Demented and decrepit bore...

Rating: 1/10 (12 October 2003)

I never thought a Tarantino film could be boring. He has proven me wrong. Having read about the subject matter of Kill Bill I had my reservations from the onset, but a friend rightly pointed out that unless viewed, a film has not been given a fair shake. Indeed. After having fulfilled my "duty" I can say without blinking an eye that I will not watch Volume 2 of this massive, self-indulgent bore.
I am neither squeamish nor a novice to Hong-Kong chop-sokey, Japanese martial arts films, the oeuvre of Kinji Fukasaku or any of the multitude of 70's genre films and B-offerings. Maybe that is the reason I could hardly stay awake. Obviously many critics will heap praise on Kill Bill and maybe even write books about how it carries a pop-culture angst drenched subtext, blabbering effusively about the genius of filmdom's premier geek. If this is sufficient for them, so be it.
The moment I heard Herrmann's famously tormented theme from Twisted Nerve I knew trouble was coming. If you take away the gore, the fighting, the ridiculously presented code of the warrior and the escalatingly embarrassing pop-culture references ("Trix is for kids" - good grief, that's supposed to be clever and funny?) we are left with nothing more than a grinning Tarantino who knows very well that he has pulled yet another one over most everyone's eyes.
Steve Oedekirk's "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist" was a funnier and more cohesive experiment along the same lines, demonstrating how one may hit its targets while being way over the top without ever taking itself seriously. And from the looks and feel of it I'd venture to say that Oedekirk actually understands his source material ten times better than Tarantino ever will. That spells trouble for a filmgeek whose only forte is recycling old genres and splicing together portions of his favourite films to the point where he actually resorts to directing entire sequences - and more than a few - to original scores written for other movies.
As much as I loved Pulp Fiction, I have to say that this emperor has no clothes. Tarantino is a one-trick pony whose act has worn thin.