Pop-culture trash; not up to Tarantino's par.

Rating: 5/10 (10 October 2003)

Tarantino's latest offering Kill Bill Vol. 1 comes up just short of good. The same filmmaker that wowed audiences with movies like Pulp Fiction, and Reservoir dogs has only disappointed this fan with what seems to be the same Kung Fu style action you can find just about anywhere else these days, but with the trademark gore that is Tarantino's flare. Flash forwards and backwards to piece together what seems to be a pretty flimsy plot thus far are much less confusing than in pervious movies, and therefore less entertaining. It almost seems that instead of making a movie he thought was good, and letting the fans decide if they like it, he is instead playing to the masses. Tarantino uses violence in most of his movies to get you to pay attention to major advances in the plots, in this movie the violence seems never-ending, an ongoing barrage of knife fights, sword fights, Kung Fu fights and even some decapitation. It used to stand that if I wanted mindless action I could go to any run-of-the-mill action movie in a theatre and sit and be bored with explosions, gunfights, and blood, but if I wanted action and something to think about I could check out a Tarantino film. Sadly this is no longer the case, and I must again reiterate how disappointed I was with this film. And if you are still in a deciding in your own mind if they decided to split this movie up to make more money by making you want to pay to see the ending, or if they thought it was just good film making, your question will be answered in the last line of the movie that closes on what is a soap opera worthy cliffhanger.
Over all 5/10, Tarantino's standards should be higher than this, check it out only to see the decline of a great filmmakers career that started just a decade ago.