Death Race 3: Inferno

Plot

Death Race owner R.H. Weyland (Ving Rhames) has been forced to sell the rights to Niles York (Dougray Scott), a British billionaire who acquired the rights by hostile takeover. York reveals he intends to relocate Death Race to the deserts of South Africa as a Transcontinental Race. Before leaving, Weyland arranges Carl Lucas, also known as Frankenstein (Luke Goss), to have surgery to heal the infected and deadly scars on his face sustained from his gruesome crash. With Lucas one win away from gaining his freedom, York threatens to kill him if he wins.

Before his first race, Lucas engages in a fist fight with other racers and his mask is knocked off in the middle of the fight, revealing to his crew who believed him dead. Before the first race, all of the female navigators had to participate in a Death Race "Navigator Wars" and Death Race itself is now hosted and produced by Satana (Hlubi Mboya). Contestants to be chosen are the top 10 survivors, with Katrina (Tanit Phoenix) among the survivors. Before the first race, all racers receive GPS locators surgically so the showrunners can locate where the racers are at all times and, if necessary, kill them if they attempt an escape.

During the first race, racing in the deserts of Africa present a different set of difficulties compared to racing on the Terminal Island prison race course. Eleven racers take the start, but one, Jackal, jumps the start and is killed by the missile tracker. Joker, Pretty Boy, and the Tazmanian Devil also die in the first sector. Razor beats out Frankenstein by a hair to win the first race.

After the race, Katrina tells Lucas they cannot resume their previous relationship as she is hearbroken over finding out he kept his survival secret from her. A fight ensues after the first race and Goldberg (Danny Trejo) is cut in the scuffle. The show's surgeon, Olivia (Kim Syster), makes advances on Goldberg and the two establish a relationship. In order to make Katrina jealous, the producer Satana orders Psycho's (Jeremy Crutchley) navigator Amber to have sex with Lucas, who seems to refuse the offer. Satana and York grow suspicious that Lucas is up to something due to his non-rebellious attitude to being forced to lose. Lucas then explains to his team mates his deal with York to lose and says instead he made a "new deal."

The second race then commences with the death of three more drivers. Fury is killed after being tricked by Olga Braun (Death Race's first ever female driver) and she is in turn killed by Razor seconds later. Afterwards, Razor is struggling to handle both Lucas and Psycho before the three are joined by 14K (Robin Shou), having disabled Nero's car before leaving him to get beaten to death by an angry mob of locals. The race ends with Lucas emerging victorious in the second race. But at that moment, Goldberg is caught in an explosion caused by stray bullets from local hostile war lords, and is pronounced dead. Later on, York reminds Lucas he is to lose his next race to 14K or York will torture him and Katrina. Satana then discovers York wishes to replace her as producer and remove her from Death Race so he can assume complete control. Before the next race, Katrina confesses her love to Lucas, and Lucas admits he did not have sex with the other navigator when he had the chance.

Before the final race, Psycho and Lucas have a chat about the identity of Frankenstein and if Lucas was the first. The final race begins with Razor disabling Psycho's car, and Psycho dies in the flames while his navigator Amber survives without taking any damage. Lucas takes the lead with York attempting to kill him with a homing missile, but 14K shoots flares to divert the missile and destroy it, saving his life and returning the "life for a life" favor.

Near the end of the race, Lucas holds a commanding lead and kills many of the Death Race guards along the way, vowing to kill York. However, Lucas allows 14K to pass him and then speeds to York. As York attempts to escape, Satana handcuffs him to a table for attempting to replace her. Lucas crashes his car into the control room and explodes, engulfing the room in flames. Initially, it is insinuated that everyone except Lucas perished in the crash. However, it is revealed that Lucas and Katrina escaped unharmed, and now the unrecognizable York as Lucas, aka Frankenstein. In order to assert York is Frankenstein, Lists (Fred Koehler) confirms it is him, along with the show's surgeon who claims the implanted chip is that of Lucas's.

It is then revealed that Lucas's "new deal" that he made during the meeting with Weyland was to fake Goldberg's death; the surgeon falsely pronounced him dead, and after the crash, she pronounced York and Katrina dead and Lucas as the only survivor. Since York is now "dead", Weyland regains control of Death Race and grants Lucas, Katrina, Lists, and Goldberg their freedom, but Lists refuses the offer and returns to Terminal Island. Weyland pays Lucas a substantial amount of money for his help regaining control of Death Race, and he and Katrina relocate with Goldberg elsewhere. York is punished for his crimes and imprisoned in Terminal Island, forcing him to become the second Frankenstein.

Racers and Navigators

Other cast

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 50% of 6 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 5.1/10. Scott Foy of Dread Central rated it 3/5 stars and wrote, "Movies like Death Race 3: Inferno are like a piece of chewing gum – the flavor is fleeting, you spit it out when you’re done without hesitation, but it gave you the minor fix you were after." Jesse Skeen of DVD Talk rated it 3/5 stars and wrote, "This movie probably won't win any awards, but it's great mindless fun." David Johnson of DVD Verdict called it an "ultimately a loud and tedious chore." Scott Weinberg of Fearnet wrote, "Cheap, choppy, and almost shamelessly by-the-numbers, Death Race 3 earns points for the same reason its predecessor did: it's quick, slick, enjoyably empty-headed, just energetic enough to smash through the finish line".