Paperjam

Death Proof

Film // Steve // 10th March 2008

I must be about the last person to see “Death Proof”. It was waiting on the door mat when I got in late on Saturday, so after I grabbed some fish and chips, I bunged it on. And I was a bit bored.

By far the best thing about it (apart from the heartstoppingly lovely Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Rosario Dawson - pervy moment over, thanks) was having actress/stuntwoman Zoe Ball do her own stunts.

To see her balancing act on the front of the Dodge Challenger and to know that's her, no computer graphics or nothing, was thrilling, in the same way that when you watch “Bullitt” and the Mustang spins out at one point, you see that it is McQueen himself putting his arm out on the window and whacking it into reverse.

In fact, dammit - that's the only thing that's impressive these days about special effects in films - if the film that can somehow convince you that it's all done in camera and that Industrial Light and Magic have been nowhere near it, I'm vastly more impressed.

I know that computer graphics have got better, but you really can tell - in the dogshit-tastic “Spiderman 3”, when he puts his mask up, all of a sudden his movement becomes eerily fluid and bouncy in a way that humans really aren't. To see Rosario Dawson looking horrified, and then really excited in the passenger seat while watching Zoe Bell on the bonnet of the Challenger was really engaging.

But the film, the plot... all the characters all spoke in Tarantino-ese, it seemed massively overlong at 114 minutes, and Tarantino could only be arsed to keep up the scratchy film effect until the beginning of the second half.

Also the idea of using soundtracks from other films was just a bit rubbish, I wish he'd give it up - during the chase, I said to myself: “eh up, that sounds like Franco Micalizzi” and that took me completely out of the situation. “Jackie Brown” is still his best film by a thousand miles.