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| by Cochaman Peef with additional writing by Bridget Petrella | ||
| Dreamworks' ‘Death Proof’— Bad-Ass Chicks Kick Ass! | ||
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Despite a number of short-term
unwarranted arrests for a virtual plethora of misdemeanors,
which, for some odd reason, remain "classified", Cochaman Peef
has continued to let his beloved hemp play a substantial role in
his ever-waning life. Whether he’s smoking from a hand-blown
glass pipe while studying Eastern religion and Woody Harrelson
philosophy, or just smoking Jamaican sticks and watching Kung-Fu
with David Carradine on DVD [he claims to know Carradine
personally, a fact we've yet to dispute]. |
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Prescription:
take a massive dose of some gritty sub cultural reality and shove it
straight up your ass... sideways. Death Proof is the second of two films
that are all a part of Grindhouse: Tarantino and Rodriguez' brainchild of
a throwback to the exploitation films of the early to late 70's.
Grindhouses were popular in the 70's as a very seedy type of theater (very
often outdoors) in a less than upscale part of town. They played very low
budget B-films catering to fans of extreme violence, nudity and sex; with
very little substance or anything remotely resembling a deep and
meaningful storyline. As grindhouse films were often purchased by these
theaters cheaply, they had already been played countless times; so were
often severely scratched or burnt and even had frames or even entire
scenes missing throughout the film. Rodriguez has digitally created this
sense of wear and tear by adding scratch lines, lots of pops and a general
graininess to the look of the film. This includes the soundtrack; and I
don't mean the music. The sound of the film is scratchy and they've placed
the slight sound of a projector running in the background. The voice
syncing appears messed up a few times and there are indeed missing reels;
substituted with title cards that simply say "missing reel: we apologize
for the inconvenience." It sounds annoying, but I tell you, it's pure
genius and everyone who can remember what it was like to be packed into a
car with all of your friends at a drive-in laughed uncontrollably. 
Death
Proof stars Kurt Russell as a deranged serial killer stunt car driver
appropriately called, "Stuntman Mike". He scours the countryside looking
for young women to slaughter with his "death proof" stunt car. The film is
actually split into two stories that have almost no relationship with one
another whatsoever. So watching Death Proof was much like watching two
separate movies with the same main character theme. The first segment
follows a group of girls all morning and afternoon as they get down and
dirty trash-talking about boys and drugs and getting together later that
night. Then we watch them hanging out at the bar for a little while with
some guys. At this bar is Stuntman Mike stalks his "prey" like a jungle
cat with really bad taste in wardrobe {this gets quite a few laughs as
he's referred to as various incarnations of the ol' Burt Reynolds-type
wheel men from the 70's}. I'm not going to get into who dies and who lives
etc (but believe me, people do die and you do get to see it in all of its
extremely graphic glory). So be forewarned.
The
female leads are all well-crafted with a ton of saucy charisma and
some serious "tudes". Each group is a blast to just watch and listen to as
they almost follow suit with Clint Eastwood in the "catch phrase"
department. This includes Rosario Dawson who is fairly underrated as an
actress and is always "balls out" in every film she does. Also, the girl
doing the stunts (you'll know her when you see her) is played by Zoë Bell.
Not really an actress by trade, but an actual stunt woman. In fact, Zoë is
a die-hard Kiwi {that's New Zealander for those of you who aren't familiar
with the term} and she spent several years as Lucy Lawless' Stunt Double
in Xena Warrior Princess. Zoë is a "natural" actress and is superbly
convincing in this role... and as always, her stunt work is incredible. I
would not be at all surprised to see her in more starring roles after this
film. The real strength of Death Proof lies in the power of the gals that
keep us glued. These women convincingly represent the Russ Meyer films of
the 60s— bad ass chicks that are not frazzled by violence and ready to
just "rip shit up" whenever it's deemed necessary. So be sure to try your
best not to jump out of your seats by keeping those seat belts buckled
tightly. It may start off smooth, but Death Proof proves to be one hell of
a ride! UB
