A waste of talent on both counts

Rating: 4/10 (11 April 2007)

'Grindhouse' is the first Tarantino or Rodriguez movie that I've seen that has left me feeling rather flat. Sure it's niftily directed and very funny in parts, but on the whole I think that Tarantino especially has to really ditch these vanity projects of his now. 'Kill Bill' was his homage to Kung Fu cinema, but it worked because it was so much better than the source material. The same cannot be said for both 'Planet Terror' & 'Death Proof', which are in turn average zombie and car chase movies. There is a lot of good stuff to be seen and fun to be had, but for the first time Tarantino's dialogue felt desperately laboured in 'Death Proof'. I just didn't buy any of those conversations the women were having - they just sounded like dirty mouthed men in women's bodies & I half expected the male cast of 'Reservoir Dogs' to walk in and start explaining what 'Like a Virgin' meant.
The action and gore is very well done in 'Planet Terror', but as a comedy zombie movie it isn't a patch on 'Sean of the Dead'. Likewise despite a wonderful performance from Kurt Russell, 'Death Proof' in no way measures up to 'Duel', 'Driver' or 'Mad Max 2'. It's just too disjointed and though the final chase is executed superbly, the transformation of Russell from the hunter to the hunted did not ring true at all - and why wasn't the car he was driving death proof?. It's obvious both Tarantino, Rodriguez and the entire cast had a blast making this movie, but they seem to have forgotten that the audience need to entertained to the same measure. the disappointing returns for this movie seem to spell that out loud and clear.
Hopefully the poor box office will send a clear message to Quentin that it's time to leave the playground.