Violent, bloody, brilliant.

Rating: 10/10 (24 October 2003)

10/10 I don't think I've seen a film this well made in a long, long time. Every shot seems to be a masterful stroke by Quentin Tarantino, and everything is framed beautifully by the cinematographer, Robert Richardson. I think this is one of the most wonderful looking film I've seen since The Thin Red Line. Also, like The Matrix before it, this is a master class in style; what takes this film above the Matrix, however, is Tarantino's ability to write wonderfully entertaining dialogue (rather than philosophical meandering and musings in The Matrix). You only need to go look on the 'memorable quotes' section of this page to realise the pure joy you can get from Tarantino's writing. What we are looking at during Kill Bill is a man that has very nearly perfected the art of direction.
There is a warning that must come to you people that haven't seen Kill Bill yet: you will be soaked with violence and blood. However, the violence here is not intended to shock you. Tarantino even decided to do one of the more horrific scenes in the movie (a young girl who sees her parents murdered) in manga animation. Whether he solely did this to lessen the shock value of the scene (which it does) is debatable  I imagine he also wanted to pay homage to Japanese manga animation. Which brings me on to this  the whole film is one giant homage to Japanese samurai/Hong Kong kung-fu films, to Akira Kurosawa (amongst other great Japanese directors), to Sergio Leone and to many others whose films have brought us great joy by watching two people hit each other, really rather hard. Tarantino even includes a wonderfully inventive and kooky device in which he bleeps out the real name of Uma Thurman's character whenever it is spoken. Even something as subtle as this is what separates Tarantino from everyone else; he's never afraid to be a little different.
There is one beautiful scene, during which Lucy Lui and Uma Thurman go head-to-head (this after one very long and very blood-soaked fight scene). Tarantino frames every shot perfectly, and with a great touch  in an unforgettable ten-minute long scene - has snowflakes slowly falling down as the girls feet crunch into the fallen snow around them.
This is one of the best 'action' films I've ever seen, perfectly balancing the emotion, the action, and the comedy. While this is not as good as Pulp Fiction (whose complex storyline reshaped 90's cinema, and provided a film our generation could call, 'revolutionary'), it is Tarantino's second best film. The question now is, will Kill Bill Vol. 2 open its credits with: 'The 5th Film by Quentin Tarantino'? Either way, let's just hope it is not his last.
I gave this film 10/10