A gory disappointment from Tarantino

Rating: 4/10 (30 September 2004)

Note: I haven't seen vol.2 yet.
I'm definitely not an admirer of Tarantino's works but I'm always trying to see all major Hollywood movies and expected something better than that gory disaster. The story here is terribly weak and primitive, like an adaptation of a poor comic book with lots of plot holes and all connection with reality are entirely lost in Kill Bill. Assassin woman seeks revenge and almost everyone she meets gets killed. Nobody cares about characters; they are only decorations for Bride's long way of revenge. We see them, after a while they get killed and soon we forget about them. There is no point denying that Tarantino has his own style and he wants to amaze an audience but I think this time he went too far. Some scenes (like a woman, who couldn't move her toes after all things she has done) only make me laugh from their stupidity and absurdity. However that's not all. Maybe something is wrong with me but I found many parts of the movie too disgusting, even taking into account Tarantino's standards. I don't see in the movie any reasons for that or any author's philosophy or intention which makes any sense. Unfortunately the movie simply looks like one very long brutal bloody fight scene with short, silly and predictable dialog additions, which are mostly intended to excite young teens. These scenes are too stylized with nothing particularly original or extraordinary in them. In Japan Bride is fighting against dozens of opponents but only few of them are actually moving and fighting. The rest of them are waiting for something, perhaps for the short moment when they must appear in front of camera and after a short fight get killed. Until that short moment of glory they are nothing more than decoration. Such choreography could be enough for a cheap eastern action flick but not for a movie that pretends for much better. Hand-to hand fights are much better and sometimes are able to impress but there is also a strong feeling of surrealism and even of somewhat that looks like attractive from inside but inwardly shallow and empty.
As I already mentioned vol. 1 is an extremely brutal and gory movie. Somewhere in the middle of the movie I realized that there is nothing else in Kill Bill besides endless violence. I guess that the reason for splitting Kill Bill into two movies was that more than three hours of non-stop over the top violence would be too much even for his fans. If such a movie came from any other director I believe it got NC-17 rating but it's obvious that for Tarantino there are no rules or limits so there is nothing surprising that it had only R rating. Only for one of the most memorable sequences in the movie the anime sequence it deserves NC-17. Besides its ultra violent style the parents can find some moral problems with Kill Bill so I have to warn all parents that this "acclaimed" movie must stay away from your children as far as it possible. Despite the director's statements about awards for Uma Turman, who played the main character I didn't find anything exception about the acting in the movie. Actually too often there was no room for acting behind fight scenes and short dialog.
I was not only truly disappointed about wasting my time and money but also I got a negative experience which I will be glad to forget.