Two for the price of one

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2007)

So, what's wrong with a film that is actually two films? Some commentators seem to suggest that's necessarily a bad thing. Nothing says films have to be linear, straight line things - and you can bet that anything Tarantino is involved in probably won't be.
I was a little surprised when what started out to be a taut and thought-provoking brutal crime film noir turned into a comedy vampire flick, I'll admit. Didn't see it coming at all. But, was I offended or feel cheated? No. Both 'halves' of the film were enjoyable in their deferent ways. Tell you the truth, Tarantino's character in the first half was SO evil I was actually wondering if I could sit through another forty or fifty minutes of such tautness waiting for him to harm Juliette Lewis in some way. That is, of course, just a tip of the hat to Tarantino's writing skill.
Not that the film didn't try to at least tie in the vampire slash-fest at the end with the thriller at the beginning. For example, Tarantino's evil, sex-crime, murderer was at least killed, in his turn, by a woman (a sex crime in itself) and so there is a measure of poetic justice (well, a lot of it if you think out how each of the characters dies I guess) in all of this.
This is definitely one to just kick back and enjoy, though. Too much introspection will ruin it for sure. The music is terrific and Clooney is possibly the best I've ever seen him. Don't slag Tarantino off of for acting either, he's pretty good in this - more for what he doesn't say than what he does.
In short, halfway through this film you think you're watching something special and are going to get value for money and, in the end you do but maybe not for the reasons you think at the halfway mark. It's a film that is ultra serious and, in fact frighteningly horrifying, at first and then just laughs the crap out of itself and the horror genre for the rest of the time. I think (and I'm no expert) that Tarantino and Rodriguez are saying here that REAL LIFE is far more terrifying than HORROR. If so, they hit the nail on the head perfectly.
Very hard not to like.
PS: Cheech Marin (of Cheech and Chong) plays three parts and they are all a hoot.