Starts out Tarantino, finishes full on Rodriguez

Rating: 5/10 (27 October 2011)

In "Grindhouse", both Tarantino and Rodriguez directed a different homage film that combined to make one movie. In "From Dusk Till Dawn", Rodriguez gets full directing credit, but "Dusk" does not feel like a single film. The first half has an unmistakable Tarantino vibe (he wrote the screenplay and co-stars with George Clooney and Harvey Keitel), despite a few goofy mis-en-scenes. A sly but ever-so-meticulously crafted tip of the hat to both classic noir and bandits-on-the-run movies of the distant past, it plays like one of his pulpy hybrids that plays by classical rules but has it's on conspicuously 90's sense of wit and subversive film-making style. The second part, which seems to blast out of nowhere during a stop into a sleazy, lushly decadent Mexico bar, is undeniably Rodriguez. A sort of Hong-Kong style crazy-making thriller mixed with florid monster movie effects and grind-house gore, it's relentlessly excited (rather than exciting) and very juvenile. "From Dusk Till Dawn" isn't so much uneven as it just feels like they're trying to make two completely different movies and don't seem to care that one doesn't feel finished and the other is never even introduced, just lunging at you and trying to bite you in the throat (it doesn't succeed). It starts out engaging and then just bleeds your senses. "Dusk till Dawn" has gotten something of a modest cult following since it's release, but I don't know how anybody would want to sit through the whole thing again.