Mr. Tarantino, your achilles' heel is showing...

Rating: Null/10 (23 April 2004)

Before I start my actual review of Kill Bill Vol.1, I have to tell you a little bit about my history with Tarantino.
The first one I saw was Reservoir Dogs. A lot of people say it's packed with references to other movies, but I can only think of two or three off the top of my head. Reservoir Dogs is also my favorite Tarantino movie. Pulp Fiction is obviously packed with loads of film references. That worked though, and I liked it. Jackie Brown came next, which was mostly just a tribute to blaxploitation movies. I liked that too, but less than the others.
But now, with the first installment of Kill Bill, Tarantino's weakness is starting to show: he can't write anything original. I mean, some people take influence from other scenes in films; for instance, the famous mirror scene in Welles' Lady From Shanghai was first seen in Chaplin's The Circus. Obviously, they are not the same scene, although they both take place in a hall of mirrors area. Kill Bill shamelessly lifts other scenes from movies. The most obvious and blatant "reference" is seen when the Bride gets in to the "Pussy Wagon" and starts saying, "Wiggle your big toe." Where did that come from? Why, John Ford's On the Wings of Eagles, of course. Then there's the butchered Morricone spaghetti-western music, a line lifted directly from a Leone movie("...he should have killed ten."), and many other scenes and things lifted from different grindhouse/Japanese action movies. I'm just sick of it. I want to see Tarantino writing his OWN material and stop "paying homage" to other movies.
Ahh, but there are other flaws in the film. A very boring and linear plot doesn't help. Uma Thurman's not a great actress, and many of the characters are very boring. Bill is the only character I really want to see more of in Part 2, considering his mystery. And that he's played by David Carradine.
On the other hand, the action scenes are splendid! They're quite well choreographed, and very exciting. The battle with the Crazy 88s stands out. I was also pleased by the anime sequence(although honk-tastic).
Well, I hope Pt.2 is better... because I was dissapointed.
4/10