Death Proof (Movie Review)

Part of the "Grindhouse" double feature, this film by Quentin Tarantino ALMOST stars Kurt Russell.


Despite getting top billing for the movie, Russell appears on screen far too little to save this movie from being the usual dialogue heavy mess of pointless chatter that I've come to expect from this director. The novelty of recreating a B-movie from the double feature days of cinema wasn't enough to keep me from fast-forwarding a lot, either. I simply didn't care about the drug/sex/shallow-relationship conversation topics that ran rampant through every scene.


My interest was in Russell's character. When he did appear on screen, Russell was fantastic. He's a bad guy that you love to... well, love to love. At least for me. His charm and wit sweep you along into having fun right next to him. At least for a few minutes until you once again become bored and fast-forward through the meaningless dialogue in the rest of the film.


The crash sequences were very intense and gruesome and Russell's defeat is frickin' hilarious! But none of this was even near good enough to save this waste of film. This could have been a fantastic 40 minute story, with plenty of time to still include Tarantino's few decent jokes. Instead, it seemed like Quentin felt obligated to give us a full-length movie, and so filled the time with pointless chatter and borderline sex-ploitation. There was nothing likeable about any of the female characters in the movie (although I did have a little sympathy for the first girl to be killed) and they were given far too much screen-time.


I honestly can't tell you if there was anything meaningful in the dialogue of this picture. After suffering through 15 minutes of non-stop nothingness, I developed the habit of skipping any non-Russell scenes. A waste of my cash, my time and Russell's talent.

(Part of double feature. Individual MPAA rating not available on IMDB.)

Quality: 5.5/10
Relevance: 2.0/10 (I'm being generous since I didn't sit and listen to every word.)