Death Race 2000

This film is consciously clicheic, and that is all there really is to it.

It has all the classic corny elements -America in the year 2000 under a repressive dictatorship with a "Big brother" type Mr President, a flag that looks remarkably Russian, and a well drilled underground movement that possesses among other things a television station.

The 'plot' centres round a cross-America road race in which points are scored for knocking down pedestrians; there are five stereotyped competitors ranging from the husky male to the All American sexpot. The 'hero' is a new version of the six-million-dollar-man, Mr Frankenstein, who is worshipped by millions of mindless Americans and has him own groupies. The underground intend to sabotage the race and capture Mr Frankenstein in order to have the race symbol of the violence of the system abolished forever.

So given all this, you sit in the theatre, wondering who is taking who for a ride. Obviously the film is not serious - its utter triteness outrules any possibility of this, but then what is it trying to say? All you are left with is a feeling of artificiality that is less realistic than Mr Frankenstein's metal hand.

But, there are several ironic twists to the plot. Mr Frankenstein ends up becoming President and proclaiming a new era of freedom for America but the final gesture in the film (when he runs over an irksome reporter) is violent and the credits fade out on a description of violence throughout the ages. And all this seems to say is that violence is inevitable. Which is very pat and self-indulgent.

In summary this film has nothing at all to recommend it, unless you want to see the plasticity of science fiction taken to its painful extremes And I don't suggest you subject yourself to that.