Style over substance

Rating: 4/10 (6 December 2003)

Uma Thurman is The Bride, an assassin whose wedding day is ambushed by her former colleagues. She is left comatose by a bullet in her skull but she wakes four years later intent on revenge. She makes a death list': number five is Bill, but first there are some others including O-Ren Ishi (Lucy Liu) to deal with.
The film starts promisingly with The Bride calling in at the house of a fellow assassin (Vivica Fox). This is the most entertaining sequence of the film with some trademark Tarantino-esque banter between the two women as they fight.
My interest in the film disintegrated soon after with a lengthy sequence that introduces O-Ren Ishi and is entirely in the form of a Manga style subtitled cartoon. I am still not sure whether the film sent me to sleep because after that, I have no recollection of a coherent storyline. A flashback to The Bride's escape from hospital is mildly amusing but in a very black way. There is also a lengthy black and white sequence for the confrontation between The Bride and O-Ren Ishi's bodyguards. Here, I felt like I was watching a very violent computer game with lots of fighting and blood spurting from dismembered bodies.
As is conventional with Tarantino films, the sequences are not chronological which makes Kill Bill' quite a frustrating film to watch. Although I find Uma Thurman a very watchable actress, what this movie is lacking in is the witty banter between characters that made Pulp Fiction' and Jackie Brown' more enjoyable.
Volume 1 ends with an intriguing piece of information being revealed in anticipation of the story being continued in Volume 2. Perhaps I would like Kill Bill' more and my opinion would be different if I were to view Volume 2 on its release. Unfortunately, at this stage, I feel that the six year wait for a new film by Tarantino has hyped up the film more than it deserves and I increasingly feel that he is an overrated director so much so that I am inclined to wait until I can borrow the two disc DVD from someone.