Death Proof (2007)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Zoe Bell, Jordan Ladd, Rose McGowan
Language: English
Runtime: 114 Minutes
Age Rating: 18
Genre: Crime
Reviewed by Ross Miller
For any of you with more-than-average knowledge of the world of film you will know or at least have heard about the controversy over the film Grindhouse. It is a double-bill throwback to 70’s exploitation flicks by fan-favourite’s Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The 3 plus hour extravaganza bombed at the US box office and subsequently the Weinstein’s have decided to release the films separately in international markets.
I have the displeasure of being one of the unlucky people who didn’t get a chance to taken in the full Grindhouse experience and instead have to see the two films separately, minus the promised in-between fake trailers.
Death Proof is Tarantino’s half of Grindhouse only he has taken the liberty of not only giving us that but giving us his original vision of the movie which lasts an extra half hour. So instead of us getting the cut version we get the full, intended version.
The film stars Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike, a deranged psychopath who searches small towns for women who he can kill in ingenious different ways with his “death proof” stunt car. There are basically two halves to this film, the first involving one group of girls and the last half involving another. The following may be considered spoilers but details I shall not go into and it is just a brief oversight as to what the plot is and not actually what does happen. The first half of the movie follows a group of girls as they talk about men, drugs and their plans for that night. Then we see them in a bar where they proceed to drink as much as possible. Stuntman Mike is also in that bar drinking and watching the group of girls. He starts to talk to one girl and convinces her to let him give her a ride home. When she gets in the car it becomes apparent that Stuntman Mike is more than what he seems. He attempts to kill her while she is in the car. Then later on he catches up with the rest of the women and tries to kill them (I’m not going to waste it for anyone by telling you who lives and who dies but what I will tell you is that people do die and the you get to see it in all it’s bloody glory).
When that part of the story ends we come to another group of woman who also drive around talking about men and tell different stories. Their travel in particular and a coffee shop scene shows off Tarantino’s ability to write fun dialogue.
The latter part of the movie sees these women being terrorised on the road by Stuntman Mike after they take a vintage car for a spin. This is the best, most exhilarating part of the film as we see what is arguably one of the best car chase scenes ever put to film.
At the start of the film the throwback to the 70’s grindhouse flicks is extremely apparent. There are scratches on-screen, parts missing (sometimes even whole scenes) and the audio syncing with the dialogue is carefully out of sync. I thought this was a bold but admirable effort at recreating this type of film and even though it sounds annoying believe me it is pure genius. But what bothered me with regards to that aspect of the film was the fact that when we get to the latter half, with the second group of women, the aforementioned scratchy and worn look (and sound) of the film seems to have just disappeared. Then we proceed to have the picture and sound as crisp and clear as any movie that comes out and I must admit that did annoy me even more so than when the picture was technically worse looking. If Tarantino intended to use this technique with the film I wish he would have kept it that way the whole movie instead of changing it half way through.
Another negative point I can think about the film is the fact that the dialogue isn’t as funny or interesting as we have come to expect from Tarantino. The major difference here is that the dialogue comes from females so a certain sense of not being interested as a male is understandable. But still I could go along with the dialogue, which some is funny and interesting but just not all of it, so that we can get to the thing we know is coming and that we paid the price of admission to see.
But now onto what I did like about the film. First of all the characters, who are primarily made up of all females except for Stuntman Mike, are all great. Very well written by Mr Tarantino to make us believe that these women could actually exist in some small town somewhere. As I said although not as interesting or fun to listen to as his previous scripts there is still enough here for you to just sit back and enjoy listening to the witty banter between these women. I don’t think I could complain about any of the performances which are occasionally needfully and intended-to-be over the top. In particular Rosario Dawson, who I have liked in everything I have seen her in, and the woman doing the stunts, Zoe Bell, who isn’t a real actress but an actual stunt woman. I was surprised how well she handled an acting role, making it totally believable that she could be both a regular woman who likes to talk about women things and a stunt woman who half brings the carnage at the end (and the very end shot being one of the best I've ever seen) on herself by doing “some really stupid shit,” to use a quote from the film.
As always with Tarantino music plays a vital part in creating the overall arc of the film. However unorthodox his timeline or general technique of making the film is, it just wouldn’t be a QT film without hand-picked music. Within Death Proof the music is exquisitely perfect to the scene at hand, despite some of it being of a different feel otherwise. And like music – feet play a very important part in any Tarantino film. And his obsession for (bare) feet is probably the most apparent within Death Proof as at every turn, but particularly during the first part of the film, bare feet can almost always be seen. This may be a weird thing for a normal movie-goer to witness but for any QT fan, such as myself, this is a great throwback to his other work.
Within the full Grindhouse film Death Proof is being hailed by critics but panned by movie-goers. And all I can say to those movie-goers is, “what the hell is so different in the cut version that makes you hate this film?” From my viewing of Death Proof as an extended, singular film I really can’t see why people hate this. For me it is one of the best films of the year so far, some people who know me personally may think that I am being bias by saying that. But I went into this film intending to watch it as a film on it’s own and honestly and truthfully I just loved it. Even though I beckon(ed) to take in the full Grindhouse experience on the big screen Death Proof, in my books, works perfectly well on it's own. What starts off as smooth cruise eventually ends up being one hell of a thrill ride.
