← Back to Reviews
in
|
|
Year of release
2007
2007
Directed by
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Written by
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Starring
Kurt Russell
Rosario Dawson
Zoe Bell
Vanessa Ferlito
Tracie Thomas
Kurt Russell
Rosario Dawson
Zoe Bell
Vanessa Ferlito
Tracie Thomas
Death Proof
Plot - A bunch of girls talk a lot. And I mean a LOT!!! Then a psychotic stuntman named Stuntman Mike (Russell) enters their lives with the goal of ending said lives. His weapon of choice is his car, which as all good stuntmen would do, he has had death-proofed. And that's pretty much it. Onto my aggravated rant about it! 
Wow, did this movie really not do it for me! I've got to say I felt it was pretty much garbage, and not the good kind of garbage that I was expecting. While it does have the rare cool moment, for large stretches I found this to be exceptionally dull. And I have no idea how Tarantino managed that! I mean how can you possibly make a grindhouse film about a demented stuntman who uses a deathcar to terrify and kill innocent girls, and yet make it one of the dullest movie experiences I've had in quite some time? I'll admit that I have no real exposure to the 'grindhouse' scene other than through reputation, but this really is not what I thought I was in for. It is a brutally slow experience with so much time dedicated to nothing but the girls just chatting amongst themselves, and not even about important stuff relevant to the plot, just inane prattle! It felt more like a piece of independent or arthouse cinema than the trashy exploitation I was expecting. I haven't got round to watching the other half of the Grindhouse package, Planet Terror, as of yet but at least that looks like it might be quite fun and isn't taking itself too seriously. This however has a paper thin plot that it somehow stretches to a painful 100 minutes, the most self indulgent dialogue imaginable and a group of female characters so irritating and obnoxious (and seemingly unable to manage three words without cursing) that I actually couldn't wait for Russell to show up and smash their brains in. Some of the performances from his female cast are actually quite lively and charismatic, but are just completely sabotaged by the characters. And even when Kurt Russell does finally come along to put the first group of girls and the audience out of its misery, Tarantino immediately introduces another band of four cackling girls to infuriate me! AAARGH!!!! 
Tarantino utilises a few tricks and techniques to try and visually grasp the feel of the grindhouse film; tricks like grainy film stock, scratches, reel jumps and clumsy editing. Initially they may come across as quite fun and cute but I found that the novelty quickly wore off. At least the visuals worked for a brief period, the film's dialogue however just got on on my last nerve right from the off. As I said I've not seen Planet Terror but at least it appears like Robert Rodriguez may just have embraced the idea to make a stupid, trashy film. It almost feels like Tarantino however couldn't bring himself to just make a dumb film, he had to try and make it 'cool' by dumping a s*it-load of his self conscious dialogue onto it. And while it works in some of his work, most notably Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, I just found it so indulgent and narcissistic here. I found Inglourious Basterds to have a similar problem and films like this just make me wish a strong producer, or editor, or script editor or whatever would come in and really reign in such tendencies. After such a stunning start to his career I just feel that too often he is doing stuff just because he wants to, rather than it actually lending anything to the films themselves. But that's just me, and I'm aware it's not a opinion shared by all that many people. Oh and also it annoyed me a little that we never got any resolution for Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character. Her friends and in turn the film just abandon her in a decidedly dodgy situation. It feels like we should either see some horror befall her, or that Tarantino should play off our expectations; delivering either a moment of dark comedy such as reversing our expectations and have her rape him, or just have something very innocent like the girls return to find them drinking tea together and watching an episode of Murder She Wrote. Oh or Pretty in Pink seeing as she name-checked that film earlier.
There were however a few (very few) things which stopped me from truly despising this film, though it was a close run thing. For a start it features what has become very much a staple of Tarantino's work; a pretty cool and eclectic little soundtrack, this time comprising a mixture of musical cues from Morricone alongside some semi-obscure rock and R&B from the 60s and 70s. And even if the big car chase finale felt rather underwhelming and conventional, it does feature some truly astonishing stuntwork from Zoe Bell. Watching her clinging on to the hood of the car for all she's worth is a decent little thrill. Oh and Vanessa Ferlito's damn sexy lap dance. That was certainly a highlight. But all of that only makes up for like 5 minutes of a numbingly long 110 minutes.
But all of that only makes up for like 5 minutes of a numbingly long 110 minutes. However, the film's absolute star attraction is most certainly to be found in the form of Kurt Russell. I found him to an absolute hoot as Stuntman Mike, just terrifically sleezy in the first half of the story and then a hilariously pathetic crybaby in the second half. The film just comes alive whenever he appears on the screen, not that he has much competition to be fair. When he's not there I found myself slipping off into a bit of a coma, making it all the more unfortunate just how little screentime he actually gets. He's the best thing about the whole film by a mile, and he's also present for every one of its best moments - his unsettling first abduction and kill, his crash with the four girls and its gloriously excessive limb-ripping results and lastly the film's brutal exclamation mark at the hands of Rosario Dawson's boot heel. That final scene created the kind of silly grin I had expected to be sporting throughout the film, but just really, really didn't.
I just really didn't understand this film. I don't understand its purpose or what it was aiming for. I'd say there's a fine line between paying homage to a bad movie, and then simply just making a bad movie. And I personally felt that Tarantino crossed that line. I know some people on here really like, or even love this film; including people whose opinion I have a lot of respect for (honeykid, Godoggo, Gabrielle etc) but after now seeing it I've rather baffled as to how. I'm struggling to understand what they or anyone sees in it.
Conclusion - Quentin Tarantino himself has named this as his worst film to date. And now that I've seen it I'm certainly not going to disagree with him. Personally I thought it was an immensely poor film with extremely little in terms of redeeming features. Tarantino has made some truly great films but at times he completely bewilders and even annoys me with his self-indulgent, egotistical ways. And from what I've seen so far, I don't think he's ever been more guilty than he was here. And to be honest I think I've been highly generous with my rating. Thankfully he had Kurt Russell in tow to ever so slightly save the day.