ScreenWize

The poster for Death Proof makes two claims: that this is Quentin Tarantino’s fifth film, and that it will make you want to go back to the cinema. The first of these assertions is confirmed within moments of the opening, and the film is stamped with Tarantino’s hyperactive and deliciously delinquent style – this time in the tradition of low budget 1970’s exploitation films. The second claim? Well, the reason you’ll want to go back is to see something much better. After the sensational roller coaster rides of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill films, this is frequently tedious and sadly devoid of story.

Originally much shorter and part of the Grindhouse double bill project, Death Proof is a revenge story. Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) has a mean looking car and a mean looking scar. Despite his initial charm, he turns out to like nothing better than terrorising girls on the road. The first half of the film sees him following and harassing beautiful DJ Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier), Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito) and their sassy hard-drinking female buddies after a long night in a tex-mex bar. After a classic Tarantino scene of two police officers discussing the case, the action then switches to Lebanon, Tennessee where Mike does the same to a new bevy of beauties – including Zoe (Zoe Bell) and Kim (Rose McGowan). What he doesn’t realise is that these two are stuntwomen taking time off from a film shoot, and know how to handle not only a car but an ageing white male psycho.

Missing is Tarantino’s adventurous structuring of time and place and sadly gone with it is the sparkle and zap of his dialogue (recall Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction. The extended scenes of verbal negotiation of the irrelevant have lost their edge, partly because there’s no story operating as ironic foil and partly because the cast doesn’t quite have the charisma to pull it off. (The exception is an early scene between Russell and Jordan Ladd that zings with irreverent energy). Russell is excellent and livens up proceedings every time he’s on the screen. For Tarantino fans, this will be a disappointment. For the rest: a dull day in the stalls.
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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon