Leave after the intermission

Rating: 1/10 (16 April 2007)

Robert Rodriguez' "Planet Terror," the first half of the double-bill, is terrific: very campy, very funny, takes all the good parts of the old exploitation movies and uses them to its advantage. Lots of gore, gratuitous nudity, none of the actors seems to take it seriously and that makes it that much more enjoyable.
The previews are well-done, especially Rob Zombie's "Werewolf Girls of the SS" and Rodriguez' "Machete." Eli Roth's "Thanksgiving" was a hoot.
Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof," though, is awful: boring, extremely dialogue-heavy: it takes all the bad parts of the old exploitation movies and doesn't improve on them. I'm not a fan of QT's movies, have always thought he's just seen a lot of obscure stuff and steals the best parts, but "Death Proof" is almost unwatchable. Kurt Russell is appropriately creepy but his "Stuntman Mike" isn't the star, nor is his souped-up car; instead, the stars are the uninteresting women who are Mike's victims. Really, really awful. As good as "Planet Terror" is, "Death Proof" just sucked all the enjoyment I'd had previously during the movie.