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Post by Popeye Doyle on Mar 25, 2021 2:56:24 GMT
*These comments relate to the theatrical cut*
For a while now, I've regarded this as Quentin Tarantino's weakest movie. Especially when following up Planet Terror, it came off as rather dull. Anyway, revisited this tonight for the first time in close to 10 years. Still my least favorite of his, but my dislike isn't quite as strong this time. The film is just electric when Kurt Russell is on screen. Love his concealed disappointment when explaining all the shows he has worked on and none of the girls have any idea what he is talking about. The remaining characters are, quite frankly, not that interesting. This is the rare case when Tarantino's greatest gift, his writing, works against him. Just hearing Stuntman Mike's victims drone on and on grows wearisome. I will say Zoë Bell is cute as fuck, man. The car chase that closes out the film is pretty good, too. At least the lap dance was restored for the individual release.
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Post by jcush on Mar 25, 2021 3:35:04 GMT
it is my least favorite Tarantino movie, but I still like it a lot. There's some fun dialogue, the soundtrack is great, the car chase is one of my favorites, and Kurt Russell is awesome as Stuntman Mike.
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Post by MCDemuth on Mar 25, 2021 3:37:13 GMT
As a car chase film fan, I have always enjoyed the film...
While Planet Terror may be more entertaining than Death Proof on seeing them both for the first time, I find that Planet Terror gets less entertaining, each time I see it... Death Proof on the other hand is the one that I prefer to watch on repeated viewings...
While Death Proof may be considered to be one of Quentin Tarantino's weakest movies, Quentin Tarantino tends to succeed in accomplishing what he sets out to do with all of his films, and Death Proof is no exception to that track record... He made the film he set out to make, which is a great one in that "Genre".
I guess it really all comes to personal tastes... If you don't like car chase films, then Death Proof isn't for you...
But, I don't think anyone can really disagree with, that the car chase that closes out the film is one of the best ones of all time, and with Zoë Bell doing double duty as Actress and Stunt Woman, at the same time, while she hangs on to parts of the speeding car, that it makes this film pretty unique in all of movie history, and mesmerizing to watch... (There were times it looks like she was about to fall off, and it didn't look like she was attached to the car with wires...)
Sadly, the biggest flaw in this film, can be directly blamed on Quentin Tarantino himself: his excessive use of dialog in all his films... Sometimes it works, but in this case, as already noted: "Mike's victims drone on and on" about stuff that no one cares about, and all it does, is make you just want it to all be over and get to the car chase scenes...
You actually root for Stunt Man Mike to shut these victims up by crashing in to their cars... LOL!
I don't know about you, but MY biggest WTF moment in this film is when... At the end of the film, the two cars are speeding down the highway and crashing into each other, when suddenly, two other cars randomly come out of nowhere and pass them, like they were not even there... Not sure what that was about, but it didn't make any sense...
Were these passing cars having their own race down the highway, or did they not care that two cars in front of them were crashing in to each other, and creating chaos with the other traffic on the highway?
I can't understand why Quentin Tarantino wanted to film a shot like this, or why the editor put the shot into the final film.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 25, 2021 4:35:17 GMT
I don't know about you, but MY biggest WTF moment in this film is when... At the end of the film, the two cars are speeding down the highway and crashing into each other, when suddenly, two other cars randomly come out of nowhere and pass them, like they were not even there... Not sure what that was about, but it didn't make any sense... Were these passing cars having their own race down the highway, or did they not care that two cars in front of them were crashing in to each other, and creating chaos with the other traffic on the highway? I can't understand why Quentin Tarantino wanted to film a shot like this, or why the editor put the shot into the final film. Watched it last fall, my first time in more than 10yrs also. It does play better without PT, & it's fine for what it achieves. Alas, the first act at the bar is a good 10 minutes too long. My wtf moment was the girl (who they say is a porn star) they leave behind at Jasper's farm as collateral for the test drive.
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Post by ck100 on Mar 25, 2021 5:06:59 GMT
"Sadly, the biggest flaw in this film, can be directly blamed on Quentin Tarantino himself: his excessive use of dialog in all his films... Sometimes it works, but in this case, as already noted: "Mike's victims drone on and on" about stuff that no one cares about, and all it does, is make you just want it to all be over and get to the car chase scenes..."
That was a problem I had with Hateful Eight. His characters talked too much. As if conversations lasted more than they needed to. They should have stopped at a certain point.
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Post by Marv on Mar 25, 2021 9:56:06 GMT
I’ve always enjoyed the first half a lot. The unsuspecting women with the stalker vibe worked...the second half kind of turns into an action movie. Which is entertaining in its own right but jarring compared to the mood the first half puts forward.
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Post by James on Mar 25, 2021 10:32:15 GMT
I too think this is his weakest, but there's still plenty to enjoy. I was a bit letdown when I saw that the Grindhouse version cut the lap dance scene.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2021 13:00:10 GMT
"Sadly, the biggest flaw in this film, can be directly blamed on Quentin Tarantino himself: his excessive use of dialog in all his films... Sometimes it works, but in this case, as already noted: "Mike's victims drone on and on" about stuff that no one cares about, and all it does, is make you just want it to all be over and get to the car chase scenes..." That was a problem I had with Hateful Eight. His characters talked too much. As if conversations lasted more than they needed to. They should have stopped at a certain point. I felt like it worked more in the first half. The second half, those women were insufferable. And I couldn’t care less about them.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Mar 25, 2021 14:18:17 GMT
I remember when I first saw Death Proof I wasn't sure what to think of it, but it took me a couple of more viewings to fully appreciate it. Much of the dialogue is typically Tarantino greatness, but I do agree the chit-chat goes on far too long in some scenes with talk that would make the viewer think "Who gives a shit?" That is the major flaw. However, there is still much be desired such as the car stunts, Kurt Russell's scary performance, and the way it ends. Definitely a fitting conclusion.
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Post by MCDemuth on Mar 25, 2021 16:27:30 GMT
I don't know about you, but MY biggest WTF moment in this film is when... At the end of the film, the two cars are speeding down the highway and crashing into each other, when suddenly, two other cars randomly come out of nowhere and pass them, like they were not even there... Not sure what that was about, but it didn't make any sense... Were these passing cars having their own race down the highway, or did they not care that two cars in front of them were crashing in to each other, and creating chaos with the other traffic on the highway? I can't understand why Quentin Tarantino wanted to film a shot like this, or why the editor put the shot into the final film. Watched it last fall, my first time in more than 10yrs also. It does play better without PT, & it's fine for what it achieves. Alas, the first act at the bar is a good 10 minutes too long. My wtf moment was the girl (who they say is a porn star) they leave behind at Jasper's farm as collateral for the test drive. LOL! Yeah, what became of her? Did her friends just leave her there at the farm? Did they return the damaged car, and then what did Jasper do? Did they buy the damaged car, and get her released?
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Post by Prime etc. on Mar 25, 2021 17:26:26 GMT
I fastforwarded through Death Proof--just got so boring. I liked Planet Terror much more but after a couple of viewings the joke wore off-and that's the problem with both of them-they are not really attempting to be a faithful retro films. Planet Terror is a comedy--only Josh Brolin and maybe Michael Parks act serious. Everyone else is in on the joke.
I liked Machete better.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 26, 2021 0:26:51 GMT
Watched it last fall, my first time in more than 10yrs also. It does play better without PT, & it's fine for what it achieves. Alas, the first act at the bar is a good 10 minutes too long. My wtf moment was the girl (who they say is a porn star) they leave behind at Jasper's farm as collateral for the test drive. LOL! Yeah, what became of her? Did her friends just leave her there at the farm? Did they return the damaged car, and then what did Jasper do? Did they buy the damaged car, and get her released? They probably got married, & had a kid to battle B.B. in Kill Bill volume 3 & 4.
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Post by vegalyra on Mar 27, 2021 0:14:36 GMT
I've always liked it, but the dialog about midway through the film is way too much. I just want to tell Rosario Dawson and the other to just shut up.
The car chases are great though.
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Post by petrolino on Mar 29, 2021 21:43:35 GMT
I find it maddening at times, but overall, a joyous viewing experience. It's directed with considerable flair and has some exciting set-pieces. I didn't enjoy 'Planet Terror' on the 'Grindhouse' double-bill so I bought 'Death Proof' as a stand-alone dvd.
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Post by Mulder and Scully on Mar 29, 2021 22:14:30 GMT
Typical latter Tarantino self-indulgent crap. The dialogue actually gets grating at times in Death Proof.
His recent movies suffer from the same problem of pointless self-indulgent dialogue. They don't amount to character development nor do they add anything to the story.
Both Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Hateful Eight suffer from this. Even parts of Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained are guilty of this.
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