Death Race (film)

Death Race
Directed by	Paul W. S. Anderson
Produced by	Paul W. S. Anderson Jeremy Bolt Roger Corman Paula Wagner
Screenplay by	Paul W. S. Anderson Robert Thom (1975 screenplay) Charles Griffith (1975 screenplay)
Story by	Paul W. S. Anderson Ib Melchior (1975 story)
Starring	Jason Statham Joan Allen Tyrese Gibson Ian McShane Natalie Martinez
Music by	Paul Haslinger
Studio	Relativity Media Cruise/Wagner Productions Impact Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	August 22, 2008 (United States and Canada) September 26, 2008 (United Kingdom) October 30, 2008 (Australia)
Running time	104 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$45 million
Box office	$75,677,515

Death Race is a 2008 American science fiction action thriller film produced, written, and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and starring Jason Statham.
Though referred to as a remake of the 1975 film Death Race 2000 (based on Ib Melchior's short story "The Racer") in reviews and marketing materials, director Paul W.S. Anderson stated in the DVD commentary that he thought of the film as a prequel.
A remake had been in development since 2002, though production was delayed by disapproval of early screenplays then placed in turnaround following a dispute between Paramount Pictures and the producer duo Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. Death Race was acquired by Universal Studios, and Anderson re-joined the project to write and direct. Filming began in Montreal in August 2007, and the completed project was released on August 22, 2008.
Two direct to video prequels were released: Death Race 2 on October 31, 2010, and Death Race 3: Inferno on January 22, 2013.

Plot

In 2012, the economy of the US collapses. Unemployment and crime rates skyrocket, and the sharp increase of convicted criminals leads to privatized prisons for profit. The warden of Terminal Island Penitentiary, Hennessey (Joan Allen), earns profits from the pay-per-view broadcast of a modern gladiator game called “Death Race”, using the prisoners as players. The racers, along with their navigators, drive a 3-part race over 3 days on a closed track at Terminal Island. On the track are various pressure plates: swords activate the racers' offensive weapons, shields activate defensive weapons such as oil, smoke, and napalm, and skulls ("Death Heads") activate deadly metal traps which rise up from the track. The reward for the drivers is that any racer who wins 5 races will be granted freedom by Warden Hennessey.
At the end of one race, a masked driver named Frankenstein (David Carradine) is nearing the finish line against his only surviving competitor and rival Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson). His navigator, Case (Natalie Martinez), reports that his defensive weapons are malfunctioning, and is ordered to eject from the car just before Joe blows it up.
On the outside, Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) struggles to live normally and provide for his family in the ruined economy. When the steel factory he works at is closed, he returns home and promises his wife that he will provide for her and their new-born daughter, Piper. He is suddenly knocked down by a mysterious assailant - waking up covered in blood, with his wife murdered. He is arrested by the police, finding he has been framed for killing his wife.
Six months later Ames has been convicted and sent to Terminal Island. After getting into a fight with Pachenko (Max Ryan) and his Aryan Brotherhood gang, Hennessey, along with her right hand man, prison guard Mr. (Darryl) Ulrich (Jason Clarke), informs Ames that – unknown to the public and the other racers – Frankenstein is dead, but as he was so wildly popular, she wants to keep his legend alive for the ratings. She coerces Ames to clandestinely assume the persona, enticing him with only needing one victory to earn his freedom since Frankenstein held four victories. She points out that, by wearing Frankenstein's mask, only a few inside people will know he is not really Frankenstein, including his maintenance crew of Coach (Ian McShane), Gunner (Jacob Vargas), and Lists (Frederick Koehler).
On Day 1, Ames meets Case, who also knows he is not Frankenstein. Ames handles himself well, even taking out another racer, but his defensive weapons mysteriously malfunction, just like in the previous Frankenstein's last race. When he sees Pachenko do the same "gun" gesture as the person who killed his wife, Ames is distracted and is hit by Joe, and comes in last place. In all, three racers have been killed (Siad, Hector Grimm (Robert LaSardo), and Travis Colt (Justin Mader). During a conversation with Hennessey, Ames pieces together that Pachenko had killed his wife at the behest of Hennessey so she could recruit him as Frankenstein's replacement to maintain her pay-per-view profits.
On Day 2, Ames forces Case to admit that she has been sabotaging Frankenstein’s car on the orders of Hennessey in exchange for her release papers. Case was never meant to kill Frank or Ames, but to stop them from winning so Frankenstein could remain in Death Race. Ames targets Pachenko and causes him to crash, then leaves his car and breaks Pachenko's neck. Then, Hennessey unleashes the Dreadnought, a massive 18-wheel tanker with many weapons that Hennessey unexpectedly adds to the race to boost ratings. It kills three more racers (Carson, Riggins, and 14K (Robin Shou) before Ames teams with Joe to trigger a "Death Head" which destroys the Dreadnought to the shock and horror of Hennessey. Since Ames contacted Joe personally during the race, Joe figures out Ames' identity, so Ames decides to have a talk with Joe.
Aware that Ames knows her secret, Hennessey tries to maintain the ruse of granting him freedom but asks him to consider staying on permanently as Frankenstein. As a precaution, she has an explosive planted under his car for Day 3, knowing she can replace Ames with another masked Frankenstein.
On Day 3, Hennessey deliberately keeps Ames from activating his weapons but allows Joe to activate his. It makes no difference, as Ames (with Case) and Joe escape by driving their vehicles through a weakened wall discovered by examining footage of Grimm's demise; Hennessey unsuccessfully tries to activate the bomb, which had already been discovered and removed by Coach and his team. Hennessey sends attack helicopters after Ames, Case, and Joe, who make it across the bridge that connects the island to the mainland and split up. When the helicopters follow Ames under Hennessey's orders, Case offers herself as a bait in the Frankenstein costume to repay the old Frank, and because she’d already been given her release papers. She is captured while Joe and Ames escape on a freight train.
Hennessey, although furious about the escape, is happy about capturing Frankenstein (unaware that it is Case) and also for her earning millions of dollars from the highly successful pay-per-view. She is given an anonymous gift for her record-breaking ratings that contains the bomb she failed to detonate. At that moment, Coach remotely detonates the bomb, killing Hennessey and prison guard Ulrich, and proceeds to break the fourth wall by looking into the camera and stating he loves this game.
Six months afterward, Joe, Ames, and his daughter are shown living honestly in Mexico, where they work as mechanics at a local used car dealership. Suddenly, Case shows up in her new modified 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS car she won in a race. Ames then reflects on how no one could love his daughter more than he does, and that she is his chance at something else, something better, which to him is "all that really matters".

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