death proof

you can't just decide that something will be iconic. stuff becomes iconic and cult over a period of time, as people learn and live with it and come to realise the craft and heart that went into its production. unfortunately this film tries to bypass that, and jump straight into already having a cult fan-base. i'm sure it will, but i'm not one of them.

in this film, amongst so many faults, it just feels like tarantino is presenting his high school film studies project. yes, quentin, we know you know about films and your level of recollection and geekiness about them is second to none, but being able to pastiche a genre is not the same as making a good movie. i was hoping for both to be accomplished in this, but unfortunately the style just felt forced and it was too obvious that the old cine-reel effects were a very conscious addition in post production. it is very tarantino, but excluding pulp fiction and reservoir dogs this is yet another of his movies that fails to hit my spot. it's wordy without an interesting script, far far far too long, and nothing interesting happens until an hour and a half into it. then it ends with no reward for the viewer.

there are elements i like. not many. i like the abrupt ending. although not a great actress, i liked the kiwi girl's contribution to the stunts. and the main stunt was very well done with no obvious clues as to how they pulled off a lot of the shots. i liked the non-specific time setting - is it the 70's, is it the 00's?
i just don't want to have to sit through 90 minutes of boredom for ten minutes of excitement.

and i SO wanted to enjoy it. damn.

3/10