Planet Terror


After one of the longest intermissions in cinema history the second film of the Tarantino/Rodriguez GRINDHOUSE double bill is finally showing in the cinemas. But has it been worth the wait? If nothing else GRINDHOUSE has got cinemagoers talking, and dividing them. In the US is was deemed to be a disaster, at least critically and financially, but I do wonder if that apparent failure is down to the general limited attention span of the average US citizen, or if they just didn’t get the joke. These films were never intended to be serious auteur works (even though the filmmakers are considered to be in that lofty echelon), and simply homages (or even pastiches) to a genre of cinema the directors grew up with. Public opinion was also split about which film was the better and that is really impossible to say, as they are such different films. DEATH PROOF is a typical Tarantino talkie, with fast cars and fast women whereas PLANET TERROR is an action-packed, gore-filled zombie flick. From my point of view there is nothing to dislike in either of them, at least as far as genre goes.

PLANET TERROR definitely has its lolling tongue firmly in its rotting, pestilent cheek. The dialogue is snappy and to the point and is there to quickly move from one action scene to the next. And there is no shortage of action either, but that is the source of my main complaint about the film. Rodriguez, like Tarantino, went to all the trouble of distressing the film (or digitally altering his video) to make it look low budget, as a grindhouse film should, but it was clear that the amount of explosions and hardware destroyed in the movie was more akin to a Michael Bay blockbuster. Tarantino’s contribution was much closer to the spirit of grindhouse in that respect. However, entertainment wise, PLANET TERROR wins severed hands down.

I caught both these films at festivals (DEATH PROOF in Edinburgh and PLANET TERROR at London) and they played to vocally enthusiastic audiences who knew what they were getting and loved every minute of it. Grindhouse was always a niche market so it’s hardly surprising these films appealed to the eclectic tastes of festival-goers. Maybe the problem is they don’t suit the multiplex and need to be seen in the right environment (such as the Prince Charles Cinema) or better still, at a drive-in in their original double bill format.

So is it worth seeing? Absolutely. Is it art? Not really. Is it entertaining? Hell yeah. For all you discerning SCI-FI-LONDON film fans this is right up your street, and even more so than DEATH PROOF. And it has one (but only one) of the mock trailers that originally showed with the double bill – MACHETE. Anyone familiar with the SPY KIDS movies (some say Rodriguez’s best work in recent times – except the 3D one) will know the character but this is definitely an R-rated clip.

PLANET TERROR is out from November 9. See it before they lose any more reels.

Watch trailer and clips (QuickTime)

Trailer

Clip 1

Clip 2