Revenge Is Never A Straight Line

Rating: 7/10 (28 April 2019)

Quentin Tarantino is certainly a cinephile's director. Many of the reviews that gut this film laud his abilities and his other works. An undeniably distinctive auteur, Tarantino is often criticized for self-indulgence, but that is what makes each of his works feel like a monument to a vision.
"Kill Bill" feels like a schoolboy's dream about an unstoppable protagonist who faces impossible odds. Take Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon", infuse it with the stylistic sensibilities of anime, and accent it with pop culture references, especially some strong musical numbers. The result is a personal saga that is the stuff of mythology.
Uma Thurman is the nameless protagonist who virtually rises from the dead to seek a vengeance of desolation and mutilation. A perfect blade is fashioned for her mission, and it amplifies her lethality. Thurman gives a multi-leveled performance full of emotion and cold determination. She faces some strong adversaries and their minions, and she suffers through the terrible toll of her quest.
Stylistically, KB plays with slo-mo, bold colors, silhouettes, and "Crouching Tiger" physics. Tarantino uses angles and viewpoints effortlessly.
In one of the film's best moments, Thurman faces off against Lucy Liu, circling to the strains of Santa Esmerelda's introduction to "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"---one of the greatest dance tracks of all time. In a less subtle scene, she takes to the dance floor in a break-dance killing frenzy to "Nobody But Me" by the Human Beinz.
A major question for each viewer is: how much gore is too much? Tarantino never shies from depicting carnage and dismemberment. In fact, he glorifies it in this film which, for my sensibilities, is an unnecessary distraction and a tasteless extravagance. In one scene he creates a literal bloodbath (bath of blood). Consequently, this film is not for everyone.