I saw Grindhouse on the weekend, the 3 hour epic homage to the titular "Grindhouse" movies of the 70's and to a lesser extent, the "video nasties" of the 80's. Quentin Tarentino and Robert Rodriguez team up on this film, with other well-known genre contributers such as Eli Roth (hack) and Rob Zombie (hack) creating trailers to fill the space between the main features.
The absolute fidelty to the experience of the grindhouse is remarkable, down to the missing reels, burnt frames, scratched footage and sound that pops in and out. Concession stand trailers and ad-slides for local BBQ houses only added to often pathetic experience of watching a film in a rep theater.
However (and with me there is always a however, except for Star Wars)the film fails its intent to pay tribute to the low-budget, schlocky explotation films of the past. One can scratch the film and use other "weathering" techniques to age and destroy the print, but when the content uses big-budget digital SFX to makes it point, it's lost sight of the goal.
RR's "Project Terror" is a ball's out bear-hug of lovin' to the straight-to-video days of Corman and Golan-Globus. When a bio-chemical weapon is released into the populace, they become drippy, pulsing goo-monsters that crave human flesh. Only a go-go dancer namer Cherry Darling can save the day (reluctantly, of course) alongside her ex-boyfriend Ray, who co-incidentally carrys a high-powered military assault rifle (including nightscope) in his tow-truck. Perhaps Ray has a past he is trying to escape hmmmmm?
One of the movies best moments is during a reconciliation sex scene that just as it gets good, the film stutters to a stop, the frame burning, followed by a "reel missing" leader. When the film starts again,A LOT has happened and the character's reference the missing moments often,extending the joke.
This opening half of Grindhouse exemplifies the biggest issue for the film and one of the easiest explanations for its lack of spark at the box office. Without the inherent knowledge of this less than sparkling part of film history, the average filmgoer may not get that this movie is cheesy and over the top ON PURPOSE. Therein lies the rub. However, unlike the second half of the film, it does serve its goal well, celebrating the entertaining-despite-itself joy of grindhouse genre films.
"Death Proof" is Tarantino's contribution to the film and is ripe with all the QT trademarks one either loves or hates. Personally, I find him to have a remarkable ear for dialogue but is entirely incapable of creating anything truly original. His films are ecstatic in their referencing and blatant stealing from other films, but he never exceeds that worship to make something new.
"Death Proof" is the story of a serial killer named Stuntman Mike, played by Kurt Russell in what might be the performance of his career. Mike uses his car, a massive black balls-out american muscle car to kill women via brutal highspeed car accidents. Because the car is tricked out and reinforced to be a true stunt car, it becomes a weapon that does virtually no damage to the driver while demolishing other vehicles.
Like "Project Terror" the budget and talent on display virtually invalidates the intent, however "Terror" overcomes that with its way way over the time gore and melodrama. "Death Proof" is quite simply a Tarantino movie with a big car chase at the end. The circular dialogue, fetishes with women's feet and a love of 70's R&B are all present. In perhaps the only daring and original thought in the film, it plays out to a climax midway, literally stopping the film dead (no pun intended). Bridged by an exposition scene ripped right from the end of Psycho,the film basically starts all over again, with the introduction of new protaganists facing the same jeoprady. The outcome is the direct opposite of the first half, and while thrilling, is eventually empty. "Death Proof" falls in that no-man's land of not being bad enough to be good, and too good to be bad. It just simply is.
All in all I would call this project a labour of love that is a grand failure
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