"The car was 100% Death Proof, but the movie was 100% shit.
"
This movie was awful. After sitting through Planet Terror(which was awesome) and some of the funniest fake trailers I have ever seen, I was on pins and needles for Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. I'm a huge fan of Tarantino's and had been anticipating this movie for a while. Like I said though, awful.
The way the film was shot, was alright. The lighting, locations and camera angles are reminiscent of the Tarantino we all know and love, but the story seriously lacks that flair and wit that we have, over the years, come to expect from this visionary writer/director. We all know Tarantino is a great writer, Pulp Fiction and True Romance alone should prove that, so I feel regardless of this movie, Tarantino is still amazing. I just don't understand how he dropped the ball so badly and how he didn't realize that he was writing out an enormous ball of shit.
The story is a cool concept, just executed poorly. A madman by the name of Stuntman Mike(Kurt Russell) uses his beast-machine of a car to carry out his murderous rage. The story starts off with three girls in a bar. Arlene(Vanessa Ferlito) Shanna(Jordon Ladd) and Julia(Sydney Poitier) are all getting drunk and having a good time, when Stuntman Mike approaches Arlene. Apparently, earlier in the day, Julia announced over her radio show that Arlene would give a free lapdance to whomever bought her a drink and called her "Butterfly". Stuntman Mike had obviously been listening when this was aired, as he checks off the prerequisites required for his free lapdance. Sounds good right? Who doesn't love a good lapdance by a beautiful woman? Tarantino apparently because there was no lapdance. It just cut scene to them walking out of the bar. I mean, what the hell? This girl was gorgeous too. I'm sure it's on the DVD version as a bonus scene, but there was such a build up to the scene, and the fact that it was omitted just makes no sense to me.
So after the "lapdance" scene, all the girls are heading out and calling it a night when they run into a friend of theirs, Pam(Rose McGowan). The Stuntman takes interest in Pam, and when she needs a ride home, Stuntman Mike is happy to oblige.. Inside his suped up Death Machine, Pam is forced to sit on the floor with no seatbelt in a box of sorts,(it should be noted that his car is a stuntcar and I'm assuming the box is used to mount cameras inside of it for in car crash footage. Stuntman Mike uses it for a whole different purpose). It is soon revealed that Stuntman Mike is completely insane, swerving at high speeds causing Pam to crash around in the "box". He eventually kills Pam by driving extremely fast and slamming on the breaks, smashing her face into the front of the box.
After he disposes of Pam, he guns it down the road to catch up with the 3 other girls who he had engaged with at the bar. Somehow, he knows exactly what road they will be on, even after the 15-20 minute head start they have had while Mike killed Pam. See what I mean? Anyway, Mike turns off his headlights and drives head on towards the girls, flicking them on only when he is within seconds of impact. A head on collision ensues, which was pretty cool looking. This chicks face gets completely scraped off by one of Mikes spinning tires. Special effects don't make a movie though. Unless of course were talking about Transformers.
Mike is acquitted of all charges. Pam, who was still in the car when he deliberately crashed into the other car, was assumed killed in the crash. Stuntman Mike sustains only minor injuries and is released to seek out and find new victims.
Story sounds kinda cool right? Well, like I said, it's an awesome concept, just done poorly. The dialogue is boring and all seems a little pointless. It's a movie you could watch on mute and you would still understand the whole story. The jokes, the sarcasm, all are delivered in a bland and irritating way and you find your mind wandering almost immediately.
Rose McGowan played the first girl killed nicely. She's hot as always and does what was needed of her, which was basically look hot, scream and then die. She ruled in Planet Terror though.
Anyhow, cut to fourteen months later, Stuntman Mike is at it again and this time he's found 4 new victims, Abernathy(Rosario Dawson), Kim(Traci Thorns) Lee(Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and real life stuntwoman Zoe Bell(who plays herself). Her inclusion in this film was utterly pointless. I'm assuming shes a pretty badass stuntwoman. She does pull some cool ones in this movie. But she should stick to what she knows best and leave the acting to the actors. Rosario Dawson(Sin City) really doesn't do a whole lot in this movie. Her performance is generic and one that we have seen in a million thrillers and horrors. She was meant to look hot and she did a great job at that, as always. I'm not going to even go into the other two.
Eventually Mike catches up and tries to pull off a repeat performance on this group of 4, attempting to run them off the road. The girls prove to be too much for Mike though, who is shot in the arm and screams like a little bitch. The girls get Stuntman Mike stopped, who begins to cry, plead and apologize for his attempted murder. What kind of a bad guy is this? The whole time we got the feeling that this guy was completely crazy, and now he starts crying because 4, 100 lb. girls, are going to kick his ass? Man up Mike. The last shot shows Abernathy bringing down a heel on Stuntman Mikes face, which I'm assuming is establishing his death. Roll credits.
This was an all around time waster for me. I only stuck through to the end out of respect for Tarantino. As shitty as it was, I cant bring myself to walk out on a Tarantino flick, though nearly the entire theatre had. It seems like this story was delivered by Quentin in a hurry, and he didn't put his usual thought, care and detail into this one. As a standalone film, this one barely keeps its head above water. The characters, the writing, the acting, all add up to one stupid and annoying movie. Unless you're a hardcore Tarantino fan and feel the need to see all his work, I see no reason why you should waste your time being subjected to this crap.
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