blood, lots of blood? see if you like that sort of thing.

Rating: 7/10 (11 April 2004)

Not my favorite of Quentin's work. The choice of Uma Thurman as the lead, was good. She was excellent in Pulp Fiction. Tarantino likes to reuse his actors and actress's, one of the more compelling reasons to see his films. With names like Uma Thurman and Steve Buscemi what reason could there be for NOT seeing a film. (However, Buscemi does not appear in this particular film.)
Quentin plays his favorite cards in this film, mainly violence and a strange fascination for anime and Japanese style martial arts. Though I normally enjoy the violence in Tarantino's films, as it is usually paired with snappy dialogue and a witty plot, this film lacks the latter two qualities. Mrs. Thurman plays her character to her full potential, the problem there is is the utter lack of substance, a vengeful bride and some neat stunts is all she is alloted. The gross and seemingly unneccesary violence is the downfall of this film. It is a blood bath, plain and simple. Different from Tarentino's other films he sees no need to justify or augment the violence in this film.
That being said, I enjoyed the movie. I am rarely disturbed by violence in movies, especially not the unrealistic kung fu scenes in these types of movies where people can come back from seemingly near-death experiences and continue to fight each other with all manner of stunts and manuevers. In that sense the violence is almost playful in this film. It is fight scene after fight scene, modeled directly after kung fu movies that Tarantino loves so well. The special effects are up to par and the fights are well played. But all in all, this is a bloodbath of a film. Uma vs. the world.

If you enjoy violence for violence's sake, then this is the film for you. If you do not, pass and perhaps skip the Tarantino altogether.