Kill it now and bring on something better

Rating: 3/10 (18 October 2003)

Quentin Tarantino, like Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith, was an outsider indie filmmaker who burst into Hollywood like some breath of fresh air in the early 90's. I'll never forget the thrill seeing Reservoir Dogs, El Mariachi or Clerks for the first time - you almost ached for these guys to make more movies.
All the more painful, then, to see what each has become. The latest example is Kill Bill Vol 1. This mess of a film has buckets of blood, seventies camp galore, and intricately choreographed hong-kong style fight scenes. What it doesn't have is any soul or smarts. Hipster Hollywood has absorbed Tarantino whole, and he's become yet another slave to irony, style and camp. Gone is his incredible dialogue and amazing timing, replaced by severed limbs, bad animation, and long, dumb speeches.
I understand this was supposed to be some kind of cartoonish homage to a bygone era of cheesy filmmaking, but it just totally lacked originality. I didn't enjoy a single minute of Kill Bill, though I'm sure it's going to make lots of money. Meanwhile I'll be watching for the next Tarantino.