I avoided DEATH RACE 2000 for a long time because I thought it would be too violent and sadistic just like the remake with Jason Statham. But I figured that since it was made in the 70s it couldn't be that bad. And it isn't. Special effects have gotten much better. The blood in the remake looks real. Anybody can tell that the blood here is fake. The violence is also quite minimal. I mean, there's a scene where a guy's head gets crushed under a car tire but trust me, it really isn't as gory as it sounds.
The movie is only around 75 minutes long, which is as long as it needed to be. There really aren't any scenes that I thought were unnecessary. I really liked the story and the political commentary. The action scenes were pretty good for a movie that cost just $300,000 (around $1.5 million in today's money) to make. I still can't get over the fact that this spectacular (and I promise I'm not using that word sarcastically) movie was made for only that much money. (By the way, I didn't give this movie 10 stars for being good AND inexpensive, just for being good. I'm just saying that the fact that it was inexpensive is amazing given how good it is.)
Anyway, another thing that I really liked about this movie is that it is really funny. I don't want to give any specific examples since DR2K is so short and it's best if you watch it without knowing much about it, but there are some scenes that might seem sadistic at first but really aren't.
This isn't a movie that takes itself too seriously, which I really liked. Here's the thing. Every dystopian movie has an absurd premise. I can't think of a single one that doesn't. So why are they so serious? (There are maybe a few exceptions, like LOGAN'S RUN, which is somewhat serious but not excessively so.) Take THE HUNGER GAMES for example. It's so serious but, ultimately, the premise is quite ridiculous. The makers of DEATH RACE 2000 knew they were making a movie with a droll premise and apparently didn't hesitate to make it lighthearted and humorous. I thought it was hilarious how Matilda the Hun, the Nazi driver, yelled "Blitzkrieg!" every time she ran someone over. Sylvester Stallone as "Machine Gun" Joe Viterbo has some really great lines such as "You lousy stinking dirtball. You've got two seconds to live!"
I can't believe that the late Roger Ebert gave this movie 0/4 stars. That was another reason why I avoided this movie for quite a long time. Now don't get me wrong, I really liked reading his reviews and I agreed with his opinions on many of the movies that he reviewed. But go look up his review. It's really not a review of the film itself. It's more of a criticism of movie theaters that don't enforce MPAA ratings.
DEATH RACE 2000 is one of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen. You might think it's a movie that's so bad it's good but it's not. It's just good.
The movie is only around 75 minutes long, which is as long as it needed to be. There really aren't any scenes that I thought were unnecessary. I really liked the story and the political commentary. The action scenes were pretty good for a movie that cost just $300,000 (around $1.5 million in today's money) to make. I still can't get over the fact that this spectacular (and I promise I'm not using that word sarcastically) movie was made for only that much money. (By the way, I didn't give this movie 10 stars for being good AND inexpensive, just for being good. I'm just saying that the fact that it was inexpensive is amazing given how good it is.)
Anyway, another thing that I really liked about this movie is that it is really funny. I don't want to give any specific examples since DR2K is so short and it's best if you watch it without knowing much about it, but there are some scenes that might seem sadistic at first but really aren't.
This isn't a movie that takes itself too seriously, which I really liked. Here's the thing. Every dystopian movie has an absurd premise. I can't think of a single one that doesn't. So why are they so serious? (There are maybe a few exceptions, like LOGAN'S RUN, which is somewhat serious but not excessively so.) Take THE HUNGER GAMES for example. It's so serious but, ultimately, the premise is quite ridiculous. The makers of DEATH RACE 2000 knew they were making a movie with a droll premise and apparently didn't hesitate to make it lighthearted and humorous. I thought it was hilarious how Matilda the Hun, the Nazi driver, yelled "Blitzkrieg!" every time she ran someone over. Sylvester Stallone as "Machine Gun" Joe Viterbo has some really great lines such as "You lousy stinking dirtball. You've got two seconds to live!"
I can't believe that the late Roger Ebert gave this movie 0/4 stars. That was another reason why I avoided this movie for quite a long time. Now don't get me wrong, I really liked reading his reviews and I agreed with his opinions on many of the movies that he reviewed. But go look up his review. It's really not a review of the film itself. It's more of a criticism of movie theaters that don't enforce MPAA ratings.
DEATH RACE 2000 is one of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen. You might think it's a movie that's so bad it's good but it's not. It's just good.