Friday

Perhaps the question you want to ask me is, is Death Proof a return to the early form of Reservoir Dogs for Tarantino or is it a mainly stylistic exercise like Kill Bill? I have to say the stylistics weren't actually that intrusive - only at the beginning, then the black and white reel halfway through, and the occasional strange cut (made to look like mistakes). Overall, it was much less than I thought it'd be. Perhaps in the shorter Grindhouse version the effect was more intense, and perhaps that would be better? Anyway, as you'd expect, this movie is relentlessly cool. The dialogue is not quite top notch, not polished enough and some conversations go on too long - like it was someone trying to imitate Tarantino, rather than the man himself. Not much really happens in the movie. The image of 70s cars driving in and out of contemporary traffic, listening to 70s music with people having strained artificial conversations, made me think that was perhaps Tarantino himself - out of place and time. But I don't know. Some of the stunts seemed to have been worked backwards: they come up with the idea for it, then created a preposterous plot and characters in order for them to achieve it. Nonetheless, it really picks up towards the end, and the conclusion is great fun. You really leave the cinema thinking: this is a film by one of greatest directors alive, and everyone should see it.