merely acceptable action film

Rating: 5/10 (23 March 2007)

Kill Bill is a fun movie to look at but I have to ultimately agree with those who said it lacks whatever I would personally call substance. I haven't seen the second part so perhaps that might mitigate it somewhat but still I think this film was disappointing on a lot of levels.
The story is a pretty basic revenge story  a bride (Uma Thurman) is shot and left for dead on her wedding day and she seeks revenge on criminal mastermind "Bill" (David Carradine, whose face is never seen)and his cohorts for the crime. The story is told in Tarantino's usual back-and-forth style, for no apparent reason in this case (just as the film switches from color to black and white in the finale and back again for no apparent reason. Maybe QT thought that would keep the scene from growing stale, but it does so regardless). The bulk of the story of this first installment deals with her chase after the unlikely Japanese mafia lord (lady?) O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu). This character is so unlikely that we are treated to something like 20 minutes of footage to explain her origins. The animation is interesting but the scene where she slaughters a rival yakuza when he complains about her being part-Chinese feels forced would that scene even be in the movie if Liu had not been cast in the part? Probably the film's strongest area, as mentioned above, is the visuals. This film has the density of a graphic novel. Unfortunately even this aspect becomes forced, as for example in the finale when we have that 5 minutes or so of black and white footage, and then we have the Liu character fleeing into a frosty landscape garden, seemingly for no other reason than to provide a new and different setting for the climactic battle. At the very least though it's interesting to note that few action films conclude with a battle between two female warriors.
Another part of the film that feels dull is what seems like an entire reel devoted to the making of a sword, a part of the film that feels inserted to give the film a sense of spirituality. Much of this sequence is subtitled which adds to the sense that we are supposed to feel this is an "important" part of the film.
All my feelings about this film -- its effectiveness but at the same time its lack of originality and purpose -- could be summed up by the way they use Ennio Morricone's music in this film. First we have Daryl Hannah marching down a hospital hallway in a kind of nurse outfit with an eyepatch. She's supposed to be whistling this Morricone type tune, but it just does not look right. The effect is humorous where it's probably supposed to be frightening. Then at the film's climactic battle we're treated to the strains of Morricone's "Death Rides a Horse." It's an awesome song, awesome soundtrack.... only problem being it's ALREADY the soundtrack to a revenge film with John Philip Law. So when I first saw the film in the theater, I was distracted by memories of that film.
There is a lot here to appreciate, particularly the slick visuals. There's also a fairly effective combination of action and humor. I'm curious to see the second part, but I wasn't curious enough to actually see it in the theater after seeing this one. I'm disappointed overall.... I don't know if I should call myself a "Tarantino fan" but I have seen all his movies since "Pulp Fiction" in the theater and I enjoyed them. This one felt a bit flat, particularly because it was a step backward into a less story-oriented, more goofy and showy, style of film-making like what he was doing with "PF". All of the violence in "PF" and "Reservoir Dogs" however had a feeling of brutality that made it feel real despite the offbeat humor in the films. But in "Kill Bill" we reach the point of excess where the action itself becomes ridiculous and pointless, particularly in the ludicrous finale where this barbie doll type woman kills something like 50 armed men at the same time. A good director like Tarantino should be able to come up with better and more original ideas than he has done here.