Let me begin by saying that I have a fondness for Sci-Fi movies from the 70′s and the bleak corporate run future they always presented.  Soylent Green, Logan’s Run, the original Death Race, and my personal favorite Rollerball.  The remake was garbage.  The feel of the movie is important, and this version of Death Race keeps with that twisted dystopian view.  The world’s problems have only gone even further out of control, and nothing has been solved.  Energy crisis, food crisis, and a population crisis spinning beyond any viable solution, not to mention the sheer greed and corruption of the ruling corporations, focus is putting on “keeping the masses in check.” 

            The main character, Jack, is the son of a banned Nascar driver.  During a race, Jack’s father, Kyle, tried to force a car into the wall.  The car spun out, went across the track and crashed into the pit killing 14 crew members.  He is kicked out of Nascar and banned from racing.  Years later he’s offered a chance to drive for the first Death Race.  The first race is an illegal competition held in a secret location over a 100 mile stretch of highway.  The race is secretly funded by the government, with political prisoners and refugees as the targets.  The race victims are kept on the road, or near it with electronic wristbands which prevent them from going too far off the track.  The Death Race is a thinly veiled act of population control.  The idea is to turn mass murder into sport, and help alleviate the pressures of the world’s overgrowing problems. 

            Because Kyle’s accident was such a big tragedy, and heavily watched in replays, they want him as a driver.  To make him race they kidnap Jack, and hold him until the race is over.  Kyle agrees to compete to save his son, and plans to use the money to make restitution to the lives he destroyed.  He’s never forgiven himself for what he did, and even made Jack remember the names of each person that was killed in the pit accident.  The race is point based with points given for running people over.  Just like the original movie.  The race, broadcast live over the internet, becomes an underground hit. 

            After the third year, is considered an official sport.  Kyle starts to become a celebrity again.  The race gets bigger, with more drivers, partners, and bigger cars.  No longer on an abandoned stretch of desert highway, The race now runs cross country where ever the driver choose to go.  With marketing and specialized promotion people begin to “assists” their favorite drivers by lining up “points” for them.  Some of the more rabid fans offer themselves as points for their favorite driver. 

            During his eighth race, Kyle’s car suffers damage from a fellow contestant.  With his partner, Marshall, behind the wheel, Kyle climbs out on the hood to dislodge a spike in the hood.  Running low on time and points, Kyle’s partner shakes him from the hood and runs him over, killing him.  Running over his own partner gives him the extra points he needs to win.  Marshall becomes the new king of Death Race. 

            Four years later, Jack enters the Death Race to get revenge for his father’s death.  A man that was forced to take part in the race, and tried to use his fame to right the wrongs of his past.  Kyle used the money from his races and sponsorship to create trust funds for the victims of his accident, knowing they wouldn’t take the money from him directly. 

            Jack ends up partnered with a woman who is trying to stop the death races.  She unveils to him the hidden plans of the world’s governments to make the Death Race global.  She shows Jack satellite photos of bridges secretly being built to connect the continents.  She reveals that the new Death Race contestants, half of whom are foreign, are winners from overseas underground death races.  Like most sci-fi movies of that era, the government’s actions are fully explained.  Like that scene in Rollerball (the original- the good one.  Sorry, Jean Reno), where the party guest go outside and blow up trees?  Huh?

            As we reach the climax, Jack falls himself falling behind in points, and his car damaged.  The predicament mirrors that of his father’s last race.  With his partner out on the hood of the car, you cane see the choice to help get ahead in points.  Jack doesn’t kill her, and loses the race.  Determined to get revenge and help stop the races, he crashes into the winners circle and runs over the current winner and his father’s old partner. 

            Now, there are obvious flaws and problems with this brief treatment, if you can call it that.  But, after learning of the travesty they were making I felt no need to continue working on my idea.  Is it perfect, no.  But it could have been a really decent movie.  Even with its flaws.

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