Missed!

Rating: Null/10 (16 December 2003)

This is actually a bit sad: movie genius Quentin Tarantino has delivered a movie without any original elements. Almost everything here has been done before. There's really nothing in it that I will remember for a long time; no torture-scenes including razors and ears, no cripples. This is a tribute to old samurai films such as those about Lone Wolf, no wonder it feels unoriginal.
-SPOILER ALERT!- Sure it includes plenty of gore; a guy gets his intestines spilled all over the floor in a cafÃ©, a girl gets her arm cut off, limbs don't really seem to follow natural laws in this film and they fly as if they had wings and blood literaly gushes out of severed arms, legs, throats, whatever.
Many critics call this the most violent movie ever. I have no idea why. If they, for example would take a look at some Italian or Japanese underground movies, than I think they would change their minds. And the violence in this movie is anyway so supernatural that you can't take it serious. But the gore is also a problem with this movie. It's neither shocking nor very funny, it is, however, very stylish but it's not that entertaining that Tarantino had to make a movie about it.
This movie also has a couple of other problems; the dialogue for example, is not very smart, not at all in fact, especially not for being written by Tarantino. Take for example the opening scene, which includes a pretty horrible quarrel. Uma Thurman isn't very convincing as the avenger and her passion for katanas is just ridicolous.
It does however include some good parts: Lucy Liu is very good and the music is great fun. The movie also has a lot of clever references to old samurai-films.
All in all this feels like a missed opportunity. While it has got it's good sides it often feels like lots of old flicks cut into one, and isn't exactly a recipe for a masterpiece. Tarantino should go back to making more original and realistic films, such as the excellent "Reservoir Dogs" and use his own imagination instead of stealing others.
6/10