Filmed in 2017, Death Race 2050 stars Manu Bennett as a futuristic racer, Marci Miller as a female racer, and Malcolm McDowell as a political satirist and action hero. Following on from 1975's Death Race 2000, this one is a prequel to the franchise. "A car-racing picture with some grim comedy" was Roger Corman's description of the film.What is Death Race 2050 all about?
In 2050, the world is in the grip of a dystopian future. The Death Race serves both entertainment and population control in the United Corporations of America, which is afflicted by overpopulation and an unemployment rate of 99.993%. The current Death Race spans from New York City to Los Angeles and includes defending champion Frankenstein. Jed Perfectus, Minerva Jefferson, Tammy the Terrorist, and ABE, a black, artificially intelligent, self-driving automobile, struggle against Frankenstein in this action-adventure film. During the race, each driver is allocated a virtual reality broadcaster who gives the viewers a virtual reality experience of the race. As soon as he meets his proxy, Annie Sullivan, Frankenstein is turned off and refuses to speak with either her or her proposals to allow his opponents past him.
Rebels, headed by former network producer Alexis Hamilton, lay traps around the sector as the cars race along the East Coast. Taking turns murdering the cult members of the other's group, Tammy and Minerva quickly develop an enmity. When ABE runs into a rebel trap, it malfunctions, kills its proxies, and leaves the race to figure out what it's here for. At the first checkpoint, Hamilton instructs Annie, her spy, to murder Frankenstein. Her effort to woo him fails since he is just interested on winning the race. In other places, the Chairman says that Frankenstein has become a burden because of his lengthy life, but Perfectus will urge his dedicated followers to die at his hands.
The drivers traverse through the country's heartland on Day two of the race, which is notorious for its gun-toting populace. A suicide bomber dispatched by Tammy kills Minerva's proxy, Chi Wapp. On another suggestion, Frankenstein takes a shortcut, but his vehicle becomes trapped in a cornfield. Frankenstein fights a squad of Resistance ninjas to get extra points as Annie walks off. Annie confesses to being a rebel and tries to recruit Frankenstein when she reaches the second checkpoint. Frankenstein, who is unconcerned about politics, insults both the rebels and the government, repeating his ambition to win the race. Minerva explains to Annie at a bar that she is a well-educated academic who survives by portraying a clichéd hip-hop persona. When Annie returns to Frankenstein's chamber, she protects him from Perfectus, who is envious of Frankenstein's fame and sex appeal. Meanwhile, Hamilton and the Chairman are revealed to be collaborating behind the scenes.
On Day 3 of the race, the government provides the drivers with "authorized" routes to use in order to escape Resistance assaults. Frankenstein's right arm was injured during his battle with Perfectus, so Annie assists him when he has to change gears. Minerva gives pursuit to Tammy, but she ends up falling down a cliff in an attempt to dodge Tammy's suicide proxy. Tammy gloats over Minerva's murder before an ABE that has returned to the scene slams her into the wall and then blows itself up, bringing both of them to their deaths. While Hamilton and her rebels are wiped out by Frankenstein and Annie, Perfectus takes an indirect way to the finish line. Both vehicles battle it out for first place until Perfectus loses control of his vehicle and slams into the virtual reality control booth. Just before he crosses the finish line, Frankenstein sends a message to his followers in which he suggests that the Chairman himself is worth a point total of one thousand. After Frankenstein has successfully eliminated the Chairman, much to the joy of the viewers, he then invites them to forgo their virtual reality and begin their very own Death Race. Frankenstein and Annie watch from a distance as their nation descends into violent anarchy, at which time Frankenstein makes the suggestion that they should repopulate the nation when the anarchy has subsided.
This year's cast of Death Race 2050 includes
- Frankenstein, a cybernetic veteran Death Race champion, is played by Manu Bennett.
- Malcolm McDowell plays The Chairman of the United Corporations of America, a parody of Donald Trump who has a "slight comb-over in his hair."
- Marci Miller as Annie Sullivan, Frankenstein's surrogate.
- Burt Grinstead plays Jed Perfectus, a genetically modified athlete who considers himself to be the ideal driver.
- Hip-hop musician turned racing driver Folake Olowofoyeku stars as Minerva Jefferson.
- Tammy "The Terrorist," a religious cult leader, is played by Anessa Ramsey.
- Alexis Hamilton, a former network producer who heads a rebel organization, is played by Yancy Butler.
- As J.B., a male Death Race commentator, Charlie Farrell .'s
- Shanna Olson as Death Race's Grace Tickle.
- Perfectus' proxy Eve Rocket is played by Leslie Shaw.
- ABE (voiced by D.C. Douglas) is a wicked, AI-controlled, self-driving racing automobile.
- This is Pierre Paolo Goya Kobashigawa in the role of Minerva's stand-in, Chi Wapp.
- Sebastian Llosa stars as Steve, a bystander in the virtual reality adaptation of the Death Race who observes the action via Annie's point of view.
- As Dr. Creamer, ABE's computer programmer, Helen Loris is cast.
How did Death Race 2050 come to be?
An Italian journalist told Corman that The Hunger Games resembled Death Race 2000 during an interview. Corman called Universal Pictures, who created the current version, to bring back the original's dark humor. Corman told them, "You did well, but you removed the pedestrian killings and broken-society themes."
Filming started while Corman was in his 80s, just around the time of the 2016 presidential election in the United States. It portrays a businessman who is currently the Chairman of the United States Corporations. "The president does have a hair style which may be approaching Trump's hair style, but I don't want to go too deep into that, since Trump will come and go and the film will stay."
Is Death Race 2050 popular?
"There are a number of Death Races in a film series about the Death Race that is coming to an end. Following the late 2000s and early 2010s Death Race trilogy with Jason Statham, Roger Corman returns with Death Race 2050. While both films were enjoyable in their own right, they had little in common with Death Race 2000, a 1970s B-movie. So Corman gets this out-of-control burning disaster back on track with blog a three-day race across a dystopian America, where pedestrian deaths earn points for out-of-control personalities! This time, though, the title has a 50 at the end." - YouTuber Decker Shado
The Making of 2050, The Look of 2050, and Cars! were released on DVD and DVD/Blu-ray in the United States, along with three making-of documentaries. Cars, cars, cars! On March 20, 2017, it was released in the United Kingdom.
Based on eight reviews with an average rating of 6.8 out of 10, the movie currently has an approval rating on rottentomatoes.com that is at 88% as of the month of June 2020.
Chris Alexander described the picture as "loud, shrill, spastic, sadistic, stylish, slipshod, stupid and smart in equal measures." in an article for ComingSoon.net. "All very clunky, ramshackle, and kitschy," remarked Scott Weinberg in his Nerdist review, "but that's just part of the'shaggy dog' charm of the production." "it’s got enough blood, guts, simplistic political commentary, scenery chewing and terrible special effects for it to become a cult classic." a website's Sebastian Zavala wrote.