Boring

Rating: 3/10 (17 November 2003)

I have loved Tarantino's other films. They have always had three key components, a finely crafted story, comedy and violence. This film was exactly the same except that it didn't have the story or the comedy.
The film is only just over an hour and a half long, but it seemed longer. People clearly weren't gripped. I have never seen so many people wandering in and out of the cinema - they clearly weren't on the edge of their seats.
Now I've got nothing against violence if it moves the story forward, or adds to the comedy. I think the scene where Vincent accidentally shoots a guy in the head in the back of a car is a great piece of comedy and directly leads to one of the best scenes in the excellent Pulp Fiction. But the violence in Kill Bill is practically constant - and that gets very, very dull. There's only so many times that somebody getting slashed with a sword can hold your interest.
The Manga is quite well done, but is again full of violence for violence's sake.
There is comedy, but I'm pretty sure that the laughs were coming in places that the director didn't intend...
And the story. Well that must have taken all of five minutes to write. Victim of a failed murder goes out to kill the four assassins who attacked her and their boss, Bill. Cue five interminably long fight scenes (two of which are in this movie) linked by some (violent - yawn) background about each. But because its Tarantino, the people are shown being killed in the wrong order. Innovative it is not.
Of course Tarantino is well known for his non-linear films. Maybe the story and intelligent writing comes in Part 2.
But I doubt it.