Artistic

Rating: 9/10 (12 August 2014)

It certainly isn't for all audiences; it does not try to cater for everyone, if you know this is not your scene then why watch it and why review it negatively? Kill Bill: Volume 1 is classic Tarantino, it is extreme, it is graphic and it certainly does not hold back.
The direction is perfect, the fight scenes are beautiful, this is film making, this is art. Visually this film is nothing short of Stunning. There is one scene where the lights go out and a fight commences against a light back drop and all we see is the shadows of the fighters, no gore, no CGI, just raw martial arts. Beautiful. The scene where Uma Thurman faces the '88' is perfect, it is a long martial arts scene, probably over 15 minutes long and not at one point does it get boring. Tarantino somehow manages to film that and keep it looking uncluttered and not clumsy, it is very stylish.
Some of the sword fights are filmed majestically – the camera shots used and the way the fights are created is truly breath-taking. The settings/environments are great and so much detail goes into every single scene. The fight scenes of course aren't realistic & the blood looks fake – this is what everybody forgets – it is supposed to look like that. This is Tarantino; he made it to be over the top Kung Fu action flick, a tribute to these films, with of course, a Tarantino twist. Tarantino has got to be the only director who could add this soundtrack to scenes of copious amounts of gore and martial arts yet make it feel normal.
Straight from the opening scene it has an atmosphere; it bursts straight into life and rarely slows down for the duration of the movie. Uma Thurman is fantastic, she really shows off her abilities in this, there may not be a strong script for her to work with but she is extremely convincing during her 'revenge' mission – especially in the action scenes. Tarantino is often known for his script and dialogue writing abilities, this is what often sets his films apart from its competitors. In Kill Bill this is not necessarily the case, the film does not focus on this as such, this time he goes for violence, and lots of it!
One thing I didn't like about Kill Bill was the short animated feature about a third of the way through the movie. Personally, I didn't feel it was necessary but I can appreciate that it would appeal to some audiences.
All in all I don't see the hate for his movie, sure if it is not your genre then you will clearly not enjoy it. If you like Tarantino, you like Martial Arts, you like gore & you like well-acted, well-choreographed movies then I don't see how this won't be a hit with you! The ending is great, and certainly keeps me interested whilst I wait for Volume 2 to arrive.
9/10