Death Proof (18)
Dangerous driving....
Quentin Tarantino’s contribution to the two part homage film Grindhouse. A psychotic stunt driver (Kurt Russell, Poseidon) stalks groups of young women. His only intention, to subject them to horrifying ordeals on the road and kill them using his ‘death proof’ stunt car.
Originally released as a double feature, Grindhouse also featured Robert Rodriguez’s zombie flick Planet Terror. After box office failures in America, it was decided that the two films should be released separately for European audiences and the fake trailers and advertisements that bridged them were dropped.
A grindhouse was a type of cinema in the states that showed underground films, such as exploitation, kung fu and splatter movies, that mainstream theatres wouldn’t show. They would often run double or triple features, usually because they would only have the movie for a limited time. There would often only be one or two copies of the films, due to low budgets and this meant that the same copies would pass from theatre to theatre, making their way all around the US. This in turn meant that the film itself would deteriorate through use leaving it looking very scratched and grainy. They would even end up with bits missing. Sometimes whole scenes and even reels.
Death Proof is the first part to be released here and also stars Rosario Dawson (Sin City), Vanessa Ferlito (C.S.I New York), Rose McGowan (Charmed) and Kiwi stunt double Zoe Bell (Kill Bill, Xena), who is great.
This film is a very slow starter. So slow in fact, that by the end I felt like I’d sat through an hour and a half of another film, just to watch the good stuff in the last thirty minutes.
Tarantino loves shooting scenes with people sitting around a table or in a car or in a bar just talking about things that have nothing to do with the plot. He’d probably tell you that he loves scenes like that because “they’re real, you know?”. Unfortunately there’s just too much of it and most people don’t go to see films like this for the reality. I, for one, got very bored of listening to groups of girls gossiping about men and being bitchy to each other. There are some great performances in there though and if good performances aren’t what you’re after, then there’s at least lots of pretty things to look at.
The whole film is stolen by the main man, Russell. Who is mysterious, intriguing, dangerous, psychotic and very funny. The only problem I had with him was that he isn’t in it nearly enough. The film is supposed to be about him, isn’t it?
I was actually quite excited about this film at the start. Unfortunately, hot cars and hot chicks just wasn’t enough to keep this film from being, on the whole, 'excitement proof’. The last few minutes, from the time the girls go for a test drive, are the best and I wish I could say the whole film was that cool. It’s never a good thing when the best you can say about a film is that the ending was good. The ending is great though.
Apparently Death Proof is the stronger of the two Grindhouse films, hence it’s release first. If that is true then Planet Terror must be like watching flies copulate.
However, I suspect that Rodriguez’s effort will offer more in the way of action, thrills and splatter. So if that’s the case, and that’s your taste, it’s got to be a whole lot more entertaining. Bring on the zombies!
Disappointing.
2 out of 5
(Thanks to the Odeon Cinema, Leicester for letting us review this film)
