I suppose I'm probably biased.

Rating: 2/10 (28 February 2006)

Yes. Biased. Biased because I think Quentin Tarantino is probably one of the most overrated directors ever.
Kill Bill Vol. 1 is just the latest edition in a line of many pretentious Tarantino movies. He's been considered a visionary for not making movies like everybody else makes them--but that's because he doesn't seem to care that his movies need to be realistic, believable, or have characters you become attached to. It's just scene after scene of script that didn't take very much thinking to write.
This movie is an example of such. The story is ridiculous. Laughable, even. It's the kind of story you'd expect from the novel rack at an airport bookstore. The dialog is even more so. Scenes are shot in the most mind-numbingly annoying way possible. Split screens and back-and-forth college-student-film cuts make several appearances. Silly gimmicks like censoring The Bride's real name have been called genius, but truthfully it's just a way to keep your brain working so you forget that the story is absolutely simple. Stupid costumes, some of the worst ever seen in a movie. The gore is pointless and boring. Some people have called this the bloodiest movie of all time, and yet I don't see it. Sure, it's bloody, but it's a boring kind of bloody. The marathon of a fight scene late in the movie featuring The Bride singlehandedly slicing and dicing a hundred or so men in Lone Ranger masks left me yawning and even getting up to get another drink; no matter how much watery blood you spray, it's not going to improve such a badly choreographed fight scene.
Now I've clicked the "Spoiler Alert" box in case this counts as a spoiler, but how can it? This movie (and the sequel, obviously) gives away the ending in the title. Bill gets killed. Subtle? Hardly. If you can really know how this movie ends and be amazed anyway, it's time to read a book or two, preferably something by a respectable storywriter and not a hack.
I did not hate Tarantino before seeing this movie--as a matter of fact, I had a pretty so-so opinion of him. He made movies, most of which I hadn't seen. Upon seeing this film, I purposely went back and watched other Tarantino films to see if maybe he just dropped the ball on this one. He didn't. It's the same style as the rest.
If you want a movie that makes you think, skip this one. Rent a Star Trek movie. I'm not even a Star Trek fan, but some of the films featuring the original cast (Shatner, Nimoy, and those other people) are better-written than this movie.