Gimly

There is some decent fun to be found in _Beyond Anarchy_. It's more _Escape from LA_ than it is _Death Race 2000_, but still an entry in the franchise, which brings me to the core problem of Beyond Anarchy: Is it even really a _Death Race_ movie? The answer is yes, but to go beyond that an ask: Should it have been a _Death Race_ movie? The answer's probably no. As I said to begin with, I had some fun with the movie, but the things that kept bringing it down were its awkward, half-hearted attatchments to the movies in the series that had gone before it. If they had have abandoned those sentiments completely, it probably would have made a better viewing experience, but then, if that had been the case, how could you call it _Death Race 4_? The opposite approach probably would have worked too, having Beyond Anarchy be an actual sequel that follows _Death Race 3_ and what came before in a way that makes sense, but then, it couldn't have been even close to the movie that we got. Instead we have _Beyond Anarchy's_ sequel-limbo status, a movie that I don't regret watching, but that also can't really work for people who are fans of the _Death Race_ franchise, or for people who have never even seen a Death Race movie. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._