wonderfully stylized, but as false as a gusher of blood

Rating: 9/10 (31 May 2004)

Don't get me wrong, I think of a 9 of 10 as pretty high praise, but it's no #77 on the top 250. That kind of rating should be for films which are about something more than live action anime. Tarintino does do a wonderful job at capturing and honoring the mood of today's violent cartoons and yester-year's B-movies. And those recurring gushers of blood are hilarious in a "Yeah I'm sick but it sure can be entertaining" sort of way. Tarintino also does a credible job incorporating a great variety of styles and approaches to the material, but the film's continuous winking at itself telegraphs that the plot is secondary and you end up wondering how much of the film is Tarintino and how much is second unit directors and stunt coordinators. ALSO, and this may be me and my watching Kill Bill, Matrix II, and Blade II all in the same weekend, but I'm awful tired of scenes where a horde of attackers supposed there to assail the main character take their turns politely waiting to get their butts kicked instead of just zooming in and dispatching the hero's ass like they should. Oh Quentin, if you could put this much love into something that really mattered ... sigh.