Dvd
Death Proof
'Death Proof' is Tarantino's big expensive homage to 70s, down and dirty exploitation flicks... or as Variety put it, exploitation culture "bites, kicks, slugs, blasts, smashes and cusses its way back to life". The girl power story follows Kurt Russell as a veteran stuntman and psycho Mike, who stalks and kills beautiful women with his car.
Starring Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Rose McGowan, Zoe Bell, Quentin Tarantino
Directed by Quentin Tarantino ('Kill Bill', 'Jackie Brown', 'Pulp Fiction')
Written by Quentin Tarantino
Crime, Action | 1hr 54mins | Rated (R16) | offensive language, violence & other content that may offend | Origin: USA | Official Site »
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The Talk
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Flicks review
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4
Forget about the ‘Grindhouse’ experience for a moment, and imagine that Tarantino’s latest adventure exists independently. It doesn’t, and it shows, but just imagine anyway. We get a movie that feels hip but unimportant; entertaining but long-winded. It’s really a great night out in every way except one: the dialogue.
There’s no denying that Death Proof is an enjoyable experience, but the long stretches of chatter where girls talk about everything from their sex lives to some ancient television shows stretch the patience of even the biggest film nerd. And at one point, just before the action revs up for the last time, the inane banter between the women has reached the about-to-walk-out-of-the-cinema type. It’s painful.
Right. Now that’s out of the way, let’s just clarify that the rest of the film is absolutely brilliant. It’s a stylish homage to old cheap films, and comes complete with scratches, missing frames, discolouration and shoddy editing. It’s sort of a gimmick but at least it comes across as something different. In cinematic terms, it’s like an oasis in a desert (I was a bit disappointed that they give up with these tricks after about half-an-hour into the film).
The acting fits the bill. Kurt Russell is one bad-ass psycho. Nearly everyone else is female, and a hot one at that. New Zealand stunt woman Zöe Bell plays herself and not only provides an extremely likeable screen presence, but gets to do a sweet bit of bonnet-riding as well.
The script is patchy. The story feels pretty thin, and structurally it feels odd since it’s basically split into two halves. Styling a film as a cheap grindhouse flick leaves little option, really. You get the visual look, but you also get the tacky half-baked tale that goes with it. Anyway, the soundtrack is terrific, and the production design is excellent (The film’s set in 2007 but it looks like 1977).
The final car chase was one old-school action scene that had everyone cheering. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good old car vs. car in the American mid-west, and it makes one hell of a welcome return to our screens.
Like him or leave him, the best thing about Tarantino’s films is that they don’t pull punches. If the dialogue goes on and on, he doesn’t care. He’ll even shoot it in one continuous take where the camera glides around the table. He’ll put in a lap dance scene for three minutes. He’ll repeat a car crash four times to show what happens to each passenger (It ain’t pretty). He’ll do what he wants; f*ck you if you don’t like it. It’s ironic to think that a film based on such clichés ends up so refreshingly different, but Tarantino has crafted something with guts. For that reason alone, Death Proof is great.
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The people's reviews
5 reviews
Press Reviews
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BBC
3
The shift between stories is as sudden as the ending - no doubt in tribute to Tarantino's beloved cheap "grindhouse" features, but that doesn't make it any easier to swallow. There's plenty of fun to be had with Death Proof, but its imitation of a defunct, low-budget style of movie-making is perhaps too accurate when it comes to the genre's flaws...
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Empire Magazine [UK]
4
Seriously entertaining American filmmaking and definitely not the half-serious pastiche it could easily have been. No seatbelt, no airbag, no nuthin’ — just Tarantino driving wildly under the influence...
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Lumi?re Reader [Wellington]
4
Similarly at odds with the exploitation double-bill, Death Proof defiantly – even unconsciously – stands alone, and however self-aggrandising, contains some smashing moments, builds to a considerable fck yeah, and works even better on its own terms...
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NZ Herald [Francesa Rudkin]
Death Proof is certainly entertaining, but it's also baffling and will have you wondering what the point of it all is.
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The Christchurch Press
4
Sure, it's full of injokes, self-indulgent references (why would two modern girls love Vanishing Point?) and self-referential indulgences (Red Apple cigarettes and Earl McGraw turn up) and Tarantino-isms abound (listen for familiar ringtones, and irrelevant, meandering conversations), but it's a hell of a lot of fun and strangely empowering. While attempting to replicate the gloriously bad movies of his youth, Tarantino couldn't help himself. He went and made a good film...
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The Dominion Post [Graeme Tuckett]
4
Tarantino treats his film set like a toy box, and his movies are still a guilty pleasure to watch. Nice one...
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TV3 [Kate Rodger]
2
1/2 Had me laughing out loud in parts, grossing out in others, and yawning through the rest...
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