Grindhouse (2007)
Director: Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Zoe Bell, Michael Biehn, Marley Shelton, Naveen Andrews
Language: English
Runtime: 191 Minutes approx.
Age Rating: 18
Genre: Horror, Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Reviewed by Ross Miller
*Since I have reviews already written and up on the site for Planet Terror and Death Proof as seperate movies I thought it pointless to review them together over again. Therefore I have provided excerpts of each review below and links to the full ones, with a section at the end summing up my thoughts of the full Grindhouse experience.*
Planet Terror
I am a huge fan of monster pictures, especially one’s involving vampires or zombies. So Planet Terror was one heck of a fun time at the theatre for me. Heads get blown off and bodies mutilated left, right and centre but in such an over-the-top fashion that it comes off as gleefully cartoonish and fun rather than offensive or disgusting. But taking that into account this ain’t for the faint of heart or the squeamish. There are moments in the film that some people would gag at but for the rest of us they are moments to chuckle happily along with.
The make-up and gore effects of the film are simply superb. They look as convincing and realistic as rotting zombie flesh possibly could. From what I understand it is Rodriguez’s studio TroubleMaker that did the effects so kudos to them for making them so good looking.
Although I don’t want to give any spoilers away I must just point out that there isn’t much to spoil. There is little or as simple of a storyline as there possible could be. The film is basically just kill the zombies and try to survive, that’s it. But the things that happen within that simple storyline are worth every minute of your time and every penny of the admission price. The fun of the film lies within the ridiculously over-the-top things that happen within it; from a one-legged stripper using a gun as a prosthetic leg to a woman with broken wrists opening a car door and driving away quickly. These are just a couple of examples of some of the crazy, imaginative and extremely entertaining products of Rodriguez’s and Tarantino’s imaginations.
Read the full review of Planet Terror here
Death Proof
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.
Read the full review of Death Proof here
Grindhouse Overall
The overall Grindhouse film is pretty much the epitome of an in-theatre entertaining experience. You get two movies, back-to-back directed by two exciting, very popular directors with the added bonus of fake trailers before and in-between the movies from such people as Rob Zombie, Eli Roth and Edgar Wright. Some will want to see it for the Rodriguez side of things in Planet Terror - the gore, cheesy dialogue and bloody violence - and others will, while at the same time enjoying that, be waiting for the Tarantino side of things in Death Proof - the clever, well written, insanely detailed chick power movie. Whatever your preferance the package as a whole makes for an insanely entertaining time at the movies.
