Death Proof review

 Number 591 on the top 1000 films of all time is Quentin Tarantino's psychological thriller Death Proof. Death Proof shares this position with its sister film Planet Terror which were released together under the moniker Grindhouse. I will review both films separately.

Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) is a serial killer stuntman who kills women using his specially-modified car. Rose Mcgowan, Sydney Poitier, Rosario Dawson, Sam Bell among others co-star as the women he targets.

Tarantino generally regards Death Proof as his worse. Having now finally seen them all, I don't agree. I think that honour would go to the bloated and dialogue-heavy 'The Hateful Eight.' Neither is Death Proof one of his best - the simple but effective Reservoir Dogs takes the throne.

True, Death Proof is a relatively simple and straightforward film, but it lacked the same emotional pathos that Reservoir Dogs reached. Although maybe Death Proof didn't need it. It was a simple story of a psychopathic stuntman getting his just-desserts. Yes, it is rather self-validating with many callbacks to his previous films like Kill Bill - which would go over the head of casual viewers, but it was nowhere near as bad as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Kurt Russell was very good as the terrifying killer stuman and it was particularly fun seeing him go from predator to prey. His reaction to getting shot was probably one of the most realistic I've seen in many films. Speaking of realism, Tarantino does dialogue well. Its realistic yet snappy - the Hateful Eight not included of course.

While Stuntman Mike goes from predator to prey, his would-be victims played by Zoe Bell, Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms become his hunter. This was a great and unexpected twist that I didn't see coming. It was something that made you sit up and realise this wasn't your average slasher film. It was a Tarantino slasher film complete with great performances from his women cast - performances matched Kurt Russell. Albeit, it all led to a rather abrupt and random ending.

That being said, I enjoyed Death Proof for what it was - a fun and thrilling slasher. It wasn't one of Tarantino's best, but definitely not his worse either.

No man's land review

 Number 331 on the top 1000 films of all time is the crime thriller 'No Man's Land.'

Ben Ayles (D.B Sweeney) is a rookie cop in San Diego looking to make a name for himself. When an undercover cop is killed, police Lieutenant Vincent Bracey (Randy Quaid) suspects billionaire playboy Ted Varrick (Charlie Sheen) of the murder. Unable to prove it, he sends Ayles deep undercover to gain evidence of Varrick's guilt.

What this thriller was missing was any form or heart or anything to distinguish itself from any other crime thriller. It was very generic and under-whelming. In fairness, director Peter Werner tried adding in some heart with a romantic subplot between Ayles and Varrick's sister Ann (Lara Harris) but the two of them lacked enough chemistry to make the romance convincing. It was closer to corny than cute.

Speaking of chemistry, I'm not convinced how much chemistry Sweeney and Sheen had together. Considering how much of the film is based around their friendship, this seemed like a fatal omission. The big conflict centered on whether Ayles would go native in his efforts to extract a confession from Varrick, but I didn't care either way.

Part of this was down to Charlie Sheen. He gave a one-note, two-dimensional performance as Ted Varrick. Varrick is supposed to be a smarmy, arrogant playboy billionaire, car thief and career criminal. Sheen played this part well, but he didn't bring much else to the role. D.B Sweeney was much better as Ayles. Ayles had far more depth to his character.

But this wasn't enough to rescue a generic, banal crime drama. Even the car chases were boring. And if your car chases are boring in an action film, then you're definitely doing something wrong.