Quentin’s Latest Film is Not Death Proof.

I never thought that I would say this. I hate to say this, but Quentin Tarantino has finally made a bad film. Death Proof was not only awful it was out of date. Tarantino usually recycles the best of the best but in Death Proof he only took the worst. Worse yet, the quintessentially Tarantino dialogue seemed flat.

I am really hoping that Tarantino does not fall into the Kevin Smith trap. Kevin Smith tried to be cool for cool’s sake and he flopped four times before Clerks II. Tarantino is an interesting person who has a unique way of expressing himself and this is expressed in his characters. But if the conversations his characters don’t talk about interesting subjects, they start to blur together. Kurt Russell sounded too much like Bill at times and I could hear Uma Thurman in several characters. I even heard a few Travoltas.

The world and atmosphere of the film were good. I enjoyed the settings and pulp backdrop. The movie has grown on me in the hours since watching the film, but I never want to see it again. Death Proof was all Jackie Brown and not enough Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs.

Mostly I felt embarrassed for Kurt Russell. He was the one thing that shined at times but he never achieved full villain status. He became a pussy too quickly and never turned the tides. He went from predator to prey and never put up much of a fight. It’s a shame that an actor who made his living by playing hardcore motherfucker’s who were as hard as the coffin nail didn’t receive better villain treatment.

I feel terrible writing this review and I want to say that Quentin Tarantino is still my favorite filmmaker. He’s only had one flop in a legendary career. Most of his films are on a level that no one can touch. I just hope that he learns from this flop and goes back to making what Quentin…well, Quentin. And despite the fact that it was bad, I would much rather immerses myself in a bad Tarantino film that the litany of crap Hollywood can put out.

I originally cursed the Weinstein’s for separating the two films. It seemed like a blatant marketing technique. But I hate those words. I can now say that I was grateful for it. At least now, I can enjoy Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror without having to suffer through Death Proof. Friends have told me that Planet Terror was the shining point of Grindhouse and I look forward to its release next week.

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