terrific action marred by flat characters, banal plot and naff dialogue

Rating: Null/10 (26 October 2003)

***possibly minor spoilers*** "Kill Bill Vol. 1" is in the same vein as Tarantino's three previous flicks that redefined the term coolness. Here we have a movie of flawless craftmanship with slick action and blood galore. But this movie lacks one important element:a heart. It plays like a detached action flick that is far too self-indulgent to really be fettering. All characters are so flat and one-dimensional that you couldn't care a fig about them. "Black Mamba", the heroine, is almost just as revolting as her enemies on her death list. She's driven solely by revenge. She doesn't display any kind of humanity whatsoever. The viewer is expected to root for her? Even that aside, one may wonder what has come of Tarantino's most memorable pieces of dialogue? There's hardly anything memorable here. What made "Pulp Fiction" a classic is the way it redefined a whole movie genre with its self-irony and grotesque plotlines. But in "Kill Bill Vol. 1" Tarantino's goal was simply to pay tribute to his beloved martial arts movies he grew up with. So in the end, he simply copied and pasted from other movies making his fourth feature seem like a collection of quotes from other movies giving him the chance to flaunt his movie knowledge. But to be fair, his version does look a lot more lavish and stylish. But where is the plot? Where are the characters? Where is the dialogue? Where is the heart? All in all though I still enjoyed myself watching the action , but I can't help but feel a bit let down. 6/10