Force Fed Films: Death Proof (2007)

This week's Force Fed Film from Puneet was yet another car movie. Surprise surprise. This time it was Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. This movie is filled with hot girls and fast cars, sounds like a winning combination. The only catch I could see with this, was that it was a Quentin Tarantino movie, which I don't always enjoy. His films are really hit and miss with me. I also haven't heard very many good things about it either. Hit the jump to find out on which side of the line this film stands.


The story driving Death Proof forward is very basic. There is a murderous psychopath stuntman named Stuntman Mike, played by Kurt Russell. He likes to stalk women and kill them with his reinforced stunt car which he claims is "Death Proof" due to all the modifications. This movie is about him stalking two separate groups of women.

There are so many actresses in this it's just too many to list. There are a few that stood out more than the rest though. Obviously in the first half of the movie, the stand out girl is the one that does the dance and is on that poster up above, that would be Vanessa Ferlito. I know I've seen her some where before, but looking at her filmography I can't place her. The other one is Rose McGowan who I just saw in Conan as the evil witch. Her role here though isn't very memorable. The rest were pretty, but forgettable.

That woman on the hood would be Zoe Bell doing her own stunts at blazing speeds!

The women that stood out for more impressive reasons than simply being recognizable were all in the second half of the movie. Tracie Thoms pretty much stole the whole movie with her rough and wild ways. She was a fantastic actress and she gave an amazing performance as the tough stuntwoman driver. Stuntman Mike has no idea who he's up against! Next to here was Zoe Bell, who actually played herself as another stuntwoman. Actually in real life she IS a stuntwoman and she's in a ton of films. This means that when she climbs out and is on the hood of the speeding car, she's doing that all herself! Very cool! Rosario Dawson is in this, I only know her from Clerks 2, and she was good, but didn't stand out when compared to the first two. Lastly we have their cheerleader friend, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who is actually supposed to be a famous actress in the film. I didn't recognize her, and she was pretty much forgettable, but when looking her up I was shocked to find out she's the one who played Romona Flowers, the multicolour haired female lead in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World! I didn't see that coming.

She was in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. Recognize her?

Next I have to bring up the treatment of the film to make it look like it was from the 70s. The film skips and jumps and has scratches on it and audio errors, all put in on purpose to make it seem like a cheap drive-in flick that's been around the block a few too many times. It's not evident in any of the images, but it's very noticeable and generally a fun kooky effect. At one point the whole film goes into black and white for some reason and pops back after about 10 minutes. Funny enough, during the high action scenes and car chases, suddenly the film is picture perfect! Imagine that!

Kurt Russell is a mean crazy bastard as Stuntman Mike in his Death Proof cars

Not it's not to say that there aren't any flaws in the movie. While the action is balls to the wall excitement and great in pretty much every way, the VAST majority of the movie is about the girls. Kurt Russell is actually isn't in the film all that much. The rest of the time, we hang out with the girls as they talk about boring things and getting high and being famous and telling stories about each other. We're talking a good 30-40 minutes of completely uninteresting drivel. It was clear this was supposed to force a level of caring down my throat so I felt something when the S hits the F and Stuntman Mike shows up again, but it didn't have that affect. Instead all I wanted to do was shut the movie off and never watch it again. Thankfully it all eventually leads to more amazing action and some of the best car action I may have ever seen.

It's too bad the majority of this movie is filled with content I HATED. Just because of that, I doubt I would recommend this movie in it's whole form to anyone. Instead I'd try to show them only the action scenes and skip all the rest. So as it turns out, I found half this film to be really good, and the other half to be utterly horrible. Take that as you will. As for me, even though those action scenes were fun, I hope I never see this movie again for as long as I live.