Quentin, Quentin, Quentin. Do you have an entourage of yes men on your payroll? How is it that you’ve lost your way so dramatically? Please don’t take this as a generalised sleight as your body of work on the whole is marvellous, but you’re in danger of parodying yourself. 

Mr T has dropped the ball with Deathproof and it’s an unfortunate time to do so. You see as one half of the Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double bill Grindhouse, Deathproof pales in comparison to its release partner, the zombie thrill-kill ride ‘Planet Terror’, directed by Rodriguez. 

While Planet Terror works in almost every way, Tarantino’s belief that he can write dialogue capable of carrying any half baked plot has brought him unstuck in painfully boring fashion. 2 hours of over acted, over-written lines just sticks in the viewers throat (watch out especially for the all-so-Tarantino “hysterically funny, but not funny-looking” catch phrase that Quentin gelds through repetition). 

In fact the movie would be a complete write-off were it not for the jaw dropping stunt work of NZ native Zoe Bell. Groomed by Tarantino during the Kill Bill films (for which Bell served as Uma Thurman’s stunt double), the gritty actress laid down some of cinema’s most pant shitting stunt work to date. As far as her acting is concerned, well that kinda falls in with the rest of the films’ review, but credit where credit is due. 

Worth a watch on DVD for the stunts if nothing else.