Death Race 2000 was a cool cult flick that starred David Carradine and a then unknown Sylvester Stalone among others in an over the top and fun b-movie Sci-Fi romp. It was remade in the 2000s and there were a few straight to video sequels, but none of them compared well against the original. So I was surprised that Roger Corman would approach Universal Pictures, which owns the rights to the property, to do yet another remake or reimagining, but this time the film would be produced with a low budget through Corman's New Horizon Pictures, which coproduced the film. Yet I figured as long as Corman was inovolved, maybe it would be fun. Sadly I was wrong.
Despite a cast that stars Manu Bennett (Spartacus TV series, The Hobbit Motion Picture Trilogy) and Malcolm McDowall (A Clockwork Orange) as the head of a Corporate United States in a post apocalyptic future, the film flounders on bad CGI gore and effects combined with an obnoxious score and a story with no likable characters whatsoever.
Manu Benett has zero charisma compared to David Carridine and Malcolm McDowell simply plays it all tongue in cheek, but without any real menace. As a result he looks and acts ridiculous. I really wanted to like this movie, but the remake from a decade earlier was better than this and neither stand up to the original.
Universal Studios Home Entertainmebt presents Death Race 2050 in a clear 1080p/24fps (1.78:1) widescreen high definition picture aspect ratio that makes the cheap effects look worse because of the added clarity The English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Audio Soundtrack fairs no better mostly because of the overused loud punk like soundtrack. French and Spanish Language DTS 5.1 Soundtracks are provided along with English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtiltes.
Several featurettes covering the making of the film (10:16), the look (6:29), the cars (4:33) and a reel of ten deleted scenes that can be viewed individually or in succession (5:35) are included to support the feature. Bonus video previews for Hard Target 2 (:43), Desierto (:33), In A Valley Of Violence (:33), The Take (1:40) and Mr. Robot (1:02) wrap up the bonus content on the Blu-ray Disc.
A standard definition copy on DVD and an insert containing a redemption code for either an i'Tunes or Ultraviolet Digital Copy are included within the Blue BD case.
Roger Corman's Death Race 2050 will debut on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and Digital Copy on January 17, 2017 courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
(C) Copyright 2017 By Mark A. Rivera.
All Rights Reserved.
