Article
Grindhouse was it a success, commercial or otherwise?
Grindhouse is the kind of idea that really should get movie fans going; I mean what a great idea, something very original in a way. Take 2 movies, put them back to back with spoof adverts squashed in the middle, it’s a great idea for a feature movie. So Tarantino and Rodriguez should be applauded for cobbling together a stylishly produced and stylishly promoted back to back movie feature with retro throwback styling and loaded on digital grain, dirt and textures.
Breaking it down to the sum of its parts however and it’s not quite the spectacle it could have been. You have the first part of Grindhouse which is Death Proof, a story about Stuntman Mike whose car is loud and he’s pretty proud of that fact, In his car he could survive any crash, hence the title Death Proof. It is a Tarantino movie so there is a lot of dialogue, mind you its cool dialogue but still there is a lot of it. Death Proof has some awkward transitions from scene to scene which really rip it apart and while they help to define the character its not a likeable character and the two set of girls are too similar. Out of the two Grindhouse movies I would confidently say that Death Proof is by far the most stylish, but also the least successful movie.
Planet Terror knows where it’s coming from, its tongue in cheek and it proud of it, with some great homage’s to olden movies it mixes a whole load of things up and comes up with a ridiculous but very gripping movie. We follow the story of the go go dancer name name and her ex bf name name that is just passing through town. However the local army base is the breeding ground for a bunch of infected walking dead who are set to ravage anything in their path. Out of the two Grindhouse movies Planet Terror is by far the most watchable, even though it’s lacking in parts. The tongue in cheekiness, while an integral part of the movie at times is sometimes too much and a little overbearing.
Overall I love what Grindhouse did, and I’m glad I saw the movies, however I cant help but wonder what would have happened if we had of got a collaboration more like From Dusk Till Dawn, where you have the dialogue that Tarantino directs so well, mixed with the obvious action, suspense and atmosphere that Rodriguez brings. Grindhouse highlighted this so much, that Tarantino focuses on the dialogue and Rodriguez on the Action yet together they have the strength in their respective areas to create a much more even movie.
Apart from the crits above lets take a look at the stylish media and images that were attached to Grindhouse, it’s all really well produced and definitely has that retro quality.
