Death Proof (2007)

Tarantino's Absolute Worst Film

- In my opinion, Death Proof (2007) is Quentin Tarantino's worst film ever. It is kind of a nice and unique idea though - a killer stunt man that drives around looking for hot little babes to his next victim. Well, some things just look better on paper I guess.

While some of the Tarantino-penned dialogue in the film gets a positive reaction, much of the script is just banal and far less unique than what Tarantino has delivered in the past. All of the off-beat dialogue featured in Tarantino's films have been humorous and clever but in Death Proof the dialogue fails to entertain and keep our interest.

Unfortunately, Tarantino also picked the wrong group of actors to recite his lines. All the women in this film look great (well, I haven't made my mind up about Zoe Bell yet) but come on, all their performances were totally pathetic! Death Proof feels like a roundtable contest to see which actress can look the most uncomfortable as they deliver Tarantino's lines in an incredibly weak fashion.

But most the pathetic performance in the film comes from the only major male performer: Kurt Russell. Russell did a horrible job in the film - not that I was expecting some kind of theatrical wonderment, mind you, but I sure as hell was not expecting him to completely ruin scenes. I was especially laughing myself into a hysterical frenzy of embarrassment for Russell when he was supposedly "in pain." Wow.

Well, after seeing Death Proof, I could not help but ask myself one question: has Tarantino lost his touch? Well, obviously Tarantino had not lost his touch, as he delivered a great film afterwards with Inglourious Basterds in 2009. Of course, it would not take much to outdo Death Proof - which is a horrible movie - I guess you can't win them all, even if you are Quentin Tarantino.


CBC Rating: 4/10