Where Robert Rodriguez's film is a study in over the top goodness, Tarentino takes the subtle approach to Grindhouse cinema. In the early 60's Grindhouse films were a little less violent, but featured the crazy stunts and bad ass chicks. Here in Tarentino's film we get all of that plus, a return to the great Tarentino dialogue. Deathproof could actually be split into 2 movies itself- The first half where the bad guy wins and the second half where the girls come out on top. Kurt Russel stars as a serial killer, but instead of a knife or gun, he uses his seriously tricked out car. The car he calls "Deathproof." In the first half he tracks down some serious hotties as we spend about 30 minutes in a bar getting to know the females played by Rose Mcgowen and a bunch of girls I had never heard of before this., These girls drink, get high and dance. It is all pretty standard stuff, but it is the way Tarentino moves the camera and the shots he decides to take and the changes in music that make this completely engrossing. Eventually the killing happens and wow what a shot. Tarentino shows the same action 4 times from four different view points, each more effective than the previous one. It is seriously the best shot I have seen Tarentino film.
Part two of this film finds us with 4 new girls- Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thomas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and stunt woman Zoe Bell, playing herself in a genius move by Tarentino. Zoe is one of the best stuntwomen in Hollywood (Xena and Kill Bill) and allowing her in this film is both a nice nod to her ability and also playing into Tarentino's Self referencing humor. Unlike the first batch of women, these women are bad ass. Thomas and Bell are stunt women and the other two actresses. We about 30 minutes of dialogue between the four of them, at a diner, and the way the scene plays and the camera moves, it looks a lot like Reservoir dogs. During these 30 minutes we learn that these are tough no nonsense women. Some are going to find it a bit boring, but I find it perfectly engrossing and absolutely necessary if we are going to believe the rest of the film. Eventually, 3 of these 4 girls end up in a seriously amazing 1970 dodge Challenger and since they are stunt women we get them doing a stunt. The stunt is that Zoe Bell gets on the hood of the car, grabbing 2 belts that have been tied to the doors and she rides on the hood for a while.
Enter, Kurt Russel again. In his car we begin a 20 minutes heart pounding gut wrenching climax. First Russel chases the girls, pounding against their car as we watch Bell hanging on for dear life (We know she does her own stunts, making it that much more insane). After a while the girls get the upper hand and Thomas shoots Russel. Russel, in a genius acting choice, shows us what a wimp his character is outside of his car, turns and drives away screaming. In any other film this would make for a good ending, but not for these bad ass chicks. They decide to go get their revenge and in this movie revenge is a dish best served slammed against two cars. We get the second half of the car chase, but this time more intense because Russel is screaming the whole time and Thomas talks like she is in a Pam Grier movie.
Some will complain that after the adrenaline rush of Planet Terror, DeathProof is a a bit of a letdown, but the brilliance of Tarentino's film is that he underplays it. His dialogue cracks, his camera work is exceptional and the story is very interesting. It does seem to stray away from the promise of the "Grindhouse" moniker and I think that is why most of the trailers show Rodriguez's film. However, this is the better movie of the two. Unfortuanately, it comes after the pure shot of testosterone and 4 genius fake trailers, one of which includes a brilliant cameo by a surprising actor.
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