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. It's a sequel to Death Race 2000, which was out in 1975. As Roger Corman put (Death Race 2050) it, "This is a car-racing picture with a little dark humor."So, what's the story behind Death Race 2050?
2050. The Death Race offers entertainment and population control in the United Corporations of America, which is overpopulated and has a 99.993% unemployment rate. Current Death Race champion Frankenstein spans Old New York to New Los Angeles. Jed Perfectus, Minerva Jefferson, Tammy the Terrorist, and ABE struggle against Frankenstein. Each driver has a virtual reality proxy who broadcasts the event. Frankenstein refuses Annie Sullivan's efforts to interview him and her instructions to let his opponents pass him.
During the time when the racers are traveling across the East Coast, a group of rebels headed by Alexis Hamilton, a former network producer, have set up traps around the region. As a result of Tammy and Minerva stealing members of the other's cult in order to carry out murders, a bitter rivalry has developed between the two of them. After falling victim to a trap set by the rebels, ABE suffers a malfunction, which results in the death of its proxy, and then decides to give up the pursuit of figuring out its true purpose in life. At the first checkpoint, Hamilton gives Annie, who it turns out is working for her as a spy, the order to murder Frankenstein. Her effort to woo him is unsuccessful due to the fact that he is solely focused on the outcome of the competition. In another part of his speech, the Chairman says that Frankenstein's longevity has turned him into a liability for the company, while Perfectus will urge his dedicated devotees to perish at his hands.
On Day two of the race, the drivers go through the country's heartland, which is notorious for its gun-toting people. Tammy sends a suicide bomber to murder Minerva's proxy, Chi Wapp. On another road, Frankenstein takes a shortcut, but his automobile becomes stuck in a cornfield. While Annie is away, Frankenstein fights a gang of Resistance ninjas in order to collect extra points. Annie confesses to being a rebel and tries to recruit Frankenstein at the second checkpoint. Frankenstein, who is apolitical, insults both the rebels and the government, repeating his goal to win the race. Minerva explains to Annie at a bar that she is an educated academic who survives by playing 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 sexual attraction. Meanwhile, Hamilton and the Chairman are revealed to be working together behind the scenes.
To keep the Resistance at bay, the government sets up "authorized" routes on Day 3. An injury to Perfectus' right arm forces Frankenstein to change gears with the help of Annie. Tammy's proxy, Minerva, chases after her but jumps off a cliff to avoid her. Minerva's death is a source of pride for Tammy, but a return of the ABE destroys them both. They kill Hamilton's rebels with the help of Frankenstein, Annie, and Perfectus. The car driven by Perfectus goes off the road and crashes into the VR booth. In Frankenstein's estimation, the Chairman is worth a total of 1,000 points before the race even begins. A Death Race is organized for onlookers to participate in after Frankenstein murders the Chairman. As the country spirals into chaos, Frankenstein and Annie advise repopulating it.
Here is the trailer for the movie Death Race 2050.
Who are some of the actors who starred in Death Race 2050?
- As "Frankenstein," a cybernetic veteran Death Race champion, Manu Bennett portrays himself in this film.
- Malcolm McDowell as The Chairman of the United Corporations of America with a "slight comb-over"
- Marci Miller as Frankenstein's proxies.
- Burt Grinstead plays Jed Perfectus, an athlete whose genes were changed to make him a good driver.
- Folake Olowofoyeku portrays hip-hop artist-turned-racer Minerva Jefferson.
- Tammy "The Terrorist," a religious cult leader, is portrayed by Anessa Ramsey.
- Alexis Hamilton, a former network producer who heads a rebel organization, is played by Yancy Butler.
- J.B., the male commentator on Death Race, is played by Charlie Farrell.
- Shanna Olson portrays Grace Tickle, a female Death Race pundit and interviewer.
- Leslie Shaw as Perfectus' surrogate, Eve Rocket.
- D.C. Douglas (voice) plays ABE, a self-driving racing automobile controlled by AI.
- Chi Wapp is played by Pierre Paolo Goya Kobashigawa.
- During Annie's virtual reality death race, Sebastian Llosa portrays Steve, a naive spectator.
- As Dr. Creamer, ABE's computer programmer, Helen Loris is featured.
How did Death Race 2050 come to be?
Corman received the idea for a sequel to the first picture when being interviewed by an Italian journalist who said that The Hunger Games reminded him of Death Race 2000. Corman approached Universal Pictures, which had created the contemporary version (which Corman believed had lost too much of the original's political criticism), and proposed reintroducing the dark humor of the original. "You did a terrific job," Corman said, "but you left out the pedestrian killings and the broken-society themes."
Filming started while Corman was in his late eighties and coincided with the 2016 presidential election in the United States. It stars an entrepreneur who is now the Chairman of the United Corporations of America. "The president does have a hair style that may be approaching Trump's hair style," Corman told an interviewer, "but I don't want to go too deep into that because Trump will come and go, but the picture will endure."
Was Death Race 2050 a hit?
"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 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." - Decker Shado
In the United States, the film was released on DVD and a DVD/Blu-ray combination with three making-of documentaries: The Making of 2050, The Look of 2050, and Cars! Cars, cars, everywhere! The British release date was March 20, 2017.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 88% approval rating, based on eight reviews with an average rating of 6.8/10 as of June 2020.
Chris Alexander of ComingSoon.net described the picture as "loud, strident, spastic, cruel, stylish, slipshod, foolish, and brilliant in equal amounts." According to Scott Weinberg, who reviewed the film for Nerdist, "it's all incredibly clumsy, ramshackle, and kitschy, but that's just part of the production's'shaggy dog' appeal." According to Screen Anarchy's Sebastian Zavala, "it's got enough blood, guts, naive political commentary, scenery chewing, and bad special effects to become a cult classic."