Review of Death Proof (2007) by Michael Y — 01 Nov 2011

THIS IS THE MICHAEL'S 600th MOVIE REVIEW! And it's dedicated to one of those movies that should have gotten more respect. It may have been a box office bomb being released as a double feature, but Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof is one great tribute to those golden oldies of cinema's rejected, violent children known as 'The Grindhouse'.

Stuntman Mike used to be one of the best stuntmen in the business.... that is if you've seen the films he has been in. Scared, but humble, he still drives a modified stunt car.... TO KILL WOMEN WITH. He crashes into oncoming cars, yet he cannot die because his car is DEATH PROOF. But his underestimation of women will prove to be his biggest mistake when he runs into cool cats who are not afraid to fight back. With a GREAT CAST of Kurt Russell as Mike, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rose McGowan, and in her first acting role, REAL STUNTWOMAN, Zoe Bell playing herself, Death Proof is a winning script with winning talent. Even if it is all for fun. Tarantino writes another empowering female movie, like Kill Bill. Its ironic for Stuntman Mike to go after these women because, inside, we don't know why he kills them. Possibly because he thinks they're all silly and uninteresting, in which most cases he would be correct. But if he'd met these chicks, he would have a change of heart. And maybe he did, right before they go chase him down. Death Proof is a great Tarantino movie, being an homage to car chase movies with interesting characters and dialogue and with great actors just having too mach fun.

Like the film that was apart of this Grindhouse double feature, Planet Terror, Death Proof is filmed with purposely damaged film to obtain the grainy, gritty quality that would have been the end result of the great filmmakers who made their graphic and violent movies from their afterwork paychecks. The grain is a cool addition. But Tarantino supplies much, much more. His great cinematography is put to great use as his classic camera postions and great style still look fantastic, like his other movies. He also knows exactly when to make the movie fun, serious, thrilling and exciting. The sets look REALLY appropriate for the kind of genre and style Tarantino wanted to achieve, and the cars... THE CARS LOOK AWESOME. But stands out in this Tarantino movie is the car crash scene that is very cool, followed by some fantastically captured car chases.

It's kind of fun listening to Tarantino dialogue come from a group of girls in girltalk. This is definitely a movie for the exciting, cool chicks who love these kinds of movies, or just want to get a dose of female power in their movies that's outside of the cheesyness of Hollywood action movies. A great female empowering movie that, because of Tarantino's style, can be enjoyed by goreloving men and women alike.