Death Proof

Year: 2007
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Sydney Poitier, Vanessa Ferlito, Tracie Thoms, Jordan Ladd, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rose McGowan, Zoe Bell


I finally made the time to watch the other half of the Grindhouse feature by Quentin Tarantino. I had seen Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror a couple of months ago, and compared to this, it's still more over the top. But Tarantino isn't without his quirks and flaws in his feature.

This review I'm writing will probably be the first one where I keep the sypnosis real short. Why? Because there really isn't much to go on. Here goes: Death Proof focuses on a psychopathic stuntman called Stuntman Mike, who uses his death proof car to kill unsuspecting women. Why is the car death proof? Because it was built to protect the driver from serious harm.

Yeah, that's about it. Short enough for you? OK, now for the rest of the review. Let's start with what I like about it. There's a car crash in the middle part of the film. A spectacular one, which is horrific enough to stick in your mind for a while. Kudos to Tarantino for pulling it off. I don't know how he did it, had to be special effects of course. But well executed. There's also a lengthy car chase at the film's climax, which is only mildly entertaining, but not bad. And another plus point: the music. Tarantino uses obscure 60s and 70s music for his film, and it works. Really. Now, I'm not a fan of songs from that era, but damn, I loved the music he put in here. Wonderful.

Now for the downside of Death Proof. While Rodriguez's flaw is over-the-top ridiculousness, Tarantino's guilty for self-indulgence. And the fact that he doesn't really have a plot to hold the film for 2 hours. So what did he do? He filled the film with dialogue. Not just any dialogue. Stupid, unnecessary, irrelevant dialogue. I mean, think about it. The girls in this film have to talk about something, right? Tarantino pictures all the girls as bitchy, stoned, chain smoking, expletive spewing white trash/black huchi mamas in skimpy outfits who spend their time driving around with their feet out the car windows. And what do these girls talk about? Weed. Sex. Two-timing loser guys. And all that shit. Is this what modern day women talk about? Excuse me if I got it wrong, Mr Tarantino. Your movie may seem quite retro, but your characters use cellphones and read magazines with Jessica Simpson on the cover.

Anyway, the dialogue has no real connection whatsoever to the plot, if there really is one to begin with. And Tarantino spends an obscene amount of time on that! Nonstop chatter among girls, who probably deserve to get run over by Stuntman Mike. If Tarantino wrote them that way so that we can cheer Mike on, then fine. He got that right. Speaking of Mike, Kurt Russell does a decent job as said character, but his about turn behaviour at the end spoiled the fun. The ladies playing all the girls turn in decent performances too, despite being fed some of the dumbest lines you'll ever hear. But at least it's mildly hilarious to listen to them converse. Just a little.

I'm on the fence for this movie, just like I was for Planet Terror. If you plan on watching this, lower your expectations.

By the way, one worthy mention is the ending, which is borrowed straight out of old 70s Chinese kungfu movies. Funny, if nothing else. (3.5/5)