OK, But Incomplete...

Rating: 4/10 (13 April 2004)

As the much-heralded "fourth film by Quentin Tarantino," "Kill Bill
Vol. I" is, at best (or, by definition), merely an incomplete story.
Although Tarantino's loyal legion of fans waited years for this film,
they unfortunately were rewarded with this half-baked project -- an
homage to the Asian "grind house" cinema of the 1970s and 80s.
Admittedly, this film has some brilliant cut-scenes and was shot
with the same cinematic intensity as Tarantino's earlier
masterworks, although thematically, it is really more closely
related to "True Romance," a film which he penned but did not
direct.
Like "True Romance," the plot of "Kill Bill" revolves around an
anti-hero who is betrayed and then spends the rest of the film
plotting her revenge. In this role, Uma Thurman turns in a career
performance -- perhaps her best since her last appearance in a
Tarantino project, 1994's "Pulp Fiction."
Speaking of casting, Tarantino offers a few brilliant choices here --
as he often seems to do -- resurrecting long-forgotten screen idols
and highlighting up-and-coming talents. David Carradine plays the
title character and focus of Thurman's venom in the film; Darryl
Hannah returns from Hollywood exile for a brilliant cameo
reminiscent of her villainous turn in "Blade Runner;" Vivica Fox is
memorable as an assassin-turned-soccer mom; and Michael
Madsen also returns as one of Tarantino's favorite bad guys. The
one lackluster casting choice here is Lucy Liu, who has a rather
typecast role as a bad-ass martial arts master.
Cinematically, Tarantino is on his game here, offering forays into
various genres such as revenge film, road film, samurai film and
even anime. Unfortunately for the viewer, the sum is less than the
collected parts, as each set-piece stands well enough alone but
fails to blend together.
Ironically, if Miramax studio head Harvey Weinstein had left well
enough alone, "Kill Bill" would have been an epic, 2-and-a-half
hour genre-basher, worthy of the rabid praise being heaped upon
it by his legion of fans, as well as placing it among one of the best
action films of the past decade. Unfortunately, greedy marketing
tactics led to this would-be great film being whacked into two
parts. Although there is nothing either new or wrong with cinematic
serialization (it worked well enough for the Lord of the Rings
trilogy) -- in this case it is an unwelcome artifice, providing a
cliffhanger ending to "Vol. I" which Tarantino never intended to
have.
As a result, I considered giving "Kill Bill Vol. I" an "incomplete"
grade, but I believe a more proper score is 4 out of 10 -- just like
the film itself, I took the grade of 8 which I would have given it, and
cut it in half. I will likely give "Kill Bill, Vol. II" the other 4 points when it comes out.
(Wait a minute - I just thought of something - does that make "Vol.
II" the "fifth film by Quentin Tarantino?" Ah well, another debate for
another time...)