Watch Death Race (2008) Online

Within four years from 2008 the economy of the United States has fallen into disaster, unemployment, and crime are on the rise, and private corporations run most prisons across the nation for profit. The movie focuses on the Terminal Island Prison, which broadcasts "Death Race" to the world via a popular paysite on the Internet. Death Race is not only a race to the finish line, but a battle pitting car against car.

The film begins by showing a race near its end between Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson) and a famous masked driver known as Frankenstein (David Carradine in a voice-over cameo appearance), who is accompanied by a female navigator. During the race, Frank's defensive systems fail. He orders his navigator to "Drop The Tombstone" a 6 inch steel plate in the rear of the car, dropping it disconnects it from the car, hurling it towards Joe. Joe's car is heavily damaged but he manages to destroy Frank's car since the Tombstone is gone, his fuel tank is exposed. His navigator ejects, leaving Frankenstein to race to the finish line. Joe fires a volley of Rocket-propelled grenades to Frankenstein's car. Frankenstein's car is blown over the finish line in a flaming inferno, within Frankenstein critically wounded, or dead.

Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) is framed for his wife's murder on the same day that the steel mill he works at closes; the murderer is actually a masked intruder that points a finger-gun at Ames as he leaves. Ames is sent to prison where he makes enemies by fighting with a white supremacist gang, led by Pachenko (Max Ryan). He is taken to Hennessey (Joan Allen) who tells him that those men will kill him without her help. Thus he is coerced by the sadistic prison warden to become the new driver of Frankenstein's Ford Mustang. She tells Ames that she knows of his baby that was left in foster care, and that prisoners are freed upon winning five Death Races, but since he will take on the mask of the legendary Frankenstein, who had 4 wins at the time of his death, he will only need to win one race. The races are broken apart into three stages: Stage 1 and 2 are races in which the driver must survive, and Stage 3 the driver must win the race in order for it to add to the count towards freedom.

Ames meets his pit crew, Coach (Ian McShane) his crew chief who has been eligible for parole for three years. Gunner (Jacob Vargas) the mechanic for his car, and Lists (Frederick Koehler) who has background info on all the drivers. Lists tells Ames about the other drivers, Hector Grimm (Robert LaSardo) AKA "The Grimm Reaper" a clinical psychopath and mass murderer, Travis Colt (Justin Mader) an ex-NASCAR driver trying to regain his fame, 14K (Robin Shou) a tenth generation Triad and considered to be the smartest in the prison because he's the only one who went to MIT. Ames also learns that Pachenko is the driver for the gang he fought with earlier, he also learns that no one knows just how many he's killed off the track.

Just before the Stage 1 Race, Ames is introduced to his navigator, Case (Natalie Martinez), who happens to be Frankenstein's previous navigator. During the race, Ames see's Pachenko make the same hand gesture as the intruder that killed his wife. Siad is killed when his car is impaled on a Deathhead and explodes as it folds back into it's slot. Travis Colt is killed when after Ames system's fail again he uses Case's ejector seat to launch a napalm canister on his car, Case then ignites him with a cigarette lighter. Grimm is killed when after crawling from his wreckage, Machine Gun Joe's Gatling gun hits him while Joe is traveling at high speeds. Ames finishes last after taking a hard hit from Machine Gun Joe.

Ames learns he is part of a plot to keep the legend of Frankenstein alive, solely for the personal profit of Hennessey. He confronts Hennessey about the driver, but instead she shows him pictures of his baby living with foster parents, asking him if he thinks he could provide for his baby better than the foster parents. Angered, he takes one of the pictures and leaves. The night before Stage 2 he makes a trip to the garage of Pachenko's team to confront him. He is then ambushed by Pachenko but is helped by Lists who stabs Pachenko in the back with a pen, allowing Ames to retaliate and nearly kill Pachenko. His revenge is thwarted by the head prison guard Ulrich (Jason Clarke) who tells him to save it for the race.

Ames goes into Stage 2 of the race and immediately questions Case on her intentions, threatening to eject her into the ceiling of a tunnel if she does not answer truthfully. She tells him she was ordered to sabotage Frankenstein's defense weapons so he would not win his freedom, and thereby she would earn her own. Ames realizes he is not meant to survive the Death Race at all, but is meant to die so another "Frankenstein" can be brought into the prison and he's , "Just to make it exciting". He later concludes that one way or another Hennessey will sabotage any driver that gets close to winning five races; she will allow no one to leave the contest alive. He seeks revenge during Stage 2 by crippling and rolling Pachenko's car allowing him to turn around drive back and to get revenge up close and personal as Pachenko crawls away from the car wreck, pleading with Ames saying that Hennessey made him. Ames replies that "shes next" and snaps his neck. Five drivers remain until 14K, Carson, and Riggins are killed by 'The Dreadnought', Hennessy's secret weapon, (an 18 wheel tank truck filled with massive machine guns) that had been in production for months. Ames and Machine Gun Joe are able to destroy The Dreadnought using one of the Deathheads, they manage to box it in and force it into the death traps and finish Stage 2. Realizing that Ames knows what's going on, Hennessey orders Ulrich to plant an explosive under Ames' car before Stage 3 of the Death Race, ensuring that Ames does not cross the finish line alive. However, Ames devises his own scheme when Coach shows him a video of Grimm's death, highlighting that Grimm's car collided with a billboard in the earlier race, Ames then meets with Joe, who now suspects him to be "Frankenstein" and tells Joe that he and Frankenstein should talk.

The Stage 3 Race begins with only two drivers remaining: "Frankenstein" and Machine Gun Joe. The race begins, and Ames soon takes the lead. However, the odds are against Ames as Hennessey rigs the track to benefit Joe. Throughout the entire lap, Joe keeps hot on Ames' tail, hammering him with bullets, Ames drops the Tombstone again, but Joe dodges it without taking damage. As they near the beginning of the second lap, Joe preps newly added missiles and fires an RPG in Ames' direction, seemingly with the intent to kill him. However, they miss the car and instead hit the billboard at the first turn of the track. It is shown that the Ames saw a pathway to the bridge leading off the island behind the destroyed billboard in the video he and his crew reviewed.

Ames and Joe escape onto the bridge, pursued by police cruisers and helicopters. As the cruisers close in on the two cars, Ames releases his exposed fuel tank, causing it to explode and stop the pursuing cars.(Gunner had equipped Ames with an extra half-gallon tank for his escape). Turning to her backup plan, Hennessey then orders that the explosive under Ames' car be set off, but nothing happens because Coach had found, removed, and deactivated the bomb prior to the start of the race, proclaiming "nobody fucks with my car." Escaping past the bridge, Joe and Ames separate, and Hennessey orders the helicopters to focus on Ames, but he switches seats with Case when she tells him that Hennessey had already signed her release papers, and that she owed one to the old Frankenstein. He bails out of the car without being seen, making the helicopters believe he is still inside. Joe meets up with Ames and they board a train to escape, lamenting on Hennessey's continued existence. Soon, Ames' Mustang is stopped and Case, posing as Frankenstein, is apprehended.

Later, Hennessey believes she still won after all, Ulrich then hands her presents sent to her for the record number of viewers subscribing to the Death Race. However, the explosive that was put on the Frankenstein car is inside, and Coach blows them up, stating directly into the camera, "I love this game."

Six months later, Ames and Joe are shown working in a junkyard in Mexico, when Case unexpectedly arrives. The two men are happy to see her, and Case kisses Ames, on which he shows his baby, Piper. The movie closes with Ames explaining that even though he knows he's far from being the best parent in the world, no one could love his baby more than he could.

• Official Movie Web Site

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