singled out by most for further praise,[19] with their quality described as "solid"[21] and "nicely staged".[22] In contrast, Total Film critic Dan Geary said the final racing scenes were "anti-climactic ... akin to watching someone else's drunken game of Mario Kart", but cited the "Death Match" scenes as one of his guilty pleasures.[20] Barton and Fearnet reviewer Scott Weinberg described the film as forgettable yet an entertaining full-bore action romp[9][23] and DVD Talk reviewer Brian Orndorf called it "an intermittently entertaining actioner",[5] while Josh Modell of The A.V. Club found it boring and nowhere near as "damn good" as its predecessor.[2]

While Shaffer and Screen Daily reviewer Mark Adams found the film's production values spectacular for a direct-to-video release,[10][22] Brad Brevet of ComingSoon.net criticized them as shoddy and went on to say: "The whole production is just pathetic".[24] Den of Geek reviewer Duncan Bowles acknowledged that the film "still had moments of unfinished effects, including some green screen shots, but, if anything, it added to the B-movie charm",[4] and Weinberg said it was "also quite a bit better than what normally passes for a 'DTV sequel'".[23] Orndorf stated: "The most impressive aspects to director Roel Reiné's film are the stunt work and crisp cinematography, giving fans of the first film another round of brutal races and beatings, only this time the picture appears to embrace its feral nature with a little more spunk."[5] Shaffer also praised Reiné's direction, "not to mention inventive camerawork",[10] while Brevet criticized it as prioritizing style over substance.[24]

Adams found the film well cast[22] and Shaffer called the cast "pretty terrific",[10] while Geary said the performances were "awful".[20] Bowles, Geary and Adams felt that Luke Goss was a fine substitute for Jason Statham,[4][20][22] and Orndorf praised his performance in "a thankless role".[5] Most critics further praised the supporting cast, particularly Sean Bean, Ving Rhames, and Danny Trejo,[19] whom Bowles and Weinberg credited with adding entertainment value to the film.[4][23] However, Bowles felt the film deprived its female cast of "the same attention as the males", with Tanit Phoenix and Lauren Cohan reduced to playing one-dimensional roles and photographed in a sexually objectifying way, but that the former "play[ed] adequate enough love interest" to Goss.[4]

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