Grindhouse (2007) **1/2

Rating: 7/10 (15 April 2007)

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez here have paid homage to their favorite old "B" films of the 1970s with this inspired package, which essentially comprises two feature films - one from Tarantino, one from Rodriguez - that are in the same fun spirit of Saturday afternoon matinée shows that used to play in theaters back in the day. Back then, you got to see two exploitive movies for the price of one, and these were accompanied by off the wall trailers for other weird movies and they would be premiered before the first flick and then later before the second film began. So basically I am rating this as a whole presentation containing everything including the kitchen sink. If I were to rate the two films individually, I'd say that both were a little disappointing for me (**1/2 each) from what I would have expected, but that Quentin Tarantino's movie is a hair better.
Both directors did a fine job of achieving the feel of an old-time grindhouse double feature, complete with adding dirt and scratches to the film prints and other visual imperfections; this also includes apologies for reels that are "missing", broken sprockets, and even a film burn. The very amusing and vintage-looking faux trailers which are sprinkled around for would-be movies include fun titles like: "DON'T" (my favorite), "THANKSGIVING", "WEREWOLF WOMEN OF THE S.S.", and "MACHETE".
PLANET TERROR (**1/2) is the first proper movie that unspools, and it's Robert Rodriguez's gory zombie film about a little Texas town which is overrun by disease due to a chemical outbreak. This results in munching ghouls running around attacking people in a spirited and bloody splatterfest, but the problem for me was that none of it struck me as anything very new, and I felt I'd already seen this type of wham-bam-shoot-em-up thing plenty of times before. So then the problem became that after some time I grew tired of this routine and grew restless, wishing the film would end already and that I could see the Tarantino feature start (which is not the feeling a film like PLANET TERROR should give you). It's certainly a better-than-usual zombiefest, but I don't need to see this one again. Oh, I probably will experience it again somewhere in my future, but it'll probably be in someone else's repetitious zombie movie. I didn't have any interest in a single character in PLANET TERROR and that didn't help me care about what was going on very much. The one ingredient I enjoyed was Rose McGowan as a go go dancer who loses a leg and has it replaced with a machine gun; seeing her determined and hobbling about on one false gun leg before lifting it up in order to angrily spray her enemies with gunfire was a kick! Another thing -- way too much dependency on modern CGI stuff for what's supposed to be a "grindhouse film". At least it was better than George Romero's recent LAND OF THE DEAD.
Quentin Tarantino proves the better director with his DEATH PROOF (**1/2), but it's still not among what I'd call his "greatest" works. I thought his choice of Kurt Russell in this picture (after he originally wanted Mickey Rourke) worked out wonderfully. Russell plays a has-been stunt driver from past TV days who calls himself "Stuntman Mike", and he drives an old car that has been souped up to sustain all types of abuse and is virtually "death proof". He hangs around the bars to try and schmooze with young girls, but once he gets them into his deadly car for a ride, that's when his dark and psychopathic tendencies erupt. It was a lot of fun to see Russell in this part which he seemed perfectly suited for. He's terrific in the movie and it's an asset to have him in it. Again I liked Tarantino's choice of music for his feature and his slow pacing at least works to give the first grisly sequence of the film a very powerful impact. As a Tarantino fan I always look forward to his clever dialogue, but I have to say he came up empty in that department this time; I wouldn't call the uninteresting conversations here between his female characters anywhere near his best, and these talking scenes do at times feel like they go on waayyyyyy too long. On top of this, the female characters aren't very intriguing and sometimes one or two of them can even be downright annoying. While Quentin's taste in music has always been damn good, it's just hard for me to believe that these young girls would ever be as into these outdated oldies to the extent of knowing the words to "Baby It's You" or eagerly quoting the names of "Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch"! This just smacks of Tarantino's own self-indulgence, and doesn't seem genuine coming from today's youth. Without adding spoilers here I have to say that I felt some nagging loose ends were left dangling after Quentin's movie was over, and it ended too abruptly without closure, for me.
I'm already hearing that there may be longer versions of both movies released in the future, and that the two films may be released individually in some markets. That sort of kills the point, but in the case of longer cuts I think PLANET TERROR already feels plenty long enough, but maybe it might actually be improved with more material and perhaps more questions answered. **1/2 out of ****