The year is 2012. The world has plunged into a deep recession; crime and unemployment are on the rise. Private corporations run the prisons across the country for massive profits. One of those prisons is Terminal Island which broadcasts 'Death Race' to the public via pay per view on the internet (very profitable business, it seems).

It’s a 'drive-to-the-death' for the prisoners who race in sooped-up cars armed with bazookas, cannons, shields and basically anything else on offer that can be nailed, glued or prestik-ed onto the vehicles. If a prisoner wins five races, he gains his freedom.

When Jenson Aimes (Jason Statham), a local steelworker is framed for the brutal murder of his wife, he’s shipped off post-haste to Terminal Island where he meets the formidable, frosty prison warder, Hennessy (Joan Allen). The power-crazed ice-queen is the brains behind Death Race and coerces Aimes into driving in place of a former masked prisoner called Frankenstein.

Clearly then 'Death Race' is aimed squarely at the male population and features all those testosterone-fuelled images that boys dig. Needless to say, there’s oodles of gore and (some particularly nasty) violence; wicked car chases; manly men and smokin’ hot babes. I'm just not sure which female prison has their inmates wearing low slung hipster jeans, miniscule tank tops, and glossy, bouncy do's but there you go; I told you this one was for the boys…

Unsurprisingly the acting is unremarkable and the storyline paper thin. 'Death Race' is a largely forgettable action movie but it could pass for an amusement ride at the movies. Give it a spin, it's mindless fun.