STAY THE FIGHT! STRENGTH, EFFORT, AND DISCIPLINE. THESE ARE THE WATCH WORDS OF A WARRIOR -- Kevin Michael Vance
Title - Kevin Michael Vance - writer/musician/purveyor of raw materials
STAY THE FIGHT! STRENGTH, EFFORT, AND DISCIPLINE. THESE ARE THE WATCH WORDS OF A WARRIOR -- Kevin Michael Vance
STAY THE FIGHT! STRENGTH, EFFORT, AND DISCIPLINE. THESE ARE THE WATCH WORDS OF A WARRIOR -- Kevin Michael Vance

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Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon


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Title: DEATH PROOF
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Year: 2007
Reviewed: September 23, 2007

Rating:   Birthday Cake-Second Highest Rating
[Rating Definitions]

  DEATH PROOF

"Death Proof" gets a BIRTHDAY CAKE review.

Let's just get this out of the way -- Tarantino's "Death Proof" is one weird-ass movie. The real strange thing is I enjoyed the first half, but hated the second half. Again, it was bizarre, almost as if Tarantino wrote and directed the first half, while some other schlub came in to direct and write the second half. The first half had the stiletto wit and clever dialogue and gripping performances that you would expect from any Tarantino movie. The girls were sexy and strong, and seemed real. Kurt Russell, true to form, is absolutely mesmerizing as the charming psychopath- Stunt Man Mike. And the whole script seemed to gain momentum and intensity with each scene.

Then we have the second half, which, for me, was a complete bore-fest. Firstly, we have drawn out scenes, torturously long, with a gaggle of females that were as interesting as a fist-full of lent. Watching these monumentally inept performances was like watching a God Damn "Life Time" movie, or a move of the week on "Oxygen", or worse -- an episode of "The View". Basically, it was three fairly attractive women (with the exception of Rosario Dawson who is a veritable goddess) trying to act tough and failing miserably. Then we have Stunt Man Mike who was, in an instant, turned into a drooling, lecherous moron. Whereas in the first half, Russell's character was frightening and charismatic all at the same time, the second half of the movie finds him to be a sniveling weasel, crying for help and pleading for forgiveness, while the boring ladies chase him down in one of the dumbest car chases I have ever seen. To repeat, the car chase scene was bar none, one of the most retarded chase scenes ever filmed. Mike attacks the girls in his own "Death Proof" car while one of them- a stunt woman- is hanging on the hood. Rather than quickly pull over to the side of the road and allow said woman to get back into the car, they drive alone at increasing speeds, even when Russell skids off to the side not once, but twice.

"Death Proof" -- very, very disappointing.

And another thing -- not only was the first half , what appears to be, a completely different film, Tarantino went to great lengths to add scratches and burn marks and dark swathes to the frames; making you think it was an old seventies movie. The second half, remember the shitty half, dispensed, again for no apparent reason, with the tweaking of the film. Why? Who knows.

Your best bet -- watch the first half, then turn it off when you see Rosario (sorry, Rosario, I do think you're wonderful, just not in this film).
   



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