Death Race 2: Review By Jay.A.Ottley

Ok, first all people ITS 2011, HAPPY NEW YEAR and I got some EXCLUSIVES reviews to dazzle your eyes, but alas before I finished my Millenium Trilogy reviews, I'd thought I'd treat you gorgeous, handsome MOVIE-WEBBERS to a over dosage of SEAN BEAN with the following review and BLACK DEATH.

ENJOY!!!! :)

Right, so where do we start with this, well if you watched the 2 previous installments to this cult hit, well the original is a cult hit, the 2008 remake, not so much, but your in for a treat as this direct to DVD delivers what is the finest and best DEATH RACE so far.

The film begins with Carl Lucas (Luke Goss) whose a getaway driver for big shot and menacing crime lord, Markus Kane (Sean Bean). Carl is stands as Markus best driver and is called in for a bank heist, which goes terribly wrong and ends with quite a phenomenal car chase and the imprisonment of Carl to Terminal Island as he chooses loyalty to Kane over any form of deal the D.A is willing to offer. Kane who stands worried that despite he loves Carl like a brother, feels that he won't stand loyal for too long and a hit is order while Carl stands in the prison that streams DEATH MATCH LIVE. In which the actions that Carl does, creates a pretty damn amazing origin story for the most memorable character of the series.

The acting is top form for a direct to DVD flick and it delivers complete flames to its predecessors visions, which is shocking because these kind of films don't perform that, but I guess there is a rare case of it.

Luke Goss delivers his best performance on par, with his roles in Hellboy 2 & Blade 2. He truly creates a memorable origin story and becomes a character that burst out of the screen, his logical and loyal, despite the odds he faces.

Sean Bean is menacing and brutalic as Markus Kane and his screen presence and performance is as memorable as Alec Trevelyn. His character has flair with a cold-heart, he'll show no mercy about blasting a bullet in any ones head that fails him or gets in his way. He'll also go to extreme lengths to ensure his own safety. I actually want to see him in a gangster role after this flick.

While there are other notable actors within the film like Danny Trejo, Ving Rhames, Robin Shou (who I actually never recognised in the 2008 remake) and Taint Pheonix & Lauren Cohan. In which all of the following deliver actual good performances. They make their character their own and take control and dominate their roles, despite this is just another action flick.

The visuals of this film and the action are the same old same old as any action film, and if you know about DEATH RACE, then you know what to expect. FIGHTS, BLOOD, RACES, GUNS, ACTION, EXPLOSION & GIRLS. Its quite frankly an over dosage orgy of the capitalised combination. Also the thrills of this film never stop. The battles and races are an adrenaline rush c*cktail for a near-brilliant origin story, I say near-brilliant because the only brilliant origin story I can think of is Batman Begins.

Whoever did the music to this flick did a bang-up job of making more adrenaline rush through the action sequences with a combination of hardcore Hip-Hop to Rock, to tracks that build up the sequences to intense levels of entertainment. The races are accompanied by the likes of DMX and others, I only could recognised DMX, by his voice and i'm a fan of his music.

What gets eliminated?

Despite the acting, visuals and story of this film is top form, the director, Roel Reine, does a good job of directing this flick. But a lot of the time the film feels like its all over the place, or maybe I should be blaming the editors, Radu Ion & Herman P. Koerts, the film is extremely choppy when it hit the pedel to the medal, and some of the cuts don't fluently mirage with its prior transition or its following. The film is still great though, and its only like that on the race sequences, which are gritty and hard-hitting.

What comes 1st place?

I'm quite a fan of the original, despite it wasn't sheer brilliance, and yeah i still got it on good ole VHS. But what blew my mind with this flick is how they've created a really good origin story for Death Race. This flick shows how Death Race is born via prison fights which are intense as they come, its surrender or die. It then visually portrays how the concept of Death Race is created and Death Match evolves to Death Race, which becomes the highest showing show in the world. Its much better than the 2008 version and for once Paul W.S Anderson final got something right after destroying multiple franchise and sending them to extinction. Ok that may sound a bit cruel since he did a fine job producing RE:Afterlife and Pandorum, but this is quite epic for a straight to DVD flick and its a rarity, and this should have been in theatres.

Final words

Death Race 2 is the definitive reimagining of Death Race, its like how everyone would have preferred a prequel to A Nightmare On Elm Street, which unfortunately that didn't deliver. But Death Race 2 burns the tracks and takes the film to a new level with a grand origin story for its concept, it has a menacing cast with great chemistry between the protagonist and love interest. The story just builds and builds to something near-epic and by the time the film hits it resolution and climax and everyone gets their just desserts. The final frame of this film will leave any fan, with a big fat dirty grin of awesomeness, after being intoxicated with a barrage of explosions and a barrage of heavy artillery.

Definately worth a rent or even a buy, and kiss that 2008 remake goodbye :)

This EXCLUSIVE & FIRST review was brought to you by Jay.A.Ottley