A Failure...

Rating: 2/10 (9 December 2003)

So Tarantino wanted to pay an homage to Kung-Fu films and Hong Kong action cinema. Well he tried...and failed. For a "kung-fu" film it sure is missing quite a bit of Kung-Fu...in fact it doesn't have any kung-fu. The only martial arts in this movie is a poor display of Japanese swordsmanship. And that's being generous. It's actually a white chick holding a samurai sword, swinging it wildly occasionally while being surrounded by talented actor/martial artists like Sonny Chiba and Gordon Lui. Tarantino completely wasted the talents of Yuen Woo Ping by putting an uncoordinated sloth in the title roll. And yes IT IS a kung-fu film, every interview Tarantino does he calls it a Kung-fu flick. So based on this, he completely and utterly failed in crafting an engaging and creative martial arts genre film.
Not only that but Tarantino took a complete and inaccurate dump all over Yakuza society. And no, "Wiggle your big toe" is not the least bit funny. No, a few cheesy fountains of blood does not make this film totally violent. If you gorehounds out there want cheesy gore go watch "Versus" or "Ichi - The Killer" and then get back to me.
By the way, the character of Go Go was completely bitten from Chiaki Kuriyama's character in Battle Royale...in fact he rips off an entire scene from that film...good job Tarantino...