Review of Death Proof (2007) by Ian B — 19 Nov 2011

I'm still pissed they even split up the two Grindhouse movies in the first place, but that's another rant for another day. On it's own, Quentin Tarantino's extended cut of Death Proof is still a great piece of filmmaking.

...but it worked much, much better in it's 90 min form than it does in it's 115 min form. Still, Death Proof in either of it's forms is Tarantino at the top of his game with his unique brand of dialogue, ultra-realistic action sequences and one hell of an amazing soundtrack.

Infact this movie is a must see just for the car stunts alone! Watching Zoe Bell on the hood of that car will probably make me nervous even on my tenth time watching the movie. The extended cut does have it's flaws though.

A lot of the dialogue really drags on and doesn't have much of a point other than being filler material for this extended cut, but the great performances do hold your attention (especially Kurt Russell having a ton of fun as Stuntman Mike).

Although why does he all of a sudden turn into a whiney bitch towards the end of the movie? It seemed so out of character. And did anyone else find the whole "tough black chick" schtick rather annoying? I also didn't understand why the first half of Death Proof looked like a 70's grindhouse movie and the second half looked brand new.

What happened to all the jump edits and film scratches? Ah well, that's just me being nit-picky. If your a Tarantino fan then you'll definitely want to see this, but I'm guessing your average viewer might find this extended cut way too chatty.

Fingers crossed the true version of this film sees the light of day as part of Grindhouse sometime in the near future.