Privatised prisons make a killing forcing inmates into pay-per-view car races to the death in director Paul WS Anderson's bluntly violent take on the future for extreme sports and reality TV. Jason Statham consolidates his action-hero credentials as ex-Nascar champion Jensen Ames, who's framed for murder to become a pawn in the machinations of sadistic warden Hennessey (Joan Allen), until he sets his own escape agenda. Though very loosely based on the cult flick Death Race 2000, this is more like The Shawshank Redemption meets the video game Twisted Metal, as the political satire of the 1975 original is dulled here by a surfeit of epic crashes, spectacular explosions and bloody revenge. It's a frenetically edited stunt collection that is serviceably packaged by Anderson - despite some gaping plot holes. Statham does his charismatic moody loner turn, but it's Ian McShane who rises above the exploitation B-movie script with A-list production values, playing a genius mechanic who provides Statham with his weapons-customised vehicle.

Terminal Island, New York: 2020. Overcrowding in the US penal system has reached a breaking point. Prisons have been turned over to a monolithic Weyland Corporation, which sees jails full of thugs as an opportunity for televised sport. Adrenalized inmates, a global audience hungry for violence and a spectacular, enclosed arena come together to form the 'Death Race', the biggest, most brutal event.