Quentin Strikes Bizarre Again

Rating: Null/10 (11 April 2004)

Spoiler!!! Quentin Tarantino does little to surprise the audience with this film, if they have seen some of his other works. Quentin seems to prefer directing in the past (Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, etc.) and this film holds the same 70's/80's portrayal. It also carries the morbidity, violence, sexual situations of Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, Dust Till Dawn, and Pulp Fiction. But what is most striking is his comical matrimony of the Japanese Samurai theme with the likes of Dolemite or Chips with retro themes such as split screen photography. His tale unfolds in chapters with flashbacks, sometimes in Japanese anime. The graphic nature of this procession is amplified and lends further humor and almost amateurism in the frequent use of blood-spraying special effects. Stunts resemble those in The Matrix and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon with the overuse of cable effects.
If none of the above appears outrageous or excessive then elements of the plot can always be considered. But Quentin does deserve credit in the basic story idea, where a female assassin wishes to leave the death business, get married, and have a child. Unfortunately her `contract' is for life and organization she works for decides to assassinate her - at her wedding while she is an expectant mother. But the assassin-ee/heroine survives and pursues a gruesome journey of vengeance. To this point, the movie has great potential as a former assassin goes after her murderous comrades. But Quentin's ever-persistent aim to be `different' and on the edge, leave him incorporating all sorts of bizarre elements from the soundtrack to anime to retro-sitcom themes to Japanese s.f.x. martial arts. And underlying all this he still tries to maintain a serious theme of some sort of `Way of the Bushido' samurai philosophy as the heroine embarks on her quest for revenge.
Even more over-the-top is that the heroine survives being beaten and shot in the head, only to lose her baby and be left in a coma in a hospital. She then is sold off as a comatose prostitute to be raped by the hospital staff and whatever Johns are brought in. The depressing and horrific nature of all of this is (once again) set as some bipolar/chaotic extreme to other elements of the story, such as intense cursing intermingled with almost prize-winning speech lessons. What's perhaps worst of all (or not depending on how you were enduring the movie) is that Quentin only takes you a little more than half way in the plot. That's right, there's no conclusion. He prefers a sequel to finish this revenge saga. But given what I saw, I think his movie sales may have had a better shot if his kept the film in entirety. If you like action, this film's got plenty of it, and that is perhaps its redeeming quality. Just don't expect much else.