When detractors of Quentin Tarantino, used the argument ‘he is nothing but a self-indulgent over-stylised filmmaker’ I would protest, defending the creator of such masterpieces Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

That is, however, before I had the displeasure of viewing Death Proof.

One could argue to fully appreciate the film it must be viewed in the cinema, with its counterpart Planet Terror and the false trailers but little showed interest. So Tarantino decides to release the film separately and extend it.

The result is an overblown mess and I can say with great confidence, this is the worst movie he has directed (I would say Four Rooms but that apparently doesn’t count).

The film’s narrative, not that it really has one, is of two halves; Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) preying on several girls in Austin Texas and having his way with them and Stuntman Mike preying on several girls in Tennessee and the girls having their way with him.

That’s it for the entire two hours. What we get is two hours of ridiculous dialogue that is tailored for a ridiculous story.

Is that the whole point? Well if it is, why go to the effort of having a realistic car chase, within a ludicrous narrative that takes itself a little too seriously?

Kurt Russell’s performance is not bad, in fact it’s rather good, given the tripe he has to spout but every, and I say this with great conviction, every other character is utterly annoying and pointless.

Therefore we get two hours of random dialogue with no story, coming from characters that we do not care about; especially the stuntwoman Zoe Bell who plays um... herself? She is not an actress and the film suffers because of it.

These characters are either overdeveloped and then quickly disposed of, or underdeveloped and should be disposed of. How can one begin to appreciate the film?

The film has two main sells. One, the realistic car chase with no CGI.

Initially I was pleased to hear this, but when placed at the end of the film in which by then I didn’t care at all as to what was happening, I lost all enthusiasm.

When it finally arrived, yes it delivered the promised stunts but in terrible context.

The second sell? It’s a Grindhouse feature - well, it really isn’t.

The trademark grainy picture disappears half-way through for no apparent reason and the jumpy sound and picture will only baffle and frustrate most audiences.

This is even more confusing when you think how limited the audience is for this film. Only those above the age of 35 will remember and appreciate the Grindhouse films or fans of Tarantino will see it, judging by his last effort Kill Bill vol.2 that will not be many.

So why was Tarantino so surprised when no one actually went to see the film?

Considering Tarantino’s skill for both writing and directing, this is a major disappointment and a failure of a film.

He has not been on form since Pulp Fiction and that was almost 15 years ago. Jackie Brown was good but overlong and uninteresting in parts.

Kill Bill vol.1, again a homage to ‘insert genre here’, but Kill Bill didn’t take itself seriously, which Death Proof makes the bad mistake of doing. Kill Bill also had lively and engaging characters, even if they fell flat on their faces in the second film.

I do not like such negativity towards a talented and capable writer/director but it appears to me, Tarantino’s days of making entertaining, nostalgic fun are long gone.

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