The Rocket

Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: MCT Campus [Click to enlarge]

In the early days of cinema, going to the movies was an event that could last hours upon hours. There would be a "B" movie, an "A" movie, maybe even a "C" movie, and then a few cartoons and newsreels.

But with America's attention span only measurable in nanoseconds, the real challenge is getting an audience to sit still for more than 90 minutes. Unless a film is part of a successful franchise, such as the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, a three-hour run time is frowned upon.

With the Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez throwback double feature, "Grindhouse," the filmmaking duo is more than willing to go against the grain and deliver three-plus hours of blood, gore, laughs and fantastic dialogue.

Right out of the gate, "Grindhouse" displays its inspiration, showing cheesy '60s' style titles. Then comes the first of four fake movie trailers aimed to be ridiculously over-the-top. The first trailer is for a revenge action flick starring Danny Trejo ("The Devils Rejects") titled "Machete."

With lines like "next time you hire Machete to kill the bad guys, make sure you're not the bad guys," "Machete" is a perfect segue into the first of the feature attractions, Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror."

The campier of the two, "Planet Terror" revolves around a chemical agent that was released upon a small Texas town, turning the residents into mutated killing machines.

The film grain is purposely of poor quality, and the dialogue and action are more over-the-top than the 1987 Sylvester Stallone arm wrestling movie "Over the Top." The plot is the least important part of the film. Rodriguez shows this by throwing in a fake missing scene in place of a dialogue-heavy back story.

Rodriguez was trying to pay his respects to bad, gory horror films of the past by making a good, bad horror movie and does so quite successfully. "Planet Terror" is in no way supposed to be taken seriously, and once you figure that out, it's a lot of fun.

What could be more fun than watching young, hip actors and actresses like Naveen Andrews ("Lost"), The Black Eyed Peas' Fergie, Mary Shelton ("Sin City) and Rose McGowan ("Charmed") getting chopped, splattered and mutilated?

Once the survivors move to Mexico and the last zombie is slain, the last three phony trailers hit the screen. There is "Werewolf Women of the S.S." directed by rocker/director Rob Zombie ("The Devil's Rejects"), "Don't," brought to you by the British spoof master Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead") and "Thanksgiving," which comes courtesy of Eli Roth ("Hostel").

Zombie's is a little hard to understand and Roth proves once again that he wasn't hugged enough as a child with his messed-up vision of horror, so the prize for the best trailer has to go to Wright.

One more cheesy '60s-style transition and Tarantino's "Death Proof" is under way.

"Death Proof" follows two groups of women as they are being stalked by the bluntly named Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell). Russell was a perfect choice for "Death Proof's" villain. His rugged, old exterior was a perfect contrast to the rest of the cast of young, hot starlets. He was creepy, cool, charming and hilarious all at the same time.

As for "Death Proof's" women, well it's just Tarantino being Tarantino. To some, the dialogue-heavy "Proof" might be a snoozer on the heels of the action-heavy "Terror," but the dialogue is well-written. If you are a fan of Tarantino's previous films, "Death Proof" will deliver.

If you think you won't be able to handle the dialogue, just be patient. "Death Proof" is almost like an 85-minute joke, with the punch line coming in the final few sequences, and it is totally worth it.

There are two main car chase sequences that are exciting and suspenseful. Tarantino could have easily lost control by putting too much action in "Death Proof," but he kept his eye on the road and steers this one to near perfection.

Do not be intimidated by the runtime. "Grindhouse" is a lot of fun, and time does fly. Both films are great for different reasons. "Planet Terror" is a great take on the gory exploitation films of the past and "Death Proof" is a cool movie that probably could have been released on its own.

"Grindhouse" didn't quite meet expectations in box office sales, so there is talk of breaking the films up as they appear in Europe, but what's great about it is the packaged deal. This throwback double feature format is new to modern cinema, but it was a welcome change to the current scope.

You will laugh. You may cringe. Just make sure you don't drink a big gulp of something and you will enjoy "Grindhouse." Just watch out for the random Nicolas Cage sighting. He really needs to just stop.

Ivan Moore is a senior communication major and a regular contributor to The Rocket.

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