It ain't no Fujisaku, but it has its own flavor

Rating: 6/10 (17 July 2008)

I feel like Tarantino (kinda like Takashi Miike) likes to cast certain actors/actresses as B-movie-esquire novelties. I.e. the female roles in this one: Darryl Hannah, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox and Uma Thurman are all laughably terrible actresses (particularly in these roles). Perhaps they DO actually accentuate the comical stripes of this movie, but I think a lot of people won't get this element. I think this is fair enough (movies are often exploitative by nature) but I thought the female lead should have been a better choice. The way these female leads are cast (as opposed to the male leads) makes this seem kind of chauvinistic.
My main gripe was the presence of Uma Thurman. I don't think the woman can act or fight her way out of a paper bag -- and it shows. I know, this film is a fantasy. I'm not criticizing this from an "academic" or professional perspective. It just made the whole experience kind of unenjoyable for me; it distorted the sense of immersion the experience was trying to fulfill.
Tarantino left out several of the fundamental elements found in classic '70s martial arts and gangster movies that other fans like him really appreciate. Here I didn't find the characters to be remotely memorable or believable. I mean, I didn't really notice anyone but the repulsive but attractive character of Chiaki Kuriyama. Most of the other characters struck me as kinda uninteresting. What's weird is that his stuff is actually a little grimier than the earlier movies he takes inspiration from.
I did appreciate the camera work during that epic battle scene, and the cinematography was pretty decent. The sets were impressive and the costumes and aesthetics all very distinct and colorful in the line of Yakuza and chambara flicks Tarantino likes. The choreography was not so much to my liking, but a lot of this was because Uma Thurman is the focal point of the camera and yet she cannot move efficiently enough for the scene to be convincing. Let's just say, it's not a display of athletic prowess, hee hee... Of course, that kind of swordplay is hard to do, it's just weird someone so clumsy would be doing it.
I can't tell if it is cool or annoying that Sonny Chiba appears here. It's interesting that he appears not as an action star, but as a sword-maker. And why "The Bride"/Beatrix needs a sword is beyond me, honestly. I guess it's just an excuse to provide a scene with sword-making? I found that whole scene to be a bit much - B-movie camp presented with the budget and lack of experience to make it pretentious. It's no "Makai Tensho" sword-making scene, that's for sure!
Ah, I guess the problem I have is that all criticism of this stuff can be written off by Tarantino and his advocates as being B-movie fun, or an homage to past flicks, or ironic, or intentionally un-serious, or just a fantasy universe he cooked up. Which all proves that this stuff is mean-spirited or gratuitous for the sake of gratuity. There is not much in the way of plot or likable characters to warrant watching this, but just a penchant for mindless violence and suffering. But I guess the characters aren't supposed to be real since their suffering is not necessarily supposed to be affecting?
Here I didn't see the same level of substance hidden beneath the violence in stuff like "Cops Vs. Thugs" or "Lone Wolf and Cub" (hee hee presuming those had it). But I suppose this isn't entirely bad, since Tarantino has carved out a niche that is entirely his own: B-movie camp with an A-list production and hollow, hip dialog -- as well as the freedom to do whatever he wants with his artistic vision.