I Still Think It Should Have Been One Movie

Rating: 8/10 (13 August 2019)

I just watched Kill Bill
This movie is brilliant, the techniques Tarantino uses and masters are nothing short of genius. There is black and white, slow no, anime and a name that is beeped just for effect. It is just great filmmaking.
I once read a review that said it was "all storytelling, but no story" I disagree with that.
I was annoyed when it was split into two movies and I whinged about Miramax being greedy etc, and argued what scenes should have been cut from both movies too make one classic, but over time it has not bothered me as much.
Although, I think it could have been a lot tighter. There's a lot of padding to be found here, and it's probably the result of trying to stretch a single three-hour movie into two 105-minute features. I will say it is devoid of Tarantino's usual dialogue too. The number of quotable lines and memorable non-action sequences is small here.
As far as the performances go, Uma Thurman does a fine job as The Bride. We admire her tenacity but we never identify with the character. (This is a problem with a revenge flick, where we're supposed to root for the hero and despise the enemy. Neither is the case here, especially since we never see Bill.) Lucy Liu is a joy. Vivica A. Fox has virtually no screen time. Same for Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah who were being held back for Volume 2. We only hear David Carradine's voice. For me, Sonny Chiba does the best acting job with his role as a sword-maker.
Kill Bill grossed $70 million dollars (against a $30 million budget) at the domestic box office