A Tribute That Doesn't Really Work For Me

Rating: 5/10 (23 February 2020)

I'm quite sure Tarantino would be a fun person to discuss movies with and I have a feeling both of us enjoy many of the same kung fu and action movies from HK.
This tribute however does not work all too well for me. I will admit that seeing the Shaw Bros logo in the opening does make me smile and I will always appreciate this movie on some level for introducing me to the brilliant 5,6,7,8,s, but it does get tiresome to see references constantly to better material, older material and less appreciated material throughout the film's runtime.
I find it quite odd that this film is in the top 250 films on IMDB whilst very few if any, of the films this film outright referenced to seen in "homages" is nowhere to be found on said list. This unfortunately comes across as another film where Tarantino gets by a whole lot on his influences and simultaneously ends up being labeled original for it, which does not seem fair and the end result isn't a very satisfying movie either.
The action is not as good as I have come to expect from the people involved and Gordon Liu is sadly wasted in this (see him in the sequel, a much better role for him there)
I did love the 5,6,7,8,s music and the anime segment was nicely animated and I think and hope Tarantino has a genuine love for the original genres and material somewhere in his heart so this gets a 5 out of 10.
The sequel is actually better made IMHO.