A fun, badass action movie with no thought provoking elements

Rating: 6/10 (4 March 2019)

Kill Bill certainly isn't anything remarkable, but it feels like unbridled Tarantino, with minimal backstory and unnecessary dialogue and lots of blood and action. I like the segmentation of the plot, and the premise is a fun one, if a pretty standard revenge narrative. Some of the choreography in the action sequences is really impressive and a joy to watch, and there's something to be said for watching a dominant heroine carrying the story. It's difficult to get invested between a simple, uninventive revenge plot and no character development to give us reason to connect with and root for the bride. All we know is that this group put her into a coma and she comes out aggressive and intent on revenge, and we don't really get any other character traits beyond merciless determination. Even as the action was well choreographed, of course Tarantino added gratuitous and laughably inexplicable gore, like arms being cut off and spraying blood like a sprinkler. The ending, while dramatically written, lacked any tension as Tarantino's use of nonlinearity was ineffective in showing crucial information early and then the climax is just providing detail of an event that we knew about. I also am cautious of judging volume 1 too strongly as they were filmed and intended as one movie, so the second will have a significant impact on how I view this one. It was a fun action ride but didn't have a creative plot or any character development, rendering the movie flat.