DEATH PROOF [2007] review

Japan doesn’t get the full GRINDHOUSE. For now, all we have is DEATH PROOF, which is actually fine with me as it’s the film from the double-feature that I had interest in seeing. I thought I had heard some spoilers about this movie, but they were wrong, which kept the film suspenseful for me. DEATH PROOF is meant to be the second half of a double-feature, but it itself is almost like a double-feature, as the first half of the film and the second half mostly contain a whole different set of characters. … I found the second half to be much more enjoyable. The single release of DEATH PROOF has some 23 minutes added to it, and I think those were probably mostly unnecessary dialogue and bar scenes from the first half of the film. As with any Quentin Tarantino film a certain verbosity is to be expected and more often than not can be pleasant, but the characters in the first half didn’t have quite the charisma and flair of the movie’s second half set of characters. Right from the get go, you wanted to hangout with these girls. They all seemed to pop or compliment each other. The fact that they drove a classic yellow Mustang, my guess would be a 1972, helped me like them as well.

…Of course this entire movie is a kind of gimmick, and is also filled with gimmicks that make for it to be a movie that should be most definitely seen with friends. I saw it with two friends, though one didn’t have a seat near us. We were definitely having the loudest reactions to the film of anyone in the theater, although I would sometimes hear the foreigner seated to my left and in front of me. I laughed out loud often, especially in the second half. … will no doubt be a line repeated by myself many, many times in the immediate future. The car chase in the second half, although illogical (one of them could have easily stopped at any point and negated all danger), was quite thrilling.

…All in all DEATH PROOF is a fun, participation movie, so be sure to see it with friends.

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