Neeli-BlogsRandom Rental - Grindhouse: Planet Terror
May 28th 2009 04:30
A friend from uni once told me that he reckoned the greatest movie ever would be one where a bunch of people were stuck in a labyrinth filled with loads of zombies and monsters, and they all had to blow the shit out of each other - and the whys and hows would never be acknowledged. With that in mind, I think he'd absolutely LOVE Planet Terror. The movie is basically about a bunch of extremely hot people grabbing a bunch of weapons and blowing the shit out of a bunch of zombies. Normally I'd be saying this as if it were a bad thing - but for some reason... I...LIKED it.
This movie is an affectionate tribute to the cheesy exploitation films of the 1970s and also to the whole zombie movie genre in general. The acting is crazy and over-the-top, the effects are purposely terrible (I loved all the jam and ketchup coming from the exploding zombies) and some of the cleavage shots are hilariously gratuitous. Everyone is extremely good-looking and fierce - you won't find any wimps or flaky damsels in distress in this movie. Part of me wanted to go "How much time does Cherry have to keep re-applying her lipstick while she's fighting zombies?" but the other part was going "DON'T QUESTION THE LOGICS. SHE LOOKS AWESOME."
In fact, Cherry herself is probably one of the highlights of this movie. Rose McGowan does an excellent job as the Film Noir good-girl-trapped-in-a-bad-wo rld archetype, with just the right amount of overacting. Cherry as a character is pretty fun to watch. She's tough, fierce and could even give Jessica Rabbit a run for her money in terms of hotness. And I'm pretty sure that if a straight girl like me can be completely captivated by Cherry's awesomeness, I'm sure there are going to be alot of male jaws hitting the floor at the mere sight of her dancing in the opening scene.
Still don't believe me? Check out that scene right now on youtube.
Really Long Link
I think one of my favourite scenes is where Cherry blows the shit out of a bunch of zombies, dodges a bomb with a back-arch and then poses dramatically with a pair of glasses she finds. It's just so over-the-top and yet so awesome at the same time. In fact I just love the whole Cherry-having-a-gun-for-a-leg thing. It's like that conversation I had with my friend from uni. I could just imagine him saying "They should make a movie about a chick with a gun for a leg, and she blows the shit out of zombies and stuff." Like I said, he'd love this movie.
Now even though I did enjoy the film, I've got to say that the grainy image quality was pretty annoying. At first it was kinda endearing but after a while it just got irritating, and it's a good thing that they toned it down after a while. I'd love to give this movie more than three and a half stars. The casting was great, Robert Rodriguez seemed to be having a shitload of fun directing, and Cherry makes me want to go out and buy lipstick. However, my main problem with the film is that the first twenty minutes were kinda slow and more strange than entertaining. The movie didn't get REALLY good til about half-way. It's a shame, because if those first twenty minutes had been as good as the last twenty minutes, the movie could have been amazing.
Bottom line is - if you love crazy old horror movies that are full of camp value, old zombie movies, Tarantino films, movies with really hot girls who blow shit up, or really obscure movies from the 60s and 70s, you'll love this movie. If not, give it a miss.
This is That Aussie Girl, signing out.
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Comment by Bridget 1
I Movie You
The only thing I'd add to the formula of what makes it great is a a FINE appreciation of BBQ