Just wow.

Rating: 8/10 (13 October 2003)

A cinematically beautiful work by Tarantino without the flashy CGI effects and realistic gore that plagues contemporary film, the main thing that stands out about this movie is the absolutely ridiculous amount of bloodshed. All the (rather bloody) gore in the film is meant entirely to be over the top, and at that it succeeds. It's just that the bloodshed is over the top to the point of being one of the most memorable things (if not *the* most memorable thing) about the film.
Wonderful camerawork, extensive use of color, visual irony, beautiful women (from Darryl Hannah with one eye to the jaw-dropping Chiaki Kuriyama), a killer soundtrack, marvelous swordplay, but above all, enough fake blood to fill a lake. There's even an incredibly bloody anime sequence thrown in for good measure. It's entertaining enough to keep your interest, but bloody enough to make you feel like showering afterwards (so long as you're not too much into "Doppelganger", as that would just continue the trend). I personally have a very active imagination and am quite open to sympathy pain, so I probably won't watch this one but perhaps once more (right before vol. 2 comes out).
8/10. It would be 9, but you honestly don't understand how freakin bloody this film is until you've seen it.