All style no substance

Rating: 1/10 (31 January 2009)

Everyone is anxious to underline how clever Tarantino is at paying homage to a broad range of cinematic influences. Whilst I'm sure that these references must satisfy those members of the audience who recognise them, they wholly fail to make up for the misery suffered by those who don't. Neither Kill Bill film has anything else to redeem it. The dialogue is woeful throughout, retaining all the style but none of the substance of Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. The performances are two-dimensional and completely un-involving, although much of the blame for that must fall on Tarantino for having penned such feeble characters. Because you don't care about anyone on screen, the violence appears aimless and gratuitous. But the worst thing about these films is that the "Tarantino" badge seems to be enough for some to excuse these terminal flaws, where any other director would be completely torn to pieces. Those of us who believe that film-making should be about involving an audience and telling a story can only hope that the aura of infallibility that surrounds the man is dissipated rapidly after these spineless and inept films. The tragedy is that they will probably only feed the hype. Whatever the fans say, style can never survive without substance; thankfully we can be sure that this meaningless rubbish will disappear into the mists of time, and the sooner the better.