Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Death Race 2050
January 16, 2017
Death Race 2050 - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
The original Death Race 2000 is one of my favorite films of all time. It is campy, B-movie fun with a serious satirical streak to it. The film spawned a remake / prequel in 2008, which in turn spawn two, soon to be three sequels, none of which really captured the essence of the original. However, Death Race 2050 is produced by Roger Corman, so does that mean it will be closer in tone and quality?
Before I get into the question of tone and quality, I will say this, Death Race 2050’s plot is nearly identical to Death Race 2000’s plot. Not only is the basic setup the same, a dystopian America features a cross-country death race to thin the population, but there are also very specific plot details that also match. Four of the five drivers are different, but even here you can see parallels to the original.
So let’s get to the drivers, because they are as close as we will get to a plot. First is Tammy the Terrorist, a fundamentalist who might worship Elvis. It’s hard to tell. Minerva Jefferson, a rapper who is making her racing debut to promote her latest single, “Drive, Drive, Kill, Kill”. There’s an artificial intelligence racer, Abe, who is joined by his creator, Dr. Creamer. Jed Perfectus is a genetically engineered racer and the main competition for our hero... Frankenstein. Each driver also has a “co-pilot”, who acts as a camera person for the virtual reality segments that viewers at home can experience. The only co-pilot that gets any character arc is Annie Sullivan, who is Frankenstein’s co-pilot. He’s not happy to have her with him and she’s not a fan of the race in general and him in particular.
Meanwhile, like in the original, there’s a rebellion, this time led by Alexis Hamilton, because Hamilton is a lot more popular now than Thomas Paine is. They want to stop the race and end the reign of the Chairman.
Yeah... that’s about it for the plot. Like I said, if you’ve seen the first one, you know what happens in this one.
Death Race 2050 also maintains the campy quality of Death Race 2000 with intentionally weak special effects, over-the-top characters, and other B-movie elements. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the same charm and the political satire doesn’t have the same sharpness. (I would argue that any satire here isn’t intentional and is merely mimicking Hunger Games.) Furthermore, it is far, far too similar to the original movie. I don’t mind remakes; some of my favorite movies are remakes. However, for a remake to be good, it must do something new with the material, because otherwise you might as well watch the original. Sadly, this is the case here. Too much of this movie is lifted directly from the original and almost none of it is as good. None of the villains have the screen presence Machine Gun Joe or Calamity Jane had. Jed Perfectus even has this weird gender confusion element and that feels like the movie is punching down.
That’s not to say there are no parts of the movie that work. Manu Bennett and Marci Miller have good chemistry together as Frankenstein and Annie Sullivan. Marci Miller doesn't have a lot of roles on her resume, but she should get more roles after this film. Malcolm McDowell and Yancy Butler are great in supporting roles. Some of the action scenes are good. However, there’s really no reason to watch this movie over the original.
Most of the extras are making of featurettes. There’s a ten-minute overview, a six-minute look at filming in Venezuela, a five-minute look at the cars, and the cast showing off their cars. Finally, there are ten deleted scenes with a total running time of about six minutes. This isn’t bad for a Direct-to-DVD release, but also not a major selling point.
Death Race 2050 falls for the biggest trap remakes can fall. What it does right, the original does better. There are not a ton of extras on the DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack, so even if you are interested in this movie, a rental will be enough.
The Movie
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, Roger Corman’s Death Race 2050, Hunger Games, Yancy Butler, Roger Corman, Malcolm McDowell, Sylvester Stallone, Mary Woronov, Folake Olowofoyeku, Anessa Ramsey, Manu Bennett, Marci Miller, Burt Grinstead, Helen Loris