Slightly imperfect, but close to a classic

Rating: 9/10 (14 April 2007)

Not perfect, but very close to an exploitation classic. Rodriguez and Tarantino deliver a love letter to everything lurid, sleazy, sexy and violent in "Grindhouse". A slew of fake trailers and two features -- "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof" -- make up the blood and grue menu. "Planet Terror" is a gory, fast-paced, extremely enjoyable zombie flick that never skimps on the blood and isn't afraid to be ludicrous. Even Tom Savini makes an appearance. Tarantino's "Death Proof" is about a mean-spirited ex-stuntman (Kurt Russell) who stalks women on the "two-lane blacktop" (shame none of the verbal diarrhearists in this flick referenced that particular Monte Hellman pic because QT often speaks so glowingly about it). The film is filled with great music and some terrific performances. Unfortunately, the dialog scenes go on and on and on and on and on. Clearly, the director was having lots of the fun with the women and the women were loving the chance to bite down on the chewy dialog, but, as entertainment, these lengthy pieces killed the momentum. All is pretty much forgiven though, once Tarantino focuses on the car stalking sequences because these are truly incredible and shot in real time. The sequence involving New Zealand stuntwoman Zoe Bell on the front of a car being rammed by Russell's character is truly jaw-dropping and one of the most suspenseful, nail-biting pieces of cinema I've seen since Friedkin's "To Live and Die in LA". The filmic references fly fast and furiously here -- great car pics from "Vanishing Point" to "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" to "The Cannonball Run" all get a nod. We even get a Pino Donaggio music cue from De Palma's "Blow Out" (not the original cue, but a nice reproduction) and a dialog reference to the great Robert Urich series "Gavilan" (which featured one truly rocking score). Anyway, this is a loving tribute to grindhouse cinema replete with "Coming Attractions" logos, faux scratches, missing reels, and print damage. The trailers are all hilarious; Eli Roth's effort even ends with a shot of a man "making love" to a skull. What's not to love about that?