The sum of the parts...

Rating: 7/10 (16 October 2003)

...will hopefully be.. Err.. Hang on. How does that go?
As a standalone film, this doesn't work for me. It's fairly entertaining, but goes nowhere. A revenge film, with huge amounts of death-dealing, but the whole tapestry is left unfinished and we've only seen a few threads. Hopefully when the second volume comes out, it will come together.
Much as I can't stand Tarantino as a person (not that I've met him, I just imagine from the interviews I've seen that he's one of the most annoying people on the planet) I think he's a pretty good craftsman in this industry. He's certainly thrown a few good scenes in here. But there are a few things that are jarring, like the anime and the black and white.
Another reviewer mentioned the sherrif's sunglasses as an example of Tarantino's depth. Every character is thought out in great detail. The way I see that is that Tarantino finds it impossible to be subtle. If it were a throwaway moment, fine, but it's right in our faces, and then for good measure the deputy is the sherrif's son. Why isn't he out looking for the Bandit?
The cast was great and the soundtrack excellent, but I'll give this a 7 until I see the whole thing.