VERY Entertaining!

Rating: 9/10 (24 October 2003)

The 4th film by Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill....what can I say? I'm a big fan of Tarantino, and I don't have to explain how anticipated his next film was. One thing about QT that I can always appreciate is how different he is when it comes to subject matter, style, etc etc. Kill Bill is probably the most straight-forward piece he's done to date. The signature styles and techniques of QT are here as well, and he employed some new ones also. Quite frankly, Kill Bill is a damn good movie. I want to hold off on deeming it a classic until I see the whole thing. But from what I've seen so far, its a film that will set new boundaries in cinema....the way his other films did.
I'm not a huge fan of Uma Thurman, I thought she was pretty good in Pulp Fiction, but she's VERY good here...I didn't expect her to be as convincing as she was. Being a HUGE fan of kung fu movies (particularly from the 70s-80s), I loved the casting of Gordon Liu....although I would've liked his showdown to be a little longer. Bruce Lee's yellow jumpsuit as worn in 'Game of Death'....very nice homage to the master. I'm not at all a fan of Lucy Liu, but suprisingly her casting here is not half bad. Vivica Fox on the other hand.....is only here for style, she didn't serve much purpose at all. The story of Kill Bill, one of revenge, is straight forward but very intriguing. The way QT presents the film, its almost like he thought of every possible technique/style he could think of and used it in Kill Bill. Things like the B&W sequence and the Japanimation sequence add a whole new twist to the film and is VERY creative...it works perfectly.

I didn't like the fact that they cut the film into two parts, but I can't wait to see the second part. Vol. 1 is a little short; nevertheless they cut the film at a good place, setting up the second part very well. A VERY entertaining film, QT has done it again. This is shaping out to be a milestone in filmmaking, hell it probably is already. Vol. 2 will only cement Kill Bill's place in cinema history. A truly monumental film. Bravo, QT, bravo!
*** 3/4 out of **** stars.