Fun! Lot of fun! But not nearly as much as they promised...

Rating: 5/10 (4 May 2007)

As much as I love the works of Hollywoods ubergeeks, namely Rodriguez and Tarantino, I was a bit disappointed by Grindhouse. It's fun to watch. Really. There's nothing more fun than watching Bruce Willis playing bad-ass as only he can in his brief but meaningful appearance, Rose McGowan with a machine-gun for a leg tearing through hordes of flesh-eating zombies or two vintage muscle cars clashing on local roads of Tenessee. The premise is great but the movie itself doesn't quite deliver. Even the fake trailers aren't as hilarious as everyone says (although "The Werewolf Women of SS" is so crazy you can't help but chuckle). I know they're just playing with the genre, making a homage/satire but I guess I'm not the only one to think they should just put their inside-geek to sleep and write something original for a change. Tarantino/Rodriguez changed the way of movie-making in the early nineties in more ways than any other directors of that generation but now they're stuck in their comfort-zone. It's still damn good entertainment, but it's not groundbreaking or even fresh (bar Sin City, but here the credits due more to Frank Miller). And stop making all those references and nods to some obscure classics, everybody's doing it now. I like Grindhouse, but I'm still waiting for something that would top El Mariachi or Reservoir Dogs. The competition has caught up and making films more "Tarantino" than Quentin himself, so now we can only hope that Tarantino/Rodriguez will soon show once again how to innovate and become true artists, not just some good craftsmen.