006. Death Proof

You can watch the trailer here.

 In case I haven't made this clear I'm a huge Quentin Tarantino fan. I remember watching Pulp Fiction back in 1995 or so, and immediately falling in love with it. Scenes like Jules and the roommates, or Vincent and Mia's night out stuck with me for 15 years and I can still recite them in my head like it was yesterday-- although to be fair, I've seen this movie many times since then. There is just something about a good Tarantino movie that makes me feel good. His movie have a clear, recognizable identity no matter what sort of genre they are tackling. Its the sort of feature that speaks about the quality of a filmmaker; with Tarantino and his movies, its impossible not to see his love for the movie industry and the influence on that industry that will remain long after Tarantino writes his last dialogue scene. I guess its unusual then, once the previous love affair is considered, that I had not seen this movie up until now. Death Proof is the Tarantino half of a double feature homage to old exploitation films called Grindhouse. The other half belongs to Robert Rodriguez and it wasn't that good.  Sadly I watched that pretty early on, and that added to the disappointing box office, it just gave me the impression that Death Proof wasn't up the standard set and I decided it was maybe for the best if I didn't watch it.  Fortunately I was wrong to jump to that conclusion.

 Death Proof is an original twist on the straightforward slasher film. Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) has a deathproof car, a remnant from an era in which actual stunts were preferred over CGI, and he loves to use it--especially on beautiful young girls. The movie itself is kind of structured around two main arcs, and while it is a nice refreshing idea, ultimately it seems to work against the movie. The first arc did a nice job of setting up the plot and building up the momentum. The second arc just puts back at square one and it gives the movie a very slow paced, empty feel; which is not to say that there is nothing good going on in the second half. Oh no. The second half is good in its own way. The last scenes are among the most satisfying scenes I've seen since Up, although satisfying in a different sort of way. Unfortunately the slow beginning of the second half is a little too much to ignore and it really decreases the quality of the film.

  Another great facet of this movie is the music. I'm not entirely sure if its original score, or if its music handpicked by Quentin Tarantino (I'm leaning towards the latter, I'm sure google could answer this for me but I'm lazy), but each and every song or musical note in this movie fits perfectly. I can't imagine the sultry lap-dance by Butterfly to any other song. Its change of pace and raspy voice made the scene engaging, sexy and frankly even did wonders upping the "creepy-factor" of Stuntman Mike. If I were a filmmaker I'd imagine the sort of care and attention Tarantino pays to every small detail would be inspiring. Hell, I feel pretty inspired right now and I only like writing.

 All in all, Death Proof is a really good movie, even if it is nowhere near Tarantino's best. It is however, a beautiful love letter to the exploitation movies, a time when stunts were "bad-ass" and CGI didn't cheapen everything it touched.  It has a couple of nice little details here and there that give a hint of continuity if you're planning to watch both movies from Grindhouse together.

Definitely recommended if only for the climax of the first act, that is a scene that will very difficultly rivalled in cinema for a long time.