Surprisingly Boring

Rating: 3/10 (6 November 2003)

Really, the title says it all. I was especially surprised by the poor pacing. The vast majority of the film is spent explaining backstory, but the backstory isn't that interesting. "The Bride", as a meta-character, is inherently empty, as is most everything else in this film. Easily half the scenes could have been cut. Even the fight sequences (which make up about 10% of the film) seemed pointless. Some people I know who really liked this movie seem to have bought into its mythology. Clearly the film has its own world, it's just not a very surprising or interesting one. There are some good jokes here and there (the line of Aviator sunglasses across the police officer's dashboard comes to mind) but a few decent gags does not a good film make. I read in an interview with Tarantino that Kill Bill Vol. 2 is going to be "slower" than the first installment. Slower than this? Is that even possible? Looks like "Kill Bill" is treading into Tarkovsky territory, except you know, without any of that Russian existentialist poetic grace.