Death Proof (2007)
★★★★ — Death Proof (2007)
Death Proof arrived as one half of Grindhouse, a double-feature experiment Tarantino co-directed with Robert Rodriguez for Dimension Films in 2007, the pair's deliberate love letter to the low-budget exploitation cinema of the 1970s. The theatrical release presented both films back-to-back with fake trailers, deliberately degraded film grain, and missing-reel gags, though the concept largely baffled mainstream audiences and the combined release took a bruising at the box office. For home release, each film was extended and issued separately. Tarantino cast Kurt Russell, then something of a forgotten action star, as Stuntman Mike, and gave New Zealand stuntwoman Zoë Bell (who had doubled for Uma Thurman on Kill Bill) her first proper acting role, performing her own considerable stunt work throughout.
People say this is Tarantino’s worst film. Those people are wrong. It's SUPPOSED to be this corny. This is a masterpiece. A movie of two halves, stitched together like a Frankenstein’s monster of grindhouse horror and adrenaline-fueled revenge flick. It has the sexiest scene in cinema history, and one of the best action stunts. The first half is a sleazy, slow-burning, beer-soaked nightmare straight out of a scratched-up VHS tape, complete with deliberately bad editing, corny dialogue, and a grainy aesthetic that feels authentic to the era it’s paying tribute to. Then the switch flips and the second half is a high-def, full-throttle, girl power revenge movie, and it rules. People often overlook this switch. As someone raised on car flicks, this is a love letter to the art of the chase. The real stunts, the real danger and Zoe Bell hanging onto the hood of that Challenger is one of the best sequences in action cinema. Tarantino took his foot off the brake for this one, and I’m glad he did.
Rating: ★★★★ | Year: 2007 | Watched: 2025-04-02
Where to watch (UK)
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Quentin Tarantino: Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) · Inglourious Basterds (2009) · Pulp Fiction (1994) · Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
More with Kurt Russell: The Fox and the Hound (1981) · Bone Tomahawk (2015) · Big Trouble in Little China (1986) · Tombstone (1993)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More thriller: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Angst (1983) · The Long Walk (2025) · Punishment Park (1971)
