Review of Death Proof (2007) by William T — 05 Dec 2013

If you tell me Quentin Tarantino is involved in a movie you can be sure I'm going to see it. I never heard of Death Proof until about three months ago and I finally sat down to watch it. It has been said by Tarantino himself to be "his worst movie ever made" and sure, it is, but I couldn't help but enjoy it. It had everything it needed. Pointless dialogue, interesting characters, and mindless violence. It had major flaws that hurt the movie terribly but I can say this movie is a guilty pleasure.

In typical Tarantino fashion there are some farfetched characters. The four girls in the opening scene were enjoyable and a little cliché, but ii was invested in their conversation. Was it Pulp Fiction conversations about cheeseburgers? No, but it was girl talk and that was still enjoyable. They talk about their sex life and how to deal with guys. They are young and ruthless driving down the road cheering at billboards. They also talk about the weekend ahead where they will be at a lake house with no guys allowed. These characters would have been interesting if it wasn't for Kurt Russell.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of Kurt Russell, but he was a badass in this movie. His first shot made him look like a complete boss. His name is Stuntman Mike for crying out loud. He offers to give a young girl a ride home at the end of the night. The four girls form the opening scene was there and their paths cross. The entire bar sequence with the four ladies and Stuntman Mike was very entertaining. The bet between the women, Stuntman Mike's backstory, and of course, the lap dance. The lap dance was hot. The girl is a very attractive woman and watching her be all over Kurt Russell, shaking her butt, and being sexy was ok with me. The bar sequence gave enough time to get into the main characters and care about their outcome. What happened after that was where the movie does a complete 180.

The four ladies leave and Stuntman Mike drives off with the young girl. This isn't really a spoiler but he kills her. Its early in the movie and we need to know that so I can say why the movie goes down, get over it. Stuntman Mike is really a crazy driver who gets off in killing people in a car accident. He hunts down these women and the scene where he drives headfirst was beyond entertaining. To make it even better, we saw it four times. The scene had amazing special effects and made me jump out of my seat and laugh but for the story I hated it.

The problem with this is simply that Tarantino killed almost everybody. The four ladies that took up a solid 40 minutes of character development were gone. I was thinking Stuntman Mike would have followed them up to the cabin and be one of those movies but no. One girl gets launched from the windshield, one girl gets a tire to the face, awesome, and another girl gets her leg ripped off from the accident. The sequence was gory and an action orgasm but it didn't make sense. The entire beginning was pointless and it showed how sadistic Mike was. That could have been shown in a much faster fashion.

After this we get introduced to a whole different group of girls. The four of them are very similar to the others, they talk about very similar things, and are basically a photocopy. These characters I did not care about. I had no interest in their conversations and wanted them to die. One of them gets dropped off at some guys house and is never seen again. Naturally Mike catches up with them and tries to run them down as well. The car chases and action were great but I didn't care. The story was bland and boring and the new characters were lazy.

I loved every second of the car chases and action. The scene with the girl on the front hood with Mike chasing them was fantastic. It didn't look real or believable whatsoever but I put aside my reality complex and enjoyed it. I'm not sure what Tarantino wanted from this movie but he swung and missed. He hit a few runners in scoring position but when it counted he couldn't score. Nobody is perfect and even though he is one of my favorite directors, he missed. I sat through Four Rooms just to see his section and his section made it completely worth it. This movie wasn't like that. This movie was a mess that ended in a car wreck.

Overall, I have no regrets watching or buying Death Proof. I got it because I love Tarantino and as this was not my favorite of his, I can't say I hated it. I watched it, enjoyed the action, while I thought it lacked in characters and direction. Is this a good movie, not really, but it is one I mostly enjoyed. If you say you hated this movie, I totally get it, but I liked it enough to give it a WillyT Recommendation. It's a solid car chase action movie and if you watch it looking for that you will agree with me in saying this movie isn't that great but it is a guilty pleasure. Like Van Helsing.