First half great, second half not

Rating: 7/10 (30 August 2013)

Finally spent the time to watch this from beginning to end. I thought the first half of Vol. 1 was great, especially the scenes at Vernita Green's house and at the hospital. So far, so good. Everything was believable and within the confines of reality. However, Vol. 1 really took a turn for the worse once the scene shifted to Japan. It began with the animation sequence which lasted for several minutes. It was several minutes too long. Should've just used some real actors. But what was really disappointing was the whole battle against the 50 to 100 stooges of O-Ren Ishii. That's when the movie became no longer believable. Are we really supposed to believe that one person can take out 50-100 guys? I'm pretty sure even Bruce Lee wouldn't stand a chance against those odds. And all the gravity-defying martial arts stuff was ridiculous too. Therefore, I give this a 7 out of 10. Solid movie that's entertaining enough to make me want to watch Vol. 2, but the animation and the unrealistic fights were a turnoff.