The wait was more than worth it

Rating: 10/10 (23 October 2003)

Being a Tarantino fan going way back to the early 1990's, I probably was more cynical and critical going into this film than those who may have discovered him during his Pulp Fiction heyday. From the first seconds of this film however, you know that you are in for a wild ride, and I fell in love immediately.
Admittedly, this film had a couple of strikes against it before I saw it. I am *not* a fan of Uma Thurman, and I was not crazy about the Tarantino/Miramax decision to turn his one film into two. Now is my time to (delightedly) admit that I am wrong. Thurman's `The Bride' exudes so much strength and power that I could almost see the testosterone dripping from her. Not only did Thurman handle this multi-dimensional role, she *owned* it. I want a `Bride' action figure for my car dashboard. I want to be `The Bride' for Halloween. My adulation of this character is unprecedented since the age of oh, 4 years old when I wanted to be Princess Leia. I found myself emulating Uma with any stick or vaguely sword-like object for the next week like some kind of drooling fan-girl. Additionally, the decision to turn this into two films was indeed a wise one. As a three hour film, this film would have caused spontaneous combustion of random movie goers due to sensory overload. While watching this film, I still had a nagging feeling of dread that the ending would be unsatisfactory, but without providing a hint of a spoiler, you can trust me that it was *very* satisfactory and clean.
As for the direction itself, Tarantino proved his mettle as a master. Kill Bill is stylish, action-packed, humorous and intelligent. Above all, it is just plain *cool*. Once again, Tarantino provides us with a film laden with pop-culture and a killer soundtrack that accompany the scenes brilliantly. While the entire film is superb, the last final major scene in the House of Blue Leaves is like a 30 minute orgasm. The various trailers and television commercials feature certain parts of this scene, but blessedly do not give away the full impact the entire scene has on the viewer. The incredible blocking and the rapid fire change in cinematography are two elements that make this scene so good it is literally shocking. An honorable mention for the un-win-able fight for greatest scene in the film is the anime sequence: a remarkable, shocking and most of all, creative method of telling O-Ren's back story.
There is so much more to applaud about Kill Bill, but it is truly a film that needs to be experienced in order to understand why it is a brilliant piece of filmmaking. It is easily my favorite film of 2003 and finally brings back masterful imagination and fun to cinema. Kill Bill is like a love poem to the great martial arts movies of the 60's & 70's and it made me fall in love with Tarantino all over again.
--Shelly