Don't go see a movie you are not going to understand and then proceed to bash it.

Rating: 10/10 (11 October 2003)

Let me first say this: this movie was FANTASTIC. Don't let the title i gave my review mislead you. That title is directed at all the people here who have submitted nonsensical reviews.
KILL BILL is, from start to finish, a bloody master piece. Those who didn't like it simply didn't get it.
Tanatino's favorite films are old school Sonny Chiba/Bruce Lee-esque ultra violent movies classics. Anybody who has seen said films will know, as bloody as Kill BIll is, it does not even come close to some of those old classics.
SPOILERS LOOM AHEAD - YE BE WARNED
KILL BILL is a movie that blends together Tarantino's engrossing cinematic style with the favs of old school martial arts flicks with ease and genius. Tarantino was looking for nothing more here than to bring to the big screen for a mass audience in present day the sort of film that inspired him to create films. What can one say about this in a negative fashion in this respect? He has succeeded. The negative reviews prove that. Too much gore? Too much violence? If i had any complaint about this movie it was that it didn't have ENOUGH, and that was only because for the first half of KILL BILL Tarantino was shooting for an R rating. Believe it: if he could have gotten away with as much blood and guts as he wanted there would have been a lot more. Oh and fasten your seat belts kiddies and come to the theatre in a parka because KILL BILL vol. 2 has an NC-117 rating. That means more blood guts and mayhem than probably any Hollywood big budget movie ever.
For those who commented that there was too much blood and guts and nonsensical violence i say this: why do you continue to go to movies that you don't understand? I knew from the moment i saw the first trailer what was going to go down in this movie and i couldn't wait. Those that say its wrong to laugh at such scenes as a woman writhing on the floor with missing limbs, or sex fiends getting eviscerated i say this: sometimes its good to laugh at such things. With such real life horrors going on in the modern day its healthy to sit back and watch and laugh at over the top carnage. We laugh because we know how ridiculous it is and that is what makes it entertaining. And remember this as well: everyone one you saw writhing in pain or covered in blood was either a rapist, pedophile, or murderer. They are getting what they deserve anyway so what do you care? Not ONE innocent bystander was killed in this movie by the hero. Even the young yakuza kid got to get out with his life.
So enough with the simpletons. Let me get on with a legitimate review.
From the very first scene this movie sets the tone for the direction it will follow, and follow along a straight line it does. From the `Presented in Shaw-Scope' intro everyone should know that this is going to be a highly stylized trip down movie memory lane (apparently some didn't but i won't go there again) As i have said, Tarantino has masterfully blended together his pulp-action style with martial arts mayhem. Each scene moves fluidly to the next, one is never left with the feeling that something is missing or out of place. Again he moves in and out of chronological sequence as in Pulp Fiction, but this is one trick he has mastered. All it does is serve to deal the audience the story in a more intriguing way. The cinematography and imagery here is beautiful. Tarantino teams with Robert Richardson (of U-turn and Natural Born killers fame) superbly. From white picket fence american suburbia, to tilted angel, eye of the victim, trunk shots, to sweeping well placed fights, to a classic Japanese garden climax; one can tell that each scene was given careful consideration to how it looked and it shows. The story doesn't deviate from the traditional vengeance plot that many of the movies that inspired it followed. You know just why The Bride wants her victims dead and you are behind her all the way. Tarantino usefully recaptures the spirit of the warrior code and what it means to them to play the dance of life and death battles. It is their religion, and if that seems silly to you i encourage you to someday see a kitana in action in reality. The amount of damage these blades can deal in a single blow is frightening. Tarantino captures the idea that the perfect blade to the warrior is their ultimate prize and i applaud Tarantino for the scene where The Bride sees the collection of master work kitanas, for you truly get a sense of how beautiful they are to her. Tarantino doesn't let you go for a second through this whole film, and he has you believing every second of it. Those who were made uncomfortable i again assert: you simply just didn't get it and you never will.
The acting in this movie was equally on par with Tarantino's film making. I am not a huge fan of Uma Thurman so i had my doubts, but she has earned a new level of respect from me here. She played the vengeance seeking warrior to a T. I like the choice that Tarantino made here to go with an american blonde woman as the hero. With this subtle choice he came out on his own. Very few of the movies that inspired this had women heroines, and i cannot think of one that had an american. One thing that can be said about Tarantino: the man is certainly not gender biased and not afraid to give the audience a strong woman as the lead rather than a man. This movie probably would not have been as interesting if it was a man. Lucy Liu also gave a perfect performance and portrayed her character in the exact light it needed. Sonny Chiba was a nice reminder of the old days when this sort of movie was in its golden age. Even Karadine, who at this point is only voice acting, was excellent. The one who stole the show though was Chiaki Kuriyama as Go Go Yubari. Very few in american audiences will know her but she is most well known for her excellent performance in Battle Royale, an incredible piece of Japanese cinema. I was excited when i noticed her in the previews because much of the acting in Battle Royale was excellent and it is good to see that at least one of these you Japanese actors/actresses was noticed by Hollywood. Indeed, hers was one of the best performances in Battle Royale and she brings that same intensity to KILL BILL. Her character was truly disturbing, probably more so then all the others in the movie, and she played it in excellent fashion.
As for the music, again i was skeptical. When i heard the RZA of Wu-Tang Clan fame was doing the score i wasn't sure what to think, but it proved to be a perfect fit. There was no hip hop style beats here, the RZA truly created music that fit the movie taking obvious inspiration from the musicians that adorn the soundtracks of past Tarantino movies, 70s funk, and the music in the kung fu classics. He blended the styles in a way that was almost hypnotizing. In the end it wasn't surprising considering the Wu-Tang clan is inspired themselves by the same movies that inspired Tarantino.
There are only very mild criticisms for this movie that i and my fellows had, and none of them warrant taking off any points from a ten out of ten. I thought the movie dragged in a few spots, but upon reflection i went in expecting something a little different. One tends to romanticize older movies when one hasn't seen them in a long time and when i look back at Sonny Chiba, Bruce Lee, and Akira Kurosawa classics all i remember is sweeping samurai battles, and brawl after brawl. One forgets that these movies were not all fights. They relied heavily on thick drama in between to tell the stories of warriors, not just show case their battles. So in this respect i was anticipating non stop action from KILL BILL, but i am glad i turned out wrong. Without the drama and characterization this movie would have been the bland blood bath that others seem to think it was. The only other complaint is purely aesthetic in a film making sense. One of the draws of Tarantino is his engrossing dialog. We believe in his characters because of the lewd jokes and the foot message anecdotes. It brings them to our level as we see them concern themselves with every day things. This is lacking just a tad in this movie. Albeit there wasn't much room for it. The movie was crammed to the bursting point with content. Did it make the charac ters feel any less human? No because there was just enough of the Tarantino charm to still feel it. He still manages to add his genius details in characterization. In fact there was one point when i actually turned to my friend and said `Tarantino is a genius.' When the sheriff who came to survey the carnage of the church drove up in big 70s style smoked sunglasses and we then see on his dashboard several more pairs in varying colors, it was a brilliant touch. Here we have a character who is on screen for all of five minutes and yet Tarantino still feels the need to make him his own individual with his own unique personality and quirks. He isn't just a throw away character to serve a purpose in one scene as a transition to the next. He is a real life sheriff to us, a character that had enough personality that Tarantino could make a movie just about him if he wanted to. Its these little things that make Tarantino stand out from the ravenous pack and stand out with style, the style of a 70s 14th street pimp, and that is why we go see him.
10 out of 10