Grindhouse is the movie experience. It is one of the few times where paying $10, you are getting your money's worth. It is two complete movies, fake trailers, ads, and all the hoopla of the Explotation film era. It also three hours that takes a toll at the end.
First, there is Planet Terror, Robert Rodriguez's dedication to B movie horror films. It is fun, frightening, sexy and not anywhere close to reality. The dialogue is not meant to be taken seriously. The violence is overblown to show just how absurd you can get. It is also a film that will revitalize the careers of both Rose McGowan and Seth Green. You want to know what happens to their characters of Cherry and Wray. There are big explosions, sexy tidbits, and scratchy film for anyone to enjoy. If this was Grindhouse alone it would be a 5 star film.
Next, there are the trailers and filler that remind us of what life was like before CGI. Every single trailer is hilarious including Machete, Werewolf Women of the SS, and Thanksgiving. In addition the cheesy R rating segment and Feature Presentation pieces were nostaglia at its best.
Last there is Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. Tarantino is a dangerous person. He loves film and wants everyone to know and feel it as much as he does. His films become treatises on the framing, lighting and effects and less the plot as is boldy described by Death Proof. Kurt Russell is the king of B-movie fame from Escape from New York to The Thing. He is humorous, sarcastic, violent in a cartoonish way, and fun to watch when left to his own devices. Tarantino over-directs him to the point of boredom.
The first part of Death Proof is fun with characters like Jungle Julia and Butterfly. They are fun to watch, and, at some point, you care what happens to them. Russell's Stuntman Mike is creepy and lewd and makes you expect a great ending. You get it, but then find out this is only the first half of Death Proof.
The second half of Death Proof is a bad episode of the Dukes of Hazard as viewed from the stunt person point of view. We learn more about stuntwork in conversation than is done in the reel. It is your math professor giving you a lecture on stuntwork, and it is boring beyond tears. By the time Stuntman Mike appears you want him to kill the characters to end your torture. Tarantino stretches it out to the point of exhaustion to give the audience a happy ending. He should have ended with the first half.
Overall Grindhouse is the best use of $10 in a movie theater. Sadly spefically, it should have been released as two films. I would see Planet Terror again in theater anyday, but you couldn't pay me enough to sit through Death Proof again. It will be great on DVD, but is worth the theater viewing.