Review of Death Proof (2007) by Lloyd H — 09 Feb 2013

Death Proof is the fifth film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It's hard to distinguish whether Death Proof is the worst Tarantino film, or not the best. Is a directors worst film necessarily a bad film? Or is Death Proof a good film that just isn't capable of matching its predecessors. I'm not entirely sure.

There's a handful of things I love about about Death Proof, by handful I mean three things. First off I love the car, second I loved the car chase and third I love Kurt Russell. He is awful in this film, but he's still Kurt Russell and his character Stuntman Mike is something of a guilty pleasure. Everything else is absolute rubbish. The script is shameful, by Tarantino's standards this material doesn't even deserve being used as Toilet paper. The script oozes with tasteless innuendo and the characters are instantly forgettable and unlikeable.

The violence is exploited fun as expected from Quentin Tarantino and visually Death Proof looks and feels very much like a Grindhouse feature. But ultimately, the entire Grindhouse concept was a flop. First Death Proof and Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror are a Grindhouse double feature, then they're presented as separate pieces and then Death Proof ends up at the Cannes Film Festival.

Throughout the whole chain of events Tarantino unconvincingly tries to justify the dismantled and failed concept and in the end you really just don't care. To conclude, despite the films obvious long list of flaws, there are moments of fun and ultimately Quentin Tarantino wanted to make this film and he had every right to. He made Death Proof because he could and whether people like it or not is their problem.