Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Kurt Russell stars as a sociopathic stuntman whose taste for stalking sexy young ladies gets him into big trouble when he tangles with the wrong gang of badass babes.

Dimension has decided to release the Grindhouse films separately rather than in the double-feature style of their theatrical release. So for this Blu-ray you get the feature length unrated cut of Death Proof. This was my favorite of the two films and this new extended cut does add some nice character development but largely feels the same as the original cut. Russell is awesome as stuntman Mike and I’m glad to see Tarantino bring him to the big screen again in rough form. This film is chocked full of Tarantino’s signature wit and dialogue and can be a bit wordy at times but it is WELL worth the wait for the incredible third act which features one of the best car stunt sequences ever put on film.

While I may have scored this one a bit low in the video department, don’t fret. This Blu-ray looks exactly like they wanted it to. The whole point of the Grindhouse series was to mimic the old B-Movie experience and seeing a film that has been played to death at the local picture house. This includes intentional wear and tear, bad cuts and color issues. Is it distracting? Sure at times, but it doesn’t ever become annoying. The image has a softer look to it but it is never soft enough to crush image detail or depth. Dimensionality is a tad lacking but understandable. The first half of the film is worse than the second but both are faithful to the material.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack is outstanding and really drives up the intensity of the film. Like the video it has been stylized with pops and noise but thankfully they didn’t go nearly as far with the audio quality as they did with the video. The mix is still quite engaging and really fills the room up. Dynamic range is excellent and low bass extension really adds to the intense car sequences later in the film. I also loved the soundtrack selections and their presence during the film. Tarantino always knows how to pick great songs that fit the mood of his films perfectly and this is no exception.

My biggest complaint with the Grindhouse releases on Blu-ray is the omission of the mock trailers that were created for the double-feature showing. The other Blu-ray features the long cut trailer for Machete but we don’t get the other great ones directed by Eli Roth and Rob Zombie. Hopefully Dimension still plans on releasing these in their original double-feature form with the trailers intact at some point. This disc does get a lot of great extras though. There are a few features on the stunts and production of the film and a great focus piece on stunt woman Zoe Bell. This girl was AMAZING in the film and the features shed some more light on this up and comer. An uncut version of the song “Baby, It’s You” is included along with the trailer for Bell’s documentary Double Dare. The international trailer and poster gallery for this film is also included. This disc is BD-Live enabled but currently the material is not available.

Finally we get to see the Grindhouse films in HD. I was a bit disappointed that this wasn’t released in a big set with the films in their double-feature form but I’ll take what I can get. Tarantino delivers the most entertaining of the bunch and aside from the lack of the mock trailers; Dimension has done a great job with the release. Highly recommended!!