A movie for the film geeks, made by a film geek:

Rating: 9/10 (30 October 2003)

Many who have seen it have panned this movie for its over-the-top zealousness and its high body count, not forgetting the many severed limbs and bloodied body parts along the way. Coming from me, I can only comment that these critics have not seen many films, or at least they have not seen the films that Q.T has seen.
As early as the Shaw Brothers opening banner right at the beginning, I know that this movie is not to be taken too seriously and I should just sit back and enjoy the ride. And not bad for a ride too, with a touch of nostalgia. Especially when more than 90 per cent of the films that the director have chosen to reference or pay tribute to are from the late sixties and the seventies, a by-gone era that still remains etched in memories. Here comes the spotting game: There's the Hitchcockian touch of suspense at the hospital scene. There are the samurai movies with Sonny Chiba and his samurai swords. Not forgetting martial arts maestro Chang Che's endless blood spilling (Q.T even acknowledged in an interview that during filming, he prayed and asked the belated Chang Che to teach him how to make the blood spill right! In the end, his persistence paid off and thank god he waited..) Even the major revenge plotline is based loosely on Samurai and Chinese martial arts movies, where vengeance is forever a recurring theme.
Coming back alive too and featured prominently are the Green Hornet (face masks cum music score) and Bruce Lee (the yellow tracksuit from Game of Death', the Fists of Fury' setting for the final showdown, and the Green Hornet itself !) Most of all credit has to be given to Sergio Leone and the music of Ennio Morricone. All throughout this film, you can see Leone's Extreme close-ups, the mexican standoffs (with swords rather than guns), and intercutting the shots with Morricone like music to create the tension and mood. According to the credits, one of Morricone's own score is featured.
Among the more contemporary influences, you have the Jap Anime sequence, courtesy of Production I.G, and the ultra violent ultra cool jap cult filmBattle Royal', which manifests in the form of Chiaki Kuriyama as Go Go Yubari. I am trying to cover as much ground here, but I believe I'm still missing bits and pieces that Q.T has slotted in throughout the film. Perhaps other commentators will care to add on to this exhaustive list?

In retrospect, Q.T has built a proven track record on his 1st  3rd films, based partially if not wholly on movies that he loves dearly. Reservoir Dogs' is a hybrid of the heist films and the gritty Hong Kong crime/action genre. Pulp Fiction', with it's title saying it all, is the first time that Q.T pay hommage by featuring a retro star of a by-gone era, i.e John Travolta, re-doing his slick dance moves. Jackie Brown' is openly a hommage to Blaxploitation films with who else but Pam Grier to play the title character. It all culminates and comes to a boiling point in Kill Bill', with the number of stars' and movies featured topping them all. From the already mentioned Sonny Chiba to Gordon Liu, whom I feel didn't seems to quite fit into his green hornet masked role. Think Chiba got the better deal, playing the retired samurai swords maker cum master, with more dialogue and scenes to act in. But the incredible fact remains that Q.T has managed to cast them in his movie at this age, these two film legends if I may say so. Not bad at all for a former video store clerk.
I totally enjoyed picking out the movie references. Standing on its own merits, the production is top notch crafting, thanks to collaborators like D.P Bob Richardson. Especially love the b&w and silhouette sword fighting sequences, and the long moving uninterrupted camera throughout the Japanese club set-up ala Martin Scorsese or Brian De Palma's films. Richardson also happens to be the cinematographer for Scorsese in Casino'. Commendable work is also heard in the sound design and sound editing, which together with the mostly non-original score, serves the movie well.
My only problem, or should I say conflict with the movie is: because the movies that Q.T loves are these sensational vengeance soaked exploitation flicks from at least 20-30 years ago, featuring them in today's context, to today's audience, will most probably result in tons and tons of negative cynical laughter. Not too many people can view this movie with a perspective in mind, as evidenced from the many negative comments. Q.T ended up doing more parody (I'm sure he meant to do some of it) rather than seriously and sincerely paying tribute to the films and the filmmakers that he so dearly adored and admired. It's like re-doing an old B-exploitation movie with a big budget A' movie production and craft. The overall feeling that I got is that the elements from so many different and varied movies' did not tie up together well, as compared to his earlier work like Reservoir Dogs'. It is intelligently put together, but certain elements are simply too over-the top, and they are better left the way they were, in the video libraries. I really wonder what will Leone and Chang Che say when they see Kill Bill'. If only I can ask them, like what Q did