Death Race 2000 was frankly aimed as a rip-off of Rollerball, but it has a number of advantages over the original. It never takes its pretensions or its future projections too seriously.

The picture zips along, and there's a flip craziness about it -- it's an ideal drive-in movie.

A fast-moving offshoot of Rollerball, much more entertaining than its predecessor, mainly motored by a gallery of grotesque characters and a high-spirited enjoyment of its own absurdities, rendered in a black comedy comic-strip form.

The action is fast and furious, even if the premise is a little spooky.