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Planet Terror

Posted by halfnote (A) on November 20, 2007 at 22:29:00

I ordered this one on hi-def pay-per-view.

I was optimistic about what might unfold, especially based on the largely positive notices that film received in the press, which I remembered seeing.

The effort was part of a film duet, Planet Terror directed by Robert Rodriguez (of Sin City fame); and its companion piece, Death Proof, directed by Tarantino. None of this is news to most on this forum, I am sure.

Planet Terror is an unapologetic attempt to take almost every b-movie cliche you can think of and toss it into some kind of comedic cinematic stew. Unfortunately, I believe an apology IS in order for this largely juvenile exercise.

Here are the road-kill scenes from Mad Max, the goulish and mercilessly grisly horror scenes from Romero's zombie movies, the tacky sexual teases from a dozen low-budget biker movies, all mixed together with heapin' helpings of campiness and mock-seriousness. No, it's not exactly Abbott and Costello meet the Wolf Man. It's more like Beavis and Buthead meet the Living Dead.

Now some will marvel at this giddy concoction of bad taste and downright offensiveness, as though every prurient and offensive and degrading spectacle ever featured in a B-movie were combined in some kind of atom-smasher to create a new element in the universe of film-making. Others, and I count myself among them, will see it more like forcing entrails into a meat grinder to produce a rather undistinguished batch of baloney.

Some will see an artful and nostalgic "homage" (the French pronunciation is called for here) to some golden age of b-movies. Others will see a blatant attempt to patronize the sensibilities of those whose psychological development was arrested at puberty. In fact, this movie could CAUSE arrested development if shown to adolescents.

Don't expect the brooding urban mythology and cinematic pyrotechnics of Sin City. In Planet Terror, cheesiness is the order of the day, right down to the simulated scratched celluloid flecks on the screen, the deliberately garish sound-stage lighting, and the painstakingly inept dialogue. Yes, they certainly paid a lot of attention to the details. They just forgot to make a good movie.

Edits: 11/20/07 11/20/07 11/20/07

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