The race is announced by “Junior Bruce” (Don Steele), who has that same audacious charisma Stanley Tucci so obviously borrowed for his similar role in The Hunger Games. Machine Gun Joe and ‘Frankenstein,’ played by Carradine, plow through the streets, run people over, gnaw at each others’ throats, etc., all while the camera’s breakneck pace doesn’t pause for exposition or emotion. The basic problem with Death Race, besides its shallow script, is the production value and story, which are nonexistent. Foreigners and people of color aren’t mentioned, but do they need to be? As Stallone’s “Machine Gun Joe Viterbo” punches his female navigator in the face for fraternizing with the competition, I can only imagine how this new America views anyone non White male. Women are worth more ‘points’ than men, teenagers more still, babies even more, with the elderly topping the charts. There’s the sports’ score tallying system, which is a clear stab at social castes. There’s the American flag which bears an uncanny resemblance to Communist Russia.
#Death race 2000 points driver#
There’s one driver whose car is painted with the Nazi insignia that is accepted as normal. In fact, the production is filmed in such a way as to make these victims indeed seem like tokens to be collected, not souls with families or dreams.ĭeath Race, a doubtless inspiration for The Hunger Games, Battle Royale, and countless other films, fails to make a strong statement due to its lifeless approach, even if it is littered with symbolism and social commentary throughout.
#Death race 2000 points drivers#
It’s the blasé nature of this ‘sport’ – a cross country race between drivers with cars that have been turned into weapons who systematically run down pedestrians for ‘points’ – that drives the movie. Honestly, you could have replaced them both with day players and the film would have had the same effect. The film’s stars, David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone, have each been in far better movies. However, much offered in Death Race 2000 seems apropos, especially during an era marked by heightened violence and our desensitization to it. We have cell phones and short attention spans and sever ennui – but murder has not been sanctioned, nor American turned into the new Roman Coliseum.
As is the case with many dystopian films about the year 2000, little of their warnings have come true. It’s the NATIONAL SPORT!” glares out at like an alluring alarm. It’s tagline, “In the year 2000, hit and run driving is no longer a crime. I remember seeing a poster for it about a decade back in a burrito shop that decorated with retro timepieces.
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