ALRIGHT!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (28 October 2003)

And so, `the fourth film by Quentin Tarantino' is here, after six long years of waiting. By its outlook, by its synopsis, by its trailer, no one knew what to expect. A `pastiche' mosaic? An overload of obscure references only an ultra movie geek would find? The disappointment that inevitably spawns itself from the over-the-top hype? Or the complete opposite and a genius film all the way?
First, the hype has faded in six years, even more with the underestimated `Jackie Brown'. Thus, Tarantino could have been involved with this project well earlier, and the hype would be the same. So, you can say that there wasn't a better time than this one for Tarantino to climb `his own personal Everest'.
At first, you can find it somehow odd, right from the logo to some kind of obscure, oriental kind of cinemascope and the fantastic recollection of the cue card saying `our feature presentation'. But it's very easy for a movie lover to let himself be carried along this sheer trip, so idiosyncratic that, after an introduction that takes its time, you won't question its bizarre items, and the world this world creates.
I confess that my primal fear when I learned about the shape of the project was the possibility of Tarantino surrendering himself to auto-indulgence, filling his epic with dozens of obscure references to lost gems of the b-movie age, that could be well lost in the limbo of justified and unvoluntary ignorance of those who never saw such films. But Tarantino surprises everyone, and that's what struck me the most: by collecting all the bits and pieces of the world of movies Tarantino fell in love with, this movie creates not only a hommage, but also a glorification, a kind of grandiose landmark, devoted to a genre of cinema always overlooked away from the major leagues. Linked to this, are the movies' charismatic characters, and the way they're filmed: they all have their own story, they all have something to tell, they all have something mythical and epic about them. Uma Thurman heads the pack, showing that cooler than a samurai with a sword is The Bride in a Bruce Lee jump suit, reducing 88 oriental Reservoir Dogs to a pulp, almost like Tarantino put his past career in a backseat. Because we're not dealing with an intensely ironic humor, you have no doubtful questions: here the answers lie in front of you, all of them  it's a sincere, explicit work, but never diminished by that.
It's now also one of the greatest Tarantino works. Not only an epic that makes you want to see long lost movie genres, but also an instant classic, a redefinition of the concept of `exercise in style' times twenty. The genius moments are too many, since that hommage to Hitchcock (complete with a Bernard Herrman score), to the bombastic showdown, that makes the Burly Brawl run for his money. The most impressive must be the unforgettable epic-within-an-epic of animé short that lies in the heart of the movie.
With this movie, Tarantino opens again the doors to its usual genius, this time in a completely innovative way. And creates one of the most sinful fun rides of the last years.