Disembowelments, high-octane car crashes, girl power, plenty of T & A and Fergie horribly murdered: What more could you want from a movie?
In "Grindhouse," writer/directors and good friends Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino offer up a glorious smorgasbord of flesh and gore in not one but two films, which join together to create one giant badass film. Rodriguez and Tarantino gather up some of Hollywood's most underrated actors and actresses and Fergie to star in their tributes to the '70s exploitation films shown in so-called "grindhouse" theaters.
Up first is Rodriguez's zombie flick, "Planet Terror." In a small Texas town, a military experiment somehow connected with the hunt for Osama Bin Laden turns the residents into hungry zombies, complete with pulsating boils and oozing pus. A ragtag group of vigilantes tries to take back the town and possibly keep the apocalypse at bay. Leading the group is Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), a gunslinger with a mysterious past, and his former girlfriend, Go-Go dancer Cherry Darling (Rose McGowen), who just so happens to end up with a machine gun for a leg. "Planet Terror" starts out with a bang and never lets up, as Rodriguez packs every minute with flesh and gore.
As great as the premise sounds, Rodriguez fails to live up to the potential of what could have been a perfect homage to B-horror flicks. "Planet Terror" feels more like a satire of a grindhouse film, rather than an actual one. Every other line relies on overly literal humor to make the audience laugh. For example, when looking at a corpse with a missing brain, a nurse says, "Looks like a no-brainer."
Rodriguez's attempts at creating a visual similarity to an actual grindhouse pic through scratchy film, jump cuts and missing segments becomes more of a hindrance to the whole experience than a stylistic touch. The scratchiness of the film starts off as a hilarious idea, but quickly becomes an annoyance, lessening the audience's ability to immerse itself in the movie's sensational imagery.
Despite Rodriguez's fumbles, "Planet Terror" remains a highly enjoyable spectacle when taken at face value. Packed with a combination of hilarious situations and highly squeamish "hide behind your hands" moments, it's fun in the only way a film with melting genitals and crazy teenage babysitters can be. Plus, a great cast (minus Fergie) helps in keeping the film from going too over-the-top as they deliver every line in a flawless deadpan.
While Rodriguez fails to capture the true essence of a grindhouse flick, Tarantino creates a film as close to the real thing as possible. In the process, he produces some of his best work to date.
Tarantino's "Death Proof" combines car chase movies with stalker pics for an action-packed flick in which the deliciously menacing and fun Kurt Russell plays "Stuntman Mike," as the character calls himself. The old and forgotten Hollywood stuntman takes his disappointment out on unsuspecting female prey with his customized car. His first targets include a gorgeous trio played by Jordan Ladd, Vanessa Ferlito and Sydney Tamiia Poitier (not to be confused with her Oscar-winning father Sidney). But it's not exactly instant gratification — Tarantino strategically delays the viciously entertaining kills with his trademark dialogue.
Still jonesing for more prey, Stuntman Mike comes across a quartet of entertainment industry beauties (Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, Zoe Bell and Mary Elizabeth Winstead). "Death Proof" takes an interesting, "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" turn in its second half, leading into one dizzying car chase. Tarantino essentially edits what could have been two separate films into one, a technique often employed in grindhouse movies.
Most people will have a hard time getting through Tarantino's long beginning, considering they have already been sitting in the theater for two and a half hours. Many may prefer the constant bombardment of gore and flesh in "Planet Terror," dismissing "Death Proof" as too talky, with its vastly sadistic payoff coming too late in the film.
Then again, what do people know? "Death Proof" remains close to its grindhouse inspiration but is still a very personal project to Tarantino, especially when compared to Rodriguez's shallow poser of a film. Plus, Tarantino remains at the top of his game when it comes to the dialogue; it's still the same great, hilarious, pop culture-laden script driving the plot. "Death Proof" will linger in the audience's mind long after the film is over, longer than "Planet Terror" will.
Tarantino keeps the editing tricks Rodriguez employs to a minimum. He understands the annoyance of scratchy look and quickly abandons it for a subtler, grainier picture quality instead.
In between the two films are a string of faux trailers. It's very tempting to sneak out of the theater at this point to go to the bathroom, but by doing so, you will miss some of the best humor in the entire film. The highlight of the trailers is from "Shaun of the Dead" genius Edgar Wright; his hilarious "Don't" is a send up of European horror movies.
In many ways "Grindhouse" is similar to Tarantino's "Kill Bill," with the first part being the flashier but empty fan favorite, while the largely ignored second part is easily the better of the two.
Despite some problems in the ultimately entertaining "Planet Terror," "Grindhouse" provides some smart and highly enjoyably schlock, thanks mostly to Tarantino's "Death Proof." The $8 and three hours are definitely worth it for a little time at the "Grindhouse."
Grade: 4 out of 5
