Rating of
3.5/4
A Return to the Glorious, Gruesome Grindhouse
Chris Kavan - wrote on 04/11/07
When I first heard about Grindhouse, I was immediately intrigued. Here we have two of my favorite directors collaborating on a twofer film that was a throwback to B-movie grindhouse heaven.
I knew what I was getting into, but I had no idea how fun it would really be. Most people probably wouldn?t consider exploding heads, bursting boils, gruesome car crashes, loss of limbs and other assorted gore very fun? but I?m not most people
First up is Planet Terror ? Robert Rodriguez directed this homage to zombies and chicks with guns. Just like any great grindhouse flick, the characters are over-the-top, the dialogue is laughably bad (intentionally) at points and the film keeps the pops, scratches and even a missing reel. The action is non-stop and there are some truly sick scenes ? I will never take the phrase, ?no-brainer? in the same light again.
The cast looks like they?re having a great time. Rose McGowan works the sad stripper / kick-ass babe angle while Freddy Rodriguez likewise looks like he?s having fun as the bad boy with a secret past. They both get a chance to show off their talents after a bio-weapons scientists (Naveen Andrews ? with a penchant for pickled testicles) unleashes a deadly gas against an evil military general (Bruce Willis hamming it up). Before long, the town erupts in boils and sores, and the partaking of flesh begins.
Watch the nurse with the lesbian lover and abusive husband try to escape his wrath. Watch the Sheriff and his deputies try to keep some level of control (and fail spectacularly). Some live, some die ? and it?s always interesting to see just how many ways you can show a death scene (though Quentin Tarantino?s appearance just about takes the cake in that department).
A bombastic ending leaves you wanting more ? cheesy dialogue and all. Next, we are treated to Death Proof ? a unique take that is part serial killer / part car chasing with a dash of blaxploitation and a lot of female empowerment.
There?s a lot of dialogue here, it?s Tarantino?s style after all, and it?s peppered with references to other grindhouse and obscure films that other films geeks will love. I will say that this half starts off a little slow, but the casting is still great. I especially love Kurt Russell as the insane Stuntman Mike ? who has a unique weapon, his car.
My favorite scene in this whole mess has to be the car crash presented from four different and very disturbing angles ? each girl gets a good look at Stuntman Mike?s high beams before dying in increasingly gruesome means. It?s like one of those old films they used to show to scare young drivers: ?Death on the Road? or some such. Highly inventive, sick and twisted.
If the beginning of Death Proof is like your standard unleaded gas, the end is high octane. The car chase rivals any put on screen in the last twenty years ? fast, furious and intense. The end of Death Proof is quite abrupt, but leaves you feeling great ? the girls will surely like how it turns out as well.
Last, but not least, I couldn?t review Grindhouse without mentioning the ?fake? trailers that precede both films: Machete, Werewolf Women of the S.S., Thanksgiving and Don?t. All of them felt like they could truly be their own Grindhouse features ? Machete and Thanksgiving getting the golden stars for being both hilarious and disgusting at the same time.
Grindhouse is not perfect, but it accomplished what the directors set out to do: make a throwback to the 1970s grindhouse scene. A lot of people won?t like it, a lot of people won?t get it ? but I think it?s audacious, gratuitous and overall a great time. Sometimes it pays to take a chance.
