An unbelievable achievement, a timeless personal favourite, and a great first part to cinema's finest revenge film.

Rating: 10/10 (27 January 2020)

The term 'style over substance' is often used in a derogatory manner, and I understand why. On paper, substance sounds better than style; films that are substantive stick with you and play out in your mind for days, weeks, or sometimes even years to come. On a basic level, and to use a food metaphor: the typical consensus might be that the substance of a film should be the cake, while the style should be the icing.
With Kill Bill Vol. 1, I believe Tarantino wanted to take this concept of style over substance and tear it to shreds, making it an obsolete, dumb, lazy criticism. If you ask me, he was successful. He gets away with making a film that is largely about being stylish and entertaining as all hell for two main reasons. The first is that he makes this simply Vol. 1 in the overall story, with a greater focus on character and emotion placed within the equally fantastic Vol. 2. This is not to say that Vol. 2 lacks style, nor that Vol. 1 is devoid of substance; moreso that I believe they have two very different purposes, but by some miracle fit perfectly together in telling the same story, while also proving to be incredibly satisfying films for very different reasons. Of course if Vol. 2 was not a satisfying conclusion, or if it was similarly focused on style over substance, perhaps it would make Vol.1 a weaker film in the process. Thankfully, this is not the case. Any concerns a viewer may have with a lack of story across the 4 hours of Kill Bill as a whole will have their worries shattered by the incredible dialogue, emotional payoffs, and fantastic flashbacks of the second volume.
The second way he gets away with a film so shamelessly fixated on being a stylish thrill ride is that the sense of style is just so good. It's beyond rare to get a film with this level of craft, with such a tight and obvious sense of control by the person behind the camera, let alone have it also be so exciting, entertaining, violent, and overwhelmingly beautiful. The use of music is unparalleled, even with just about all the music being composed for other films, or being pre-existing songs recorded way before the film was made. I think there's a real skill with picking music that works for and heightens certain scenes, and while soundtrack creators don't get nearly as much credit as composers do, I feel like films that use pre-existing music as well as Kill Bill Vol. 1 provide a good argument for why there should be a "Best Non-Original Soundtrack" Academy Award. To list all the songs that are used perfectly would double the length of this review, as it's basically every single song in the film. I get goosebumps at multiple points every single time I rewatch Kill Bill Vol. 1, and the music is one of the main reasons for that.
Kill Bill Vol. 1 is also noticeable for having one of the most memorable action sequences in recent cinema history, towards the film's climax. It's also worth mentioning the amazing build-up, as well as the quiet, understated, and strangely moving one-on-one fight in the snow that happens right after it. And the way that after this, the film hooks you into absolutely needing to see the second part with one of my favourite cliff-hangers ever is undeniably brilliant.
It's hard to say much else because most of Kill Bill Vol. 1's greatness has already been mentioned by thousands of reviewers before me, and also because words can't do a whole lot of justice to the look, style, pacing, action, and music that makes this film so excellent, and so endlessly rewatchable. Kill Bill as a whole is my favourite revenge film/story of all time, and I don't know how any future filmmaker would be able to work such magic with the simple premise of "these people wronged me, so these people need to die." Of course things become a little more complex when it comes to the less action-packed but densely written and far more suspenseful and emotionally intense Vol. 2, but you without a doubt need both to understand what Tarantino was going for here.
It's hard to settle on a favourite Tarantino movie, but this one's up there, regardless of whether you count it as one film or count this one and Vol.2 as the same film. If you haven't seen either in the 15+ years since its release, what are you doing? Pure cinematic experiences don't get much better than Kill Bill Vol. 1, in my opinion. This is a film that might not be perfect, but feels perfect while you watch it; packed with so much detail, style, and things to appreciate and get swept up in. There aren't enough good things I can say about it, and hope that in time it continues to age well, and is eventually considered one of the greatest films of all time.