torstensonjohn
Death Race 2, an actual prequel to 2008's Death Race. It is a sci-fi/action film directed by Roel Reiné, written by Tony Giglio and Paul W. S. Anderson. The plot of the film is about a man (Carl Lucas) portrayed by Luke Goss who is a wheel-man for a crime kingpin portrayed by Sean Bean. A bank heist goes terribly wrong, Lucas is sent to a maximum prison facility known as Terminal Island for life. There he encounters death fights put on for entertainment purposes run by Lauren Cohan and Ving Rhames. The storyline gives us how the character "Frankenstein" was developed and how the actual Death Race came to be. The acting is not award winning by any stretch but it certainly is not horrible. Lauren Cohan is creatively brilliant as the money hungry, power wielding antagonist running the show. Luke Goss comes across as plain, and not very driven but maybe that is the creativity stand alone. Danny Trejo is just a face in the film really with not much substance for his character.The film is adrenaline fueled, violent to an extent, certainly not as gory as 2008's Death Race. All in all the story moves well and it has it's moments for the small budget it was filmed on. It is not a power house of a film, BUT is worth a watch. 6 out of 10
venoxben
This movie is one hell of a ride from the beginning when we meet our main character to the end where he becomes Frankenstein, to the gorgeous navigator to the Savagery of the Death Match to the birth of this new type of combat from Goldstein and Lists (who I thought for longer than I should of thought his name was lisps) this movie sets up everything you want if you want more of the murder and deadly Death Race while setting up the legend that is Frankenstein which in the 3 movie is compounded on the legend, and the cruel but honest and fair business man of Weyland. And all of it compounding on Luke his family tiring to kill him the other drivers trying to kill him and the crazy host trying to make a quick buck off of him.
ewalddd
Until the part that Carl Lucas died from the burns, it was fairly watchable, but after that, the Sc-Fi part came (where he was turned Frankenstein), and I didn't like it anymore. Had they cut the Frankenstein-part, then maybe the movie overall had been a bit better. The Frankenstein-part killed the fun for me... Also the movie was a bit too long, after the death of Carl Lucas, I lost my interest, and only watched to the end because I like to watch the whole movie, especially when already watching longer than an hour. Also a lot of things that seem illogical for me, and a bit too much sex-related stuff... Sorry, but 1 out of 10 for me...
BA_Harrison
Me and Luke Goss go way back. In the '80s, I almost attended the same house party as the aspiring pop star (I knew where it was, but I wasn't invited), and in the early '90s I saw him shopping for CDs in Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard (then again, it might have been his brother Matt). Anyway, I'd have never imagined in my wildest dreams that a local lad could go on to become a major pop sensation, let alone a Hollywood action movie star, appearing alongside such legendary names as Ving Rhames, Sean Bean and Deobia Oparei. No, siree.In Death Race 2, a prequel to Paul W.S. Anderson's Death Race (2008), Goss plays dashing getaway driver Carl 'Luke' Lucas, who is hired by crime boss Markus Kane (Bean) for a bank robbery. When the job goes awry, Lucas is arrested and sent to privatised, top-security penitentiary Terminal Island, where prisoners take part in a televised death match. However, as ratings start to fall, sexy host September Jones (Lauren Cohan) is forced by her ruthless boss Weyland (Rhames) to come up with an even more violent spectacle, The Death Race, in which nine inmates (and their ridiculously sexy female co-drivers) race around the island in armoured vehicles loaded with firepower in a bid to win their freedom. No prizes for guessing that Lucas makes the cut, the driver teamed with hottie Katrina Banks (Tanit Phoenix), who must have been jailed for being criminally sexy.As straight-to-video action sequel/prequels go, Death Race 2 isn't as absolutely awful as it might have been: having clearly spent some time in the gym since warbling 'Drop the Boy', blue-eyed pretty boy Goss actually makes for a fairly impressive action star, and the crazy, stunt-filled race scenes offer enough explosive thrills and excitement to happily sink a few beers to. The film is, of course, throughly preposterous at times, but I have a sneaking suspicion that that may have been the intention. Certainly no worse than the first Death Race movie, Death Race 2 is just about enough fun to make me want to check out part 3, Death Race: Inferno, which is actually a sequel to this prequel, but still a prequel to the original film.
AD
