Death Proof

Review by Sean Lynch

Love him or loathe him, it’s difficult to deny that Quentin Tarantino knows how to make movies look cooler than George Clooney at a Playboy house party. While the stories may often become intertwined messes, one thing remains consistent – style.

And in his latest opus, Death Proof (one half of the now famously ill fated and financially unsuccessful Grindhouse double feature with Sin City’s Robert Rodriguez), is no different – because this thing looks superb.

Harking back to the days of B-Grade drive in gore-fests (with authentic grainy film, scratches and poorly edited jump cuts included), Death Proof is certainly a far cry from the complex story lines and parallel narratives of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs or Kill Bill. In fact, there’s very little plot here at all. It’s essentially a two act short story (to be honest, it’s basically four elongated scenes), with little in the way of point or purpose.

Death Proof follows the tale of ‘Stuntman Mike’ (Kurt Russell in a welcome return to form – the guy is fantastic here!), a charming ex-stuntman who has a predaliction for running down sexy girls in his ‘Death Proof’ stunt car (yep, the cool black one with the skull on the bonnet). And, well, that’s about the long and the short of it – from there it’s just an excuse for Tarantino to get as many amazing stunts in as possible (and in that regard, the film is a complete success).

The major problem here is that the film is…well, half a film. There is a real need for a second act in order for Death Proof to stand on it’s own two feet. And for many, the point of the scratches and jump cuts will completely go over the head of the majority of viewers – because we are no longer watching a clever novelty double feature (the original of which, had mock trailers in between Planet Terror and Death Proof) – and may frustrate / confuse many.

Tarantino’s normally flawless dialogue tends to bog down the film somewhat as well. With such little storyline, the never ending stream of pointless conversation really does tend to drag on at points.

However, ‘incomplete visions’ aside – there is still one kick ass flick at the heart of it all. The action scenes and stunts are phenomenal, with the final chase scene simply astonishing. It’s old school Hollywood at it’s best, with every single stunt done in real time (none of this CGI junk!). If you’re a fan of this sort of stuff, you’ll find yourself giggling on more than one occasion out of sheer joy – thinking “That’s f**ing cool!”.

The soundtrack is pretty spectacular as well, Tarantino has mined the best of cult 1960's and 70's rock and blues tracks - making for one of his funkiest soundscapes since Pulp Fiction.

Ultimately though, Death Proof is a quote out of context, and sadly the film suffers for it. Let’s just hope the studio have enough sense to release Grindhouse on DVD – the way it was intended to be seen.

3 out of 5

Death Proof
Australian release: 1st November, 2007
Cast: Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Rose McGowan, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Parks, James Parks, Eli Roth
Director: Quentin Tarantino
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