DEATH RACE 2 (2010)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

The 2008 DEATH RACE doesn't register as a prequel to the cult film DEATH RACE 2000, but there's no question that DEATH RACE 2 is the prequel to the 2008 film. It's also, despite being cheaper, a little less formulaic in its script, even though one of the writers was Paul W.S. Anderson, who both wrote and directed the previous entry.

True, almost twenty minutes is burned away establishing that Carl Lucas (Luke Goss) is a really boss getaway driver for a heist gang. Nevertheless, he's captured and sentenced to private prison Terminal Island. One problem on the horizon, though he doesn't know it, is that his old boss intends to have Lucas bumped off in prison. His more immediate concern, though, is that he gets pulled into a televised game called-- "Death Match," because "Death Race" hasn't been formulated yet. 

The evil genius behind Death Match, which is simply two guys fighting in an arena with weapons like flamethrowers, is September Jones (Lauren Cohan). She's a beauty contest winner who climbed the corporate ladder on her back, so to speak. However, the ratings for Death Match are down, and her boss (Ving Rhames) threatens termination. So she comes up with the not-very-logical idea of having prisoners pitted against one another in a televised "Death Race," and she persuades Lucas to be one of her drivers. She's also the creator of the idea of having most of the navigators provided by the women's prison. Not surprisingly, sparks fly when Lucas crosses paths with hottie queen Katrina (Tanit Phoenix), not least because unlike previous navigators in the franchise, Katrina is a certified tough girl as well.

The first race begins, and the convicts are challenged to fight for the right to take one of the cars and begin the process of winning clemency. Despite the fact that the show-runners don't know who's going to get what car, there's an announcement of the drivers for the benefit of the audience, all given fancy nicknames like "10K" and "Big Bill." Death Race becomes a hit with home audiences, leading to a second race. This time Lucas and Katrina drive together for the first time, but several drivers target them because of the gang-boss's bounty. Lucas's car is wrecked, and although Katrina is not hurt, Lucas is badly burned. Katrina and the pit crew for Lucas think he's dead, but September keeps him alive.

More importantly, the idea of the disfigured Frankenstein, merely a fantasy in DEATH RACE 2000, becomes a reality. September, not wanting to lose a skilled driver, gives Lucas a face-mask and introduces him to the world as Frankenstein. However, in an ending that ties things up a little too quickly, Lucas has a prison-ally kill off his old gang-boss in order to eliminate the bounty, and terminates September's control of him by running her down-- the first "pedestrian death" in the remake-series. 

Hand-to-hand struggles are more emphasized here, doubtless to save money on the vehicular violence. Lauren Cohan is the standout here, in that she's deliciously evil in her conception of the bizarre deathsport, but both familiar faces (Danny Trejo, Rhames) and relatively new ones (Phoenix) provide good support for Goss, who essays a decent but somewhat underwritten main character.