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Death Proof | Movie Review

Death Proof - 2007
Directed by : Quentin Tarantino

Death Proof is quite a niche film. So Tarantino-esque. There are cues everywhere suggesting it to be a Tarantino flick. With characters trying to be cool, the scenes of women's feet obsessively throughout, group of people sitting on table and just talking, lot of talking, people shitting curses, and more talking. Only certain type of people might enjoy this. I am stuck in between; neither hated nor loved it.


The film is competent, sure. It feels like it. The camera work is top notch, the cinematography is great, and the stunts, breathtaking. But its so obsessed with itself. I later learnt that Death Proof is an attempt to imitate the general exploitation B films of 70s era of Hollywood. Cant relate. That takes the fun out for me. People who are aware of that context seem to enjoy the film better. With characters just acting as action caricatures, who dont have any psychology but just doing what they are supposed to do. Implausible things happen; man do a murder, get away with it, try to kill more; there are no laws and no order, the film have its own laws. There were moments which made me think like, "wait, is that possible?". But that was the exact point of the film. 

I am guessing 70s era might be a different one. People at that time watched movies for different reasons. They wanted it all in the one movie. The explosions, women, fun, fight, the hero(in this case heroine) beating the pulp out of the bad guy and maybe a lap dance too. Death Proof has it all. 

The story's plot is slow, very slow. Nothing significant happen till the half of the film. Just lot of irrelevant talking, women showing their feets. Many Tarantino fans might watch this film only because of that. He makes irrelevant talking look cool. The plot follows two sets of women who are stalked by a psychotic stunt driver, stuntman Mike(Kurt Russell). For the first set of women, we get the idea of what he is. He follows their car and later them in a bar. Where he impresses them, even gets a lap dance from one the chicks. When all that done, we see his true side. He gruesomely kills them by crashing his 'death-proof' car onto theirs. And that scene is so wicked. The details are gruesome and skillfully done. 

For the second group of ladies, the story is different. Stunt man Mike is the who is running for his life. Because the ladies are different here. Badass. The last sequence is breathtaking. It is so skillfully shot, and what we see is all real stunts. No CGI or digital stuff, which is the best part of the film. That one particular scene reminds me of first Spielberg movie, Duel. It had similar sequences, and Death Proof's are as par with those, sometimes even better. 

Death Proof is no moralistic movie. It is wicked. And self obsessed. For that reason many might not like it. But once you get the context right you might enjoy it better. Or even love this thing. Unfortunately I got the context later and took all the fun from me of watching it. 

Rating : ★★★


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