A Big Pile of Suck-ass

Rating: 1/10 (16 April 2007)

Clearly, there is a propaganda conspiracy running amuck in regards to the idea of people walking out of this film. The official explanation is the fact people weren't savvy enough to pick up on the whole "2 movies within a movie" idea Tranatino and Rodriguez were trying to convey. I think it is something more simple: this movie just plain stunk.
Once you dip through all of the pretentious irony, you realize the product you're watching is quite substandard. When the fake trailers for the real film are far more entertaining than the movie itself, then its pretty obvious that something was wrong in the film-making process. I think it was just the fact that no one could say no to Tarantino or Rodriguez, that no one had the guts to say "This movie blows" even with the supposed irony in check. Tarantino's career has somewhat been overrated, holding a very hit and miss mentality. Where Kill Bill I and Pulp Ficiton succeeded, KB 2, Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs all kind of flopped. Throw in his magnanimous Deathproof to the crummy pile.
Rodriguez's Planet Terror did have some elements to it that were absolutely hilarious, but even then, it just felt like it was dragging. Rodriguez should have cut himself away from Tarantino and put more work into the faux-movie "Machete", which is based on a character he wrote in the Spy Kids franchises (though much nicer). It would have made a better grindhouse-style film than Planet Terror. Rodriguez will thankfully return to form in Sin City 2, but he needs to drop the dead weight and ego that is Tarantino. His career can be salvaged at this point.
As for Deathproof, there's a reason why many people left this stinker. The car chases were fine, but we don't want to hear endless streams of mindless "Lifetime" style dialog when we could be witnessing some more carnage from Stuntman Mike. During my showing, half the theater left in the middle of this clunker, and they knew exactly what they were getting into. The ultimate betrayal was at the end, when Mike was revealed as more of a coward than a bloodthirsty maniac. That alone kind of takes away the whole idea of the Grindhouse movie. A bad guy with a conscience? This is just another example that Kill Bill I may be the last good movie we'll get out of Tarantino, and frankly, this is probably a shot in the arm for humanity. I've always complained we need to stop praising bad films, this is certainly one of them.