Death Proof

Plot synopsis:
Austin, Texas. The opening titles come up as Shanna (Jordan Ladd) and Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito) drive around in their car. Shanna and Arlene pick up their DJ friend, Jungle Julia (Sydney Poitier), and they drive around while talking about boys and drugs. They cheer every time they see a billboard with Jungle Julia on it. They go to a local bar named Gueros. As they enter, Arlene sees a black car stopped in the middle of the street. The driver watches the girls and then speeds off down the road. Inside, the girls are approached by Jungle Julia's friend. They all make it apparent that Julia issued a challenge to her listeners about Arlene on the radio earlier. She said that she was going out with her friends that night, and if anyone sees Arlene, then they should approach her and give her a drink. When they do, they have to look her in the eyes and recite a little poem. If they do all that and call her "butterfly," then Arlene will give them a lap dance. Arlene gets after Jungle Julia for saying that on the air, but she says that if she doesn't do it, everyone will know that she's chicken shit. Julia makes a deal with her, though... if it's an unattractive guy, then Arlene can say that she was already approached and already gave the lap dance.The girls drink and then go to another bar, called the Texas Chili Parlor run by Warren (Quentin Tarantino), where they continue to drink up a storm. Dov (Eli Roth) and his friend join the girls and drink with them. Julia spends some time alone, text messaging a guy and telling him that she's waiting for him. She then rejoins her friends just as Warren buys them all shots of Chartreuse. Arlene has had enough and goes outside to smoke a cigarette. Warren notices that a light in the parking lot is off, and tells a bartender to turn it on. When they do, Arlene sees the black car from before parked in the lot.The car is owned by Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell), who is in the bar sloppily eating nachos. Dov and his friend want to have sex with the girls, but they're going to a vacation house for a strictly "girls-only" weekend. Dov plans to get the girls extra drunk so that they will let them come over as well.Dov makes fun of Stuntman Mike due to his 1980s clothes and hairstyle. Also at the bar is Pam (Rose McGowan), an old schoolmate of Julia, whom she has a little rivalry with. Pam asks Warren if he knows anyone dependable who can give her a lift home, when a set of keys slide across the bar. Stuntman Mike offers to drive her home, but she'll have to wait until he's ready to leave. Pam asks if he'll be sober enough to drive later on, but Stuntman Mike says that he doesn't drink alcohol, which prompts her to ask why he's been hanging around the bar for hours. Stuntman Mike says that the bar offers more than alcohol, including women and nachos.Lanna Frank (Monica Staggs) shows up and hangs out with Julia. At one point they go outside and smoke some pot when Stuntman Mike introduces himself to Julia. He pretends not to know who she is, even though there's a big billboard of her right next to them. She offers him some pot, but he declines. It looks like he's about to sneeze for the longest time, but he doesn't. He excuses himself and goes back inside, making the girls think he's a loser. Inside, Pam has been talking to Warren, and neither knows which films Stuntman Mike has been in. He gives a whole laundry list of TV shows and actors from the 1970s and 1980s, but Pam is not familiar with any of them.Later on, Julia asks Arlene if she wants the boys to come with them back to the house, but she says no. Stuntman Mike approaches Arlene with a drink, looks her dead in the eyes, recites the poem, and calls her "Butterfly." Julia says that Arlene already did the lap dance earlier. Stuntman Mike asks if it's his scar across his face that frightens Arlene, but she says that it's his car... she recognizes it from earlier. Julia again tells him that she already did the lap dance, but he doesn't buy her story. He knows that Arlene feels a little hurt that no one approached her before to recite the poem, and smooth talks her. He then pulls out a notebook which he says has the names of all the people he's met, and says that he's going to have to put Arlene's name under "chicken shit." Arlene is enticed by him, and agrees to give him the lap dance. She tells him to go inside and get ready.Arlene gives Stuntman Mike his lap dance (cut from the theatrical version) as the bar is closing up for the night while a few patrons, including the Crazy Babysitter Twins (from 'Planet Terror'), watch with interest.A little later, with the bar closed for the night, everyone is leaving. Mike approaches Pam and again offers to driver her home (though she says to the other girls that she won't have sex with him, which he overhears). Pam is a little freaked out by his black car, which has a skull and crossbones on the hood. Stuntman Mike assures her that the car is "death proof" due to being a stunt car, and is reinforced on all sides. He opens the passenger door for her, and she notices that the passenger seat is only a removable stool, and there's a Plexiglas barrier between it and the driver's seat. She sits down, and he slams the door shut. As they begin to leave, Stuntman Mike sees Julia and her friends turning to the left. He asks Pam which way she's going. She's going to the right, but he tells her that that's too bad because they're both going left. Had Pam been going to the left, she wouldn't have gotten scared for a while, but because she wanted to go to the right she's going to have to be scared immediately. Stuntman Mike slams the gas and speeds off to the left. He swerves around hard, causing Pam to be thrown around in her seat. She's bloodied, and she begs for him to stop and tell her this is a joke. He tells her that this car is 100% death proof, but in order to get the benefit of it she really needs to be sitting in the driver's seat. Stuntman Mike slams on the brakes, causing Pam to smash her head on the dashboard, breaking her nose and apparently sending pieces of it into her brain. She dies painfully as he watches. He then lowers his visor to pull out photos of Julia, Arlene, and Shanna. He throws out the photos and speeds off towards the girls.Lanna drives the girls down a rural dark road, Julia in the front and Shanna and Arlene seated in the back. Stuntman Mike catches up and speeds ahead of them. While the girls enjoy a song that Julia had called her radio station to request, Stuntman Mike swerves the car around up ahead in the road and turns off his lights. He revs the engine and speeds towards the girls head-on. Stuntman Mike turns on his lights at the last possible moment, but it's too late for the girls. Both cars collide, and carnage ensues..... Shanna is thrown from the car and dies from the impact..... Lanna's neck is broken as it's smashed against the steering wheel..... Julia is mangled, and her severed right leg goes flying..... And as Stuntman Mike's car careens through their car, one of the tires brutally rips Arlene's face off.Stuntman Mike is brought to the hospital, where Earl McGraw (Michael Parks) and his son Edgar McGraw (James Parks) (from 'Kill Bill' and 'Planet Terror') ask Dr. Dakota Block (Marley Shelton) (also from 'Planet Terror') how the patient is doing. Earl gives his daughter some lip about having her last name being Block, which makes Dakota storm off. Earl tells Edgar that he thinks Stuntman Mike premeditated the car crash, but he of course can't prove it. Even though he was seriously hurt in the crash, he will recover from his injuries.The story jumps ahead 14 months in Lebanon, Tennessee. In a black-and-white sequence cut from the original theatrical movie, Stuntman Mike arrives at a local Circle A convenience store for a rest when he spots a yellow car pull up alongside him, with a pair of women's bare feet sticking out a window. Inside the care are a sleeping Abernathy (Rosario Dawson), the driver Kim (Tracie Thoms), and Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). The girls work in the movie industry, with Kim being a stuntwoman and Lee being an actress (who's stuck wearing a cheerleader uniform), and Abernathy is a make-up person and stand-in. They have driven all night from Hollywood to this small town to pick up a friend from the local airport. While Kim goes off, Stuntman Mike decides, out of the blue, to target this latest group of women. Having somewhat of a foot fetish, he brushes by Abernathy's feet pretending to look for his car keys, and drives off, shadowing them from a distance. Abernathy puts on her boots and enters the Circle A store to get money from an ATM machine, and to buy some Red Bull energy drinks for herself. She buys a few fashion magazines, and they clerk tells her that he has this month's edition of Vogue magazine from Italy. She tells Lee still waiting outside for Kim about it and wants to buy the magazine for the clerk's price of $27. Lee is somewhat reluctant, but agrees to share the magazine with Abernathy.Afterwards, the three meet up again and drive to the local airport where they pick up stunt woman Zoe (Zoe Bell, playing herself) from the airport, who has arrived from New Zealand for a few days to visit. Stuntman Mike takes pictures of all of them and watches from a distance in the airport parking lot. Driving off, they tell Zoe about the movie they are working on and they have the next few days off, and so they plan to party. They discuss boys, and Abernathy talks about almost sleeping with the director and about Lee's romance with a crew person.Eating breakfast at a small local diner, Abernathy talks about a previous movie shoot location and about Zoe's natural stunt ability to always land on her feet, earning her the nickname, "Zoe the Cat". It's made clear that Lee is not too bright and that Kim carries a gun around. Abernathy tells her that people who carry guns are more likely to get shot, and recommends other weapons to carry (pepper spray, knife, e.t.c...). Kim says that when she does her laundry at her L.A. apartment building at midnight, she doesn't want to get raped, so she carries around a gun. From Kim's point of view, people who use knives get shot by muggers who usually carry guns and kill people after mugging them. Zoe and Kim also talk about the movie 'Vanishing Point', and what a great movie it is. Zoe says that it's long been her dream to drive a car like the one in the film, and that she has been following the classified ads in the local paper; someone has advertised the same make/model of the car: a 1970 Dodge Challenger, and Zoe wants to feign a test drive so that she can fulfill her fantasy. Throughout this conversation, Stuntman Mike silently watches them from the front counter.The girls drive to the car owner's house, where Jasper (Jonathan Loughran) keeps the car out back. Zoe wants to test drive the car without Jasper in order to do a dangerous stunt with Kim called the "Ship's Mast", but Kim absolutely does not want to take part. Zoe finally convinces her to do it when she offers to be her "back-cracking" slave for the next few days. Abernathy wants to join in, but Kim and Zoe tell her that it's too dangerous since she's a mother, so she can't. Abernathy is tired of that excuse, and will do whatever they're doing. They all can't go, though, since the plan relies on Jasper letting them take the car without him. Abernathy convinces the others to take her along by persuading Jasper to let them take his car without him. She tells him where they're staying and their full names so he can find them if they take off. Also, she's going to leave Lee behind so that she can possibly engage in sex with him. Jasper happily agrees, and the girls leave the confused Lee behind with Jasper.They stop the car in the middle of the road, and Kim and Zoe discuss who's going to do it first. Zoe will start off on top, and ties her belt around a door. Kim ties Abernathy's belt around the other door. The girls speed down the road with the windows down, and Zoe climbs out the window onto the roof. From there, she holds onto the belts and lies down on the hood while Kim races the car down the road. Abernathy is nervous at first, but slowly enjoys herself. All the while Stuntman Mike watches them with his binoculars. He laughs and speeds off towards the girls.A harrowing car chase beings as Stuntman Mike smashes into the back of the car, which freaks them out. He continually smashes his car against theirs, causing Zoe to gradually lose her grip on the belts. It gets to the point where Zoe has to hold onto the hood, but she continually struggles to stay on while Stuntman Mike smashes their car. Eventually, he crashes into their car so much that it causes them to swerve onto the shoulder of a road near the woods, throwing Zoe into a clump of brush. Stuntman Mike gets out of his car with glee and says that it was fun. Kim pulls out her gun and shoots him in the shoulder. He speeds off down the road while Abernathy and Kim are shaken up and cry over Zoe. Zoe, however, pops up and tells them that she's okay. The girls plan to get back at their attacker. Zoe grabs a metal pole and straddles the passenger window of the car while Kim speeds down the road.Stuntman Mike stops in the middle of the road, in pain from his bullet wound, wailing over his undeserved misfortune. He drinks a lot of alcohol and pours some on his arm. The girls crash into the back of his car, and Zoe smashes his windows out. She jabs his arm and head with the pole and Stuntman Mike speeds off again. Zoe, Kim, and Abernathy chase after him down the highway and through back roads. The tables have turned, and Kim now continually smashes into Stuntman Mike's car, who is driving with only one good arm and has not had time to put on his safety belts.Their chase leads to a local highway which causes other drivers to swerve out of control, along with a biker who's sent flying off his motorcycle. The chase leads to another back road where the girls accidentally go off the road onto a dirt farm road, running parallel the main road. The girls eventually swerve back onto the road, and cause Stuntman Mike's car to lose control and flip over. They get out of their car and drag him out of his. Abernathy, Kim, and Zoe beat Stuntman Mike to death with their bare hands.The closing credits run for a few moments until Abernathy lands a death blow by smashing Mike's face in with her boot. All three jump up in celebration of their triumph.

Tags: violence, revenge, comedy, dark, sadist

Review:
With Death Proof (2007), Tarantino creates such a loving homage to a notoriously cult cinematic sub-culture that many people seem unaware of how to approach it or even how to appreciate the sheer fact that the film purposely goes out of its way to ape the style of late 60's and early 70's exploitation cinema in look, feel and content.
I'm talking about films such as Two-Thousand Maniacs (1964), Ride the Whirlwind (1965), Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966), Satan's Sadists (1968), The Big Bird Cage (1971), Boxcar Bertha (1972), Fight for Your Life (1977) or Satan's Cheerleaders (1977); low-budget films made with often-non-professional actors, little in the way of conventional film logic, and highly controversial in terms of plot, theme and content.It also sets out to pastiche the "grindhouse" cinema phenomena, with the original idea of two films being shown as a double feature at drive-in movie theatres from state to state, with both films often being re-cut and re-edited, not by the filmmakers, but by the theatre owners themselves.
Added to this the colourful iconography, the music, the characters, the girls in tight t-shirts, the for once entirely justified performance from the man himself, all reminding us that this is a joyous, darkly comic romp in which the point is not "why?" but "why not?".The effect is reminiscent of Kill Bill (2003), which at times felt superficial or perhaps even too knowing for its own good, but still demonstrated to us the filmmaker's great use of tone, texture, colour and movement, as well as turning many people on to a whole new world of cult Japanese cinema; from the works of highly individual filmmakers like Seijun Suzuki, Kinji Fukasaku and Takashi Miike, to cult performers like Sony Chiba.
Death Proof attempts to do something similar with the likes of the American revisionist road movie, the B-cinema of Roger Corman and the femsploitation subgenre of films like The Big Bird Cage (1972), Caged Heat (1975), Day of the Woman (1978) and Ms. 45 (1981); a coolly ironic series of films in which wronged women take bloody revenge in an often elaborate and over the top style, chiefly intended to give a feminist slant to the still rampant degradation and misogyny prevalent in the exploitation genre.Other reference points are more obvious as they're mentioned explicitly in the film; notably car chase cinema such as Vanishing Point (1971), Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) and even Spielberg's Duel (1971).
Then we have the fact that films like Reservoir Dogs - which takes place almost entirely within a single setting - and Jackie Brown - which places emphasis entirely on character - use dialog to not only create the characters but to also tell the story.Regardless of this, Death Proof is meant as a piece of entertainment.
And while it certainly would be fun to see the entire double-bill in all its glory (hopefully it will get a worldwide DVD release), I must say I really enjoyed QT's half as a separate picture.As this is intended to be Tarantino's answer to '60s and '70s B-movies, the plot of Death Proof is extremely simple: there is a psychopath, named Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell), who enjoys killing women with his car, a virtually indestructible vehicle ("This car is 100% death proof.
And unless he runs into someone who is as crazy or drives as well as him, there is no way to stop him.Those expecting QT's usual stream of film references will be disappointed: apart from a hilarious restaurant scene that sort of spoofs the opening of Reservoir Dogs and a couple of nods to similarly themed horror flicks (and, of course, the casting of Russell, which is a deliberate homage to John Carpenter), the director is not interested in exposing his absolute knowledge of this kind of cinema.
The trailer promised a wildly fun B-movie, and that's exactly what Death Proof is: a movie like they don't make anymore, old-fashioned, irony-free and exciting as hell.However, this does not mean Tarantino has set his visual or verbal obsessions aside: the dialogue is as imaginative and surreal as it has always been, and there are enough shots of bare female feet to keep fans happy.
no executive planned and no audience asked for, this film is 100 percent his and it just so happens that not that many people like it, all great directors make films that fit into this category.A major critique of Death Proof has been that it contains a lot of dialogue, but I feel that this should be expected as it is a remembrance to Grindhouse cinema and these types of movies are notorious for the amount of talk they can contain and the amount of "build up" they might have and Tarantino himself is recognised as being a writer that emphasises the dialogue in his films.
Modern cinema goers are likely to not have the patience for such an offering and thus dismiss its significance and become agitated at a lack of "action" and this is evident from some of the reviews on this website.The film is about two separate sets of voluptuous women who are stalked by a stuntman called Mike that uses his death proof cars to execute the women.
I personally think this movie has a lot of punch with a strong car chase sequence, very good actors, well-written script....and a perfect soundtrack!I really like how the first part of the movie is a classic slasher/horror movie and the second part is a great throwback to "car movies".Death Proof came out in 2007 and I remember watching this movie with my friend and having a really good time.
The music is perfect, the movie is very funny, and I love the performance from Kurt Russell, Sydney Poitier (Jungle Julia) and all the other supporting characters.R.I.P. Sally Menke, I really love her work on this movie...not only for the great grindhouse "jump cuts" but also for one of my favorite scene halfway through the movie that I won't mention and the awesome 11-min well edited car chase.I gave the movie a strong 9/10 and I hope this movie will have a better reputation 5-10 years from now.
"Death Proof" is the quintessential Tarantino film, where he has long, drawn out conversations that are constantly interrupted yet free flowing and very natural as the characters talk about everyday things (pop culture) and use quirky old sayings.
"Kill Bill Vol. 2" may have had the longest, most drawn out ending this side of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," and the worst part is that we know exactly what's going to happen, because, like most Tarantino films, the women usually come out on top.
The mysteriousness of Stuntman Mike- who has a thing for car crashes and testing the "death proof" slogan that goes along with his "scary" car- is great and the best part is that we never know where the movie is going to end (Or at least this story).
Many have said that Planet Terror proved to be superior to Death Proof, but without watching the other, I thought Tarantino's offering was pretty decent stuff.Perhaps his detractors loathed how he made references to and probably paid homage to his own movies and signature style.
It's actually two different segments in one movie, each being quite different from the other in terms of themes, and style.The first half introduced us to characters like Arlene (Venessa Ferlito), Shanna (Jordan Ladd), Jungle Julia (Syndey Poitier) and Pam (Rose McGowan), who end up in a bar doing their own thing (read: plenty of dialogue and flirting with the camera).
Other than that, it's more of the same, with more eye candy courtesy of Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Sky High, Final Destination 3), Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thorns and Zoe Bell, with plenty more QT styled dialogue of pop irrelevance.While stylistically the movie might want to try and resemble low budgeted 70s exploitation movie, Death Proof juxtaposes certain current day elements into itself, making it somewhat messy with gizmos like cell phones and portable music players.
It's been some time having Russell on the big screen, and I thought he did fine, despite not being QT's first choice for the role.Ultimately, just one warning about the movie - expect plenty of dialogue, and I mean plenty, with characters talking about sexuality and about people who never appear on screen, and if you can't stand irrelevance, then steer clear.
I could watch them ride around in a car for an hour anytime.It was the last third of the film where the action was ramped with some fantastic stunt work by badass Zoe Bell and, of course, the coup de grâce, Abernathy's boot in Stuntman Mike's (Kurt Russell) face.
In 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez joined forces to create the Grindhouse film experience: a double feature intended to emulate the thrilling grittiness and distinctive roughness of 1970s exploitation cinema.Tarantino's contribution to the Grindhouse project is Death Proof: a weird combination of car-chase action and serial-killer terror.
But apparently only seeing the numbers, Quentin and co-director Robert Rodriguez decided it would be best to split their respective stories apart, and release them as two movies in the UK, flying in the face of Grindhouse logic.The first of these films, is Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino's homage to the likes of producer Roger Corman's Deathrace 2000 and director Jack Hill's Switchblade Sisters (1975), with Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike having an unhealthy obsession with crashing into cars driven by young ladies.
Again, blame the editing, for an awful lot of this movie creates a hugely diverting story of girls pontificating the kind of popular interests that only Tarantino would make them do, such as a love for the film Vanishing Point or Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch.
Ever since Tarantinos old classics (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill) people think that every movie is like that.
"Death Proof" is an entertaining film of Quentin Tarantino that follows the style of B-movies and is full of action, violence and nice girls.
One half of the Rodriguez/Tarantino collaboration Grindhouse, kindly padded out to feature length for us non-American viewers, Death Proof features Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike, a deranged driver who likes to deliberately cause fatal crashes.
But why do you feel like you have to constantly prove to us how cool you are by repeatedly referencing all your cool cinematic influences in unrealistic conversations between unrealistic characters, whilst your cool soundtrack endlessly plays in the background (which is always littered with visual references from your goddamn favourite cool films)?The experience is so bloody boring: 45 minutes of nothing but chit-chat (complete with your oh-so tiresome references to Kahuna burgers and Red Apple cigarettes), followed by a decent car crash (that shows what you are capable of when you're not trying so hard to be cool), then more chin-wagging (mention foot massage one more time, Quentin.
No, I double dare you!), even more movie references (don't you understand that when you have your actresses wax lyrical about B-movies and fast cars, thus creating a fantasy world where gorgeous women actually share YOUR passions, it comes across as rather sad?), and, finally, a well executed car chase capped with an extremely crap ending.I have a sneaking suspicion that, as part of the original Grindhouse double bill (with Rodriguez's Planet Terror and some faux trailers for other trashy movies), a shorter version of Death Proof (with less jibber jabber) would have worked slightly better.
Gosh, it must take someone with helluva lot of self tolerance to work for/with that guy.I've wasted 100 minutes of life watching this movie, but I'll sacrifice another 10 mins to warn you: please save your money and time, give it to the homeless if you want, but please don't give it to some egomaniac who's way past his original/productive/imaginative years so we can be fed with more of his garbage in the future..
The other group of girls (Zoe Bell , Rosario Dawson , Tracie Thoms , Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is in Tenessee ; both of them are connected only by the fact that they cruise their cars and are pursued at diverse times by the former Hollywood stunt Stuntman , Motor Madman Mike who uses his "death proof" cars (they are a 1970 Chevy Nova and a 1969 Dodge Charger) to carry out his killer schemes .This action movie contains thrills , chills , interminable dialogs , talky and tacky scenes , including spectacular car races ; however resulting to be pretty boring .
In what must be a first for QT, the double-bill bombed, was panned at Cannes, and so is now being split into the two films for worldwide release, of which Death Proof is the first to be released in Belgium.Alongside the adulation, Tarantino has long had his naysayers - despite the obvious brilliance of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Kill Bill (I+II), detractors have pointed to the waste of time and money that was Jackie Brown and labelled him as a director obsessed with style over substance, so-called sassy dialogue over coherent narrative - a movie brat masquerading as Hitchcock (and his cameos don't help, either).This reviewer would previously have pooh-poohed such as heresy, but no more.
Just so there are no surprises in store, let it be known that Death Proof is, without a doubt, the worst, most self-indulgent piece of cinematic codswallop in some time - 'great' director or not.Complete with all the 70s trimmings ('Our Feature Presentation' jingle at the start (charming in Kill Bill because of what followed), grainy colour under- and over-exposure, 'unintentional' jump-cuts, dialogue that's repeated, get the drift?) we have here a story of auto-slasher killer Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell), a man who gets off on the high-impact pile-up.During a near-interminable 110 minutes, he victimises two groups of four juicy babes (Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Sydney Poitier (who has, to be fair, got absolutely glorious legs), Rose McGowan, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Zoë Bell) with his 'death proof' 70s Dodge Charger.'Stuntman''s car comes from a time before CGI effects in the movies, hence it's designed to allow stuntmen to survive any auto-accident, no matter how outrageous.
For a movie about fast cars crashing each others at high speeds, "Death Proof" is very slow.The film have seemingly endless conversations and i just wanted to skip all the dialogue parts and watch the two big chases.
I like the bad, B-movie dialogue of the first half of the film, as well as the more Tarantino-esquire stuff of the second half.
First of all,I have to say I'm a big fan of Quentin Tarantino's work.In his screenwriter's facet as well as in his director's facet,I find his movies extremely fun and with intelligent dialogs.But,I do not know what was he thinking when he was writing Death Proof.This film does not only represent the lowest point on his career as a director,but it also is his worst screenplay.The film is extremely boring and it has disastrous dialogs.I know Tarantino wanted to do a tribute to the grindhouse films but,still with that intention,he should have told a better story or,at least,he should have done meaningless but enormous entertainment like the grindhouse films did and like director Robert Rodriguez made in Planet Terror.Kurt Russell is this film's saving grace.Russell puts a lot of enthusiasm to his character.Death Proof is a totally boring film and a very big false move on Tarantino's career.I hope he will get redeemed with his following film..
The whole idea of it in the movie is ridiculous and serves absolutely no purpose except to slowing down an already too long scene.As for the second part of the film, when another group of girls get into the sights of Stuntman Mike, there is a scene where one of the girls is left behind to 'pleasure' the owner of a car they want to go for a drive in.
All of those make it look like some 80's B-movie, which is definitely a good look for a film.The characters of Death Proof are all very interesting.
Compare with other Quentin Tarantino's crime, thriller and suspense action films, like Grindhouse, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, and Reservoir Dogs Death Proof will indeed be a must-see and an additive in your Quentin-list-collection.
Trying to re-create the experience of watching a 'Grindhouse' movie from the 70s, grainy, low-budget films with bad editing and production values, this is a vanity project that's backfired, failing spectacularly at the US box office and subsequently forced to have separate releases over here.Mr T has got carried away with himself here, saturating the screenplay with characters quipping off his trademark cool dialogue for lengthy periods (note a scene at the end with a group of girls sitting talking around a coffee table that'll have your head spinning around the auditorium.) The trouble is, nothing exciting happens in between.
Stuntman Mike played by always reliable Kurt Russel gets his kicks by stalking groups of foxy chicks and ending their lives at speed with his 'death proofed' vintage automobile.Cut to 14 months later,a different state,a different set of targets and an altogether different approach.This time round the girls are tough and fiercely independent.Unfortunately this second segment is more anemic than the first one.However the last twenty minutes are worth checking out for the fans of tire squealing and burnt rubber.The final car chase is simply incredible and adrenaline filled.In the prolonged chase sequence through deserted roads Tarantino expertly captures the raw cinema of the 70s."Planet Terror" is more fast-paced and a lot more gorier,but who cares."Death Proof" will bring the smile on the face of any self-respecting road movie enthusiast..
Here's half the reason Grindhouse flopped.I was extremely interested to see how this movie, along with Planet Terror was going to be presented, with the hype surrounding the theatrical release consistently drooling over the fact that Quentin Tarantino was bringing back the "exploitation films of old" that shaped his childhood.What I got was a snoozefest that was almost two hours long, interrupted once or twice with a spectacular scene.