Death Proof (2007)

Written, Photographed, and Directed by Quentin Tarantino (ghost directed by Robert Rodriguez)

The other half of the exploitation double feature released as Grindhouse, is Quentin Tarantino's ode to the muscle car film, from Vanishing Point to Bullitt, except turned on its ear by making it into a serial killer/slasher story about a villain named Stuntman Mike, who methodically executes women in different ways with his muscle car.

Like Planet Terror, the plot is thin and this is of no real concern to the viewer that would be interested in this film. Such a viewer is interested in the concept of revisionist filmmaking, the concept of trying to make a film that fits into a genre or style which has long passed. Here, Tarantino writes his brand of poppy, snappy dialogue into the mouths of two sets of four women. The first set the camera follows for a good while, setting up a kind of sex comedy atmosphere that would have well suited the 1970's campground movies. We are led into these characters, with the knowledge that at some point they will be offed by the film's villain, Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell). However, the real pleasure is watching the tension slowly build, as Mike's creepy demeanor doesn't scare the girls off at first, it takes a brash act of savage explosion to reveal his true intentions.

Many fans griped that they didn't like Tarantino's half of the grindhouse opus because they felt it was too slow and talky. I felt it was a perfect representation of the genre he was revising, grindhouse movies are often boring and slow in the meantime, at least Tarantino peppers this movie with entertaining dialogue, and a creeping set up to the terror and action that is revealed in the second half of this film. Yeah, it might take Mike an hour to finally kill a girl in this film, but that's not the point he's making. Tarantino fashions this just as Jack Hill fashioned Switchblade Sisters, with action where it belongs, and dialogue to fill in what can't be shot due to budget constraints. Of course, Tarantino has no budget problems, but what sense would it make to create a film in a low budget genre that has all the flash and dazzle of modern filmmaking? None. So he deliberately throws you off the trail by slowing the first half down with dialogue.

By the time he gets to the action, he does it with the most grace and style of any director alive. His Eisenstein-ish depiction of the crash, much like the Odessa Steps montage, creates the best and most brutal car crash scene ever committed to film. He directs this 30 second shot with such meticulous zeal and originality that anyone that can't see the value of this punctuation to the dialogue heavy first half is merely just not looking for it. This crash is the equivalent to a director crumpling up the first half of his film like a piece of paper, and starting over from that point on. This should obviously be the point, but as so many armchair critics disagreed, it was merely the beginning for much of the audience watching it.

When the second half of the film delves into similar territory, it proves my point exactly. He is making a movie that fits into the genre of which it is styled from. This is not a film that is supposed to "look like" Vanishing Point, it is supposed to fit in to the same genre of Vanishing Point. I believe it does that very well.

The second half is Tarantino again turning the genre on its ear, instead of the killer stalking his prey, he becomes the stalked, being chased down by the tough women he chose to try to kill. The car chases involved in this second half definitely rival, if not exceed, the ones he set forth as high points in the genre. The stunts are amazing and daring, with real lives at risk. Not to mention this film includes one of my all time favorite endings, punctuated with a stiff boot like no other. Once the title of "The End" hit the screen, I burst into laughter at the very idea of the whole thing, it was as perfect as it could be, ending as abruptly as the crash that signified the end of the first half of the film.

Again, Tarantino assembled a great cast here, including Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Kurt Russell, Jordan Ladd, Zoe Bell, and sharing the talents of Michael Parks, Marley Shelton, Nicky Katt, Tarantino himself, and Rose McGowan with Rodriguez's film, if only to incorporate another element that made the original 70's grindhouse films hilarious, the fact that they often had the same actors in both films that comprised a double feature. As far as revisionist filmmaking goes, this is some of the best, it was a real treat to watch this film both in the theater, and to revisit it again at home on DVD, making it easily one of my favorite films of the year. The subversion of what a car chase film is supposed to be about really tickled my fancy, the script was heavy with Tarantino's signature dialogue, and the shot choices were some of the best that could be possibly conceived.
 
9.1/10