unique, blazing blast!

Rating: 9/10 (17 October 2003)

One of the ways by which I qualify these types of movies is by noting if a sustained state of exhilaration is manifested. Kill Bill came through with loads left over, like receiving metered doses of crank at just the right moments, without the inevitable crash afterward. Now, for this to be effective in my eyes, the film must have a certain sumptuousness to it....a certain quality of beauty and artful delineation woven into the action. It was there. Also, the action has to be delivered in a freshly innovative pace without being noisy. Tarantino pulls this off, as well, using an almost breezy humor to keep the mood from becoming morose with all thematic violence (i.e. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Those who would call this violence "gratuitous" are being flip. Gratuitous violence is uncalled for, typically used to illicit some type of reaction when the film is failing on all other fronts. One may not like the style of Kill Bill, but the film has integrity with the violence being an integral part of the whole piece. I urge those with thicker skins to check this one out. It was a clever and rewarding riot. All you "socially responsible" viewers, check out Mystic River....another wonderful film with a whole different agenda.