Prequel to Death

If it's unknown, well no more; I'm a movie geek and decided to present my take on a few silver screen efforts.

 If you heard of Death Race (DR) 2 and was extremely skeptical about it; you were in the same boat as I. If you however, knew it was coming and hunted it down with vigour; kudos to you. I heard of DR2 and didn’t even think of it twice. What more could they get out of DR that we didn’t already see in the first and quite frankly why ruin a good thing? Didn’t they learn from the Fast and the Furious?

 Seems they did actually; preferring to do the prequel to the story instead of a sequel. In DR2 we see the advent of commercial prisons and the brains and bodies behind Weyland’s Death Race. The prison’s infamy starts off with a riot that is caught on camera and pushes TV ratings for their parent company through the roof. The reporter, September Jones caught in the middle of the riot comes up with an idea of using the prisoners as entertainment through fights known as Death Match. Think WWE without the acted out punches and talk. She uses her body to push her agenda. The animosity among the prison gangs gives the program its edge but eventually, the ratings fall and the brains behind the Death Match comes up with Death Race after she hears a convict expertly drive through the soon-to-be circuit featured in Death Race.

 Carl is the convict, jailed for unintentionally shooting a cop during a botched bank robbery. He doesn’t see himself joining Death Match but is forced into it by September Jones. After Death Match is shut down, he is recruited into Death Race with the lure of his freedom.  

 Carl is played by Luke Goss who also features in Tekken. Lauren Cohan plays the manipulative September Jones while Ving Rhames adds star power o the flick as Weyland’s top man, Weyland. Tanit Phoenix plays Katrina Banks, Carl’s love interest. The movie is not winning any awards that have nothing to do with driving anytime soon but it is a worthwhile watch with plots flowing well into each other. The downside personally was the sex scene thrown into the works without precedence. Part of the charm of Death Race was the lack thereof one. Me thinks Paul Anderson got so much flack for it he decided to throw it in to shut people up.