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Death Proof - Extended and Unrated
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Year: 2007
US Rating: Unrated
Film Length: 113 Mins
Aspect Ratio: 2:35.1
Audio: English, French, Italian and Spanish 5.1
Subtitles: Optional Spanish and English SDH
US Release Date: September 18, 2007
The Film - :star::star::star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:
“Because it was a fifty fifty shot on wheter you'd be going left or right. You see we're both going left. You could have just as easily been going left, too. And if that was the case... It would have been a while before you started getting scared. But since you're going the other way, I'm afraid you're gonna have to start getting scared... immediately!”
The perpetually inventive creativity of Quentin Tarantino, endlessly infused with an effective appreciation and honoring of movies and television shows from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, has brought to the world of cinema some of the coolest films of the modern era. His smoldering sense of wit and occasional playful barbarism seem to coalesce in his films in ways that defy logic. In the hands of a director that had not lived on a diet of television shows like Ironside and Kung Fu or cinema such as Escape From New York, White Lightning and a slew of martial arts pulp, Tarantino’s films would be devoid of unbridled cool they exude and some of the best soundtracks money can buy.
While he launched into a plateau of great critical appreciation with his violent Reservoir Dogs, his household name status was concreted with the film that revived flagging careers (John Travolta, Bruce Willis) and redefined the ‘cinema of cool’. That film was Pulp Fiction, and while many may say he has been chasing that same defiantly original but broadly accepted level of success ever since, (with his Jackie Brown and Kill Bill saga’s), I am not entirely sure that is where he is headed. The greatest evidence to support that is the diabolic project that he and long friend, director Robert Rodriguez, imagined with their Grindhouse double feature, Death Proof and Planet Terror. The concept was to craft two films that harkened back to the absurdly plotted, violent and bloody films that found great appreciation in smoky and rundown cinemas. Packaging these two films together, one directed by Tarantino and the other by Rodriguez, complete with all the trademarks of a cheap theater double-feature experience (damaged film appearance, ‘Missing Reel’ notices and jumpy playback), they endeavored to recapture a little piece of that movie going experience and present it to a world used to ever clearer pictures, logical plot progressions and endings that try to be about something. Ultimately, their little passion project was met by an audience that didn’t get the point or appreciate the gleefully strange stories each director chose to tell.
Death Proof is about as simple an idea as you will find. It’s the story of a sociopathic ex-stuntman (Stuntman Mike) that no-one seems to have heard of, who enjoys a disturbed sense of fun from stalking, charming and eventually killing off young women. He does this using his 1970 Chevy Nova, a vehicle modified for stunt driving and one that happens to be death proof for the person in the driving seat. The Stuntman, played by Kurt Russell, blurs the line between charming and creepy when he is chatting friendly with you, but once he gets behind the wheel, he becomes psychotic and is out for the kill. When he targets four young women (Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and real life stunt woman Zoë Bell) driving through the country lanes of Tennessee, he soon discovers that he has bitten off more than he can chew. The game, as they say, is on.
Death Proof isn’t so much a film as it is an experience. Admittedly, it feels a little unfinished without its theatrical partner, ‘Planet Terror, but Tarantino’s sassy script and insipidly interesting dialogue keep your attention steadfast, even when it has been some time since something ominous or action oriented has happened. As with Pulp Fiction and the violent revenge duo of Kill Bill parts one and two, the director creates a lightning mix of the peculiar, impractical and impossible, with characters that reveal themselves to be well rounded two dimensional amalgams of other characters that Tarantino enjoyed throughout his years.
With this half of the Grindhouse duo, Tarantino writes a full throttle love-letter to the stunt-ridden muscle car flicks of the 70’s. He even goes so far as to bring in the stuntmen from those earlier to perform the multitude of high speed crashes, flips, skids and near misses.
Keeping the action real with almost every scene during the nearly 18 minute car chase, filmed at about 80 miles per hour and free from computer generated visual effects, Tarantino has throttled onto the screen an analog dream of a film during a time of digital pervasiveness (and laziness).
As much as this film succeeds with originality, concept bravado and a wickedly thorough attempt to make this an authentic throwback, there are quite a number of flaws in the experience. The structure of Tarantino’s films has rarely stepped in line with convention but the pacing of Death Proof is jarringly uneven. And while the dialogue he writes in his films manage to feel natural but loaded with quotable quips and laudable lines, they stretch on for far too long before the film explodes into the exquisitely crafted car chases. I may be glued to the conversations, curious as to where they will go, but it puts a strain on the potential of repeat viewings, something that we never had to worry about with his other films.
The spirit of the Grindhouse may have been fanatically recreated, but it appears to have made this his least accessible film. But this is Tarantino and the unexpected is clearly what we should expect. The film knows what it wants to be and it absolutely succeeds at that, pulling us along for the ride. And the joy of watching Kurt Russell play the dangerous and murderous Stuntman Mike is a another great example of how Tarantino has developed a strange knack of getting performances out of veteran actors that are simply outstanding.
Death Proof is perhaps the ultimate in directorial indulgence, but it is a delectable one; fast, fierce, fun and furious, its like running through the gears of a six speed when you think the car only has five – that final gear can’t help but make you feel good!
The Video - :star::star::star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:
Death Proof is presented in its original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 and enhanced for widescreen TV’s. Judging the quality of the presentation was not without its challenges. The first half of the film contains the trademark film flaws, grain, dust and print damage – all intentionally added to create the look and feel of the New World Pictures double features of days gone by. It is a little off putting when the film starts but only for a short while. Once the films second wind kicks in, with the introduction of the four new gals, the film pops into and out of black and white and boom!, the image is clean, sharp, beautifully saturated with great colors and looks simply gorgeous.
The Sound - :star::star::star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:
The English 5.1 surround sound is given little to do for the first 45 minutes of the film, using the front and center channels heavily. But once Kurt fires up his 1970 Chevy Nova to begin his wicked fun, the subwoofer gets a kick in the pants and with each rev of that cars throaty engine, the speakers saturate the audio ambience with some wonderful rumbling. The audio becomes fully immersive and engaging, with active surrounds that really pull you in. While there is little in the way of directional effects going on, the gritty growls of the car engines are powerful flowing through the speakers.
The Extra's - :star::star::star:
Disc One :
International Death Proof Trailer:
International Posters (gallery):
Sneak Peaks: – Trailers for Planet Terror, 1408, Black Sheep and Feast
Disc Two :
Stunts On Wheels: The Legendary Drivers of Death Proof: - (30:38) - Quentin Tarantino exuberantly lauds praise upon the legendary stunt persons he cast for the film, including Buddy Joe Hooker and Tracy Dashnaw. This 30 minute feature is a great piece as an ode to stunt driving.
Introducing Zoë Bell: - (8:57) – A bit of a love fest for Zoë but not undeserved. The feats she accomplishes on the hood of the car during her stunts are remarkable and as an actress, she manages to be a ball of energy and really quite cute.
Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike: - (9:32) – I light exploration of the madman character and the great actor portraying him.
Finding Quentin’s Gals: - (21:13) – Tarantino explains the process of casting the two sets of girls in the feature. His open and energetic interview style, as he bobs from side to side feasting on the information he is sharing, is entertaining as always
The Uncut Version of Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s ‘Baby It’s You’: - (1:47) – An uninterrupted short clip of this young actress singing as she listens to her iPod.
The Guys of Death Proof: - (8:14) – Death Proof is a fighting femme flick, but the guys, relegated to be merely props in the film, are filled by a few fun actors, including director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever).
Quentin’s Greatest Collaborator – Sally Menke: - (4:33) – This is the feature that, based on its title had the greatest potential but ended up being the biggest waste of time.
Double Dare Trailer: - (2:35) – A trailer for the documentary of two stunt women, one at the start of her career (Zoë Bell) and the other at the end.
Final Thoughts
This extended and unrated version of Death Proof, enables a more ‘logical’ separation of the Grindhouse double feature for release on home video, and carries with it quite a few changes from the theatrical release. More dialogue, small alterations here and there and a few changes that will disappoint those revisiting the film; it winds up having more conversational exchanges than a film like this really needs. However, the excess of dialogue is still intriguing and thus, for me, not completely a bad choice.
Death Proof and its partner, Planet Terror have stirred quite the debate over their artistic merits, gimmicky nature and the maturity of the execution. Death Proof in particular appears to have supporters and detractors with their minds in a twist over just how they feel about the film. But one thing is for certain – half of those out there reading this will agree with me in liking the film and the other half will tell me I haven’t got a clue what I am talking about. Don’t you just love Quentin Tarantino!
Overall Score - :star::star::star::star: out of :star::star::star::star::star:
Neil Middlemiss
Kernersville, NC
Thanks for the correction!!
