A very good movie, a very shameless release

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2005)

I guess you can leave it up to Quentin Tarantino and the good people at Mirimax to make a franchise out of one movie. Unlike films such as The Lord Of The Rings and The Matrix, the cutting in half of Kill Bill was an after thought. Tarantino believed that people wouldn't be able to handle a 3-and-a-half hour Kill Bill film, which is ridiculous because, bringing up Lord Of The Rings again, I know that many people went to see screenings of all 3 LOTR films back-to-back. Now that's one long movie, go ahead and do the math, and that just shows how devoted fans can be. And now, Tarantino has ripped off his loyal fans, charging two separate prices for one film. And don't get me started with the whole bare bones DVDs with the intent of releasing special editions in the future "multiple bites of the apple" issue. Just shameless.
But, you have to suck it up. It's a pain, yes, but underneath it all we do have a quality movie here. After waiting more than half a decade since Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino has come back to films with a vengeance. This time around he borrows from and references so many movies that it's nearly impossible to keep track of them all. For me, at least, since I'm not exactly a huge fan of the martial arts genre. But that's okay, because Tarantino interprets it all in a way that is pretty clever and enjoyable. In a way it's the merging of American and Japanese styles of film-making. There's martial arts and anime, but there's also some jive talk, so ya know, it's a good mix. And I have to say that it undoubtedly features one of the best action sequences of the last decade.
The cast (or human props if you prefer) is well thought out and of good variety. Uma Thurman, the star, is obviously the stand-out. She's a little bit scary and a little bit sexy, she just kicks butt. She does absolutely everything necessary in what she calls her "role of a lifetime" and surely needs to be regarded from now on as one of the best female action characters in cinema.
It sucks having to pay twice the amount of money for one movie, but as far as this particular half goes, it is really enjoyable. There's no doubt in my mind that vol.2 is the superior half, but this is a fun film loaded with action, gore, and all the things you could ever want from a Quentin Tarantino film.
My rating: 8.5/10