Grindhouse is really something. I walked into the theater pretty excited, because I also grew up watching as many ridiculous action/ninja/kung fu/crime movies as I possibly could, and on that note Grindhouse delivers perfectly. Split into two movies (Planet Terror and DEATH PROOF) and punctuated with fake trailers made by Robert Rodriguez and some of their other friends, Grindhouse runs around three hours and fifteen minutes - but the time flies by. They have a lot of fun making both movies fit the tone, scope and period of the grindhouse genre, complete with missing reels, melting film, and awful prints. Both movies look *perfect*. But let's dig into them in more detail.
Planet Terror:
Planet Terror is exactly what I wanted out of Tarantino and Rodriguez's earlier collaboration, From Dusk Til' Dawn. It's basically a wink and a nod to all the GOLAN/GLOBUS movies of the 1980s. Low budget action movies featuring Uzis, Ninjas and a lot of ass wuppin'. Planet Terror just adds a bunch of biological weaponized zombies, a level of fake blood that borders on the biblical flood, and a whole lot o' Texas. It's unbelievably, absolutely, 100% ridiculous, and an unbelievable amount of fun. Plus, cars explode for no reason! What don't you love about that?
DEATH PROOF:
Death Proof is astounding. A lot of hay is being made about it being 'too talky' at the beginning, but I think that's essential to establish what exactly is going on. Basically, it's about a serial killer who uses his car as a weapon. But it's also a love letter to Austin Texas, a fantastic revenge movie, and a great time. It also contains, without a doubt, one of the most spectacular car chases ever put on film. It's right up there with The French Connection and Bullit. Mostly because one of the main characters in Death Proof is Zoe Bell, the stunt double for Uma Thurman from Kill Bill, and she's playing herself. So as a professional stunt person, she has, well, talents that many other actors just don't have. Like, say, the ability to be on the hood of a car in a high speed car chase. Since it's *ACTUALLY HER*, Tarantino was able to take filming liberties that just aren't possible with stunt doubles - and just knowing that's actually her out there takes an already spectacular car chase into this realm of cinematic brilliance that blew me away more than pretty much any movie I've seen in years. Oh, and it also features the return of Kurt Russell the-awesome-actor-I-love and not Kurt Russell the-guy-who-did-sky-high.
Both movies are a lot of fun. So if you like bad movies and aren't easily offended by ridiculous amounts of fake violence -- spend three hours some Saturday afternoon at The Grindhouse and let's talk about some awesome bad movies.
Word.