Death Proof (2007)

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino | 90 minutes | action, horror, crime | Actors: Kurt Russell, Zoë Bell, Rose McGowan, Marley Shelton, Electra Avellan, Michael Parks, Quentin Tarantino, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Michael Bacall, Eli Roth, Monica Staggs, Tim Murphy , Marta Mendoza, Kelley Robins

Joke or snack? One thing is certain: Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Death Proof’ does not meet the requirements to become a blockbuster. The film is the product of an independent filmmaker who wants to live out his passion for trashy visual culture to the fullest. Who or what is stopping him? Tarantino’s cinematic memory, accompanying sense of style and associative abilities are only matched by an unrestrained urge to tell cartoonish stories with young people and outsiders cruising through life – see also ‘Pulp Fiction’.

In ‘Death Proof’, however, not men, but women are the center of action. ‘Jungle’ Julia (Sydney Poitier), ‘Butterfly’ (Vanessa Ferlito) and Shanna (Jordan Ladd) are just as good at spitting as their furry equivalents in ‘Pulp Fiction’; gradually ‘Death Proof’ you get the idea that Tarantino likes to hear the ladies talk so much that he would like to make one big dialogue film with women bickering about sex.

It doesn’t get that far, because the true (anti-)hero of ‘Death Proof’ is again a man: Stuntman Mike. The appearance of Kurt Russell in the film is such a breath of fresh air that it will make you rethink why the film’s sleep-inducing first half hour; the answer is b-actresses. Popular or not: the Tarantino babble does not always come out convincingly from the ladies’ mouths. The ironic tension that the director manages to arouse with the confrontation between the desperado and his victims is nevertheless a high point in the film, culminating in a terrible gory car accident. Stopped there now.

Unfortunately, in addition to the fact that ‘Death Proof’ is itself an episode in a two-part Grindhouse series – the other part is the Robert Rodriguez-directed ‘Planet of Terror’ – the film itself consists of two similar parts; in the second half of ‘Death Proof’, Stuntman Mike again goes after three young women. It seems like a repetition of moves after the first half of the film and the dialogues now become really long-winded and intentionally bland. We do get to see a countless minute chase à la The Dukes of Hazzard (make a computer game out of it), with stuntwoman Zoë Bell chained as herself to the hood.

A big retro commercial for TV in the eighties, that’s ‘Death Proof’. Charlie’s Angels apprenticed to Daisy Duke take on diabolically grinning creep, with a splash of tongue-in-cheek from Uncle Quentin. It can be less, but certainly also better. Tarantino’s mastery of style elements such as clothing, decor and music (exciting soundtrack, beautiful ladies) make it quite enjoyable, but what dominates is the feeling of bunkering Big Macs between the main meals.