Bloodfest 2003

Rating: 10/10 (10 October 2003)

After what's seem like an eternity, Quentin Tarantino finally returns with his sendup to the grindhouse films (as well as plenty of other styles) in Kill Bill. While the movies plot is relatively simple and much easier to summarize than any of Tarantino's previous films, that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. It is a departure in many ways; Volume I contains considerably less dialog-focused character development than any of his other films. The action and violence is at the front of this flick. Tarantino once described Reservoir Dogs as seeming a lot more violent than it actually was because of the threat of violence that looms over each scene, and there were actually only a handful of occasions where violent acts actually occurred. With Kill Bill, there is so much violence that it seems awkward when there is downtime. In a scene where Uma Thurman visits Japan and is having a fun little chat with the propriater of a restauraunt/bar (there may be a term for such an establishment in Japanese that I am missing), Uma is all cutesy and fun, and it's hard to believe she's the same woman dicing up punk after punk in the rest of the film. The word awkward is a bad choice, as it tends to have bad connotations. There is nothing wrong with the non-action packed scenes in this film. Speaking of action packed, this film is packed with action! There have been complaints that Tarantino is not a very good action director. Well, the morons who say that don't realize HE'S NOT AN ACTION MOVIE MAKER! They were much more dramas with occasional acts of violence that didn't require explosions and ellaborate action sequences. But Kill Bill is an action film, and Tarantino directs it brilliantly. There is also a great deal of variation in how the action is executed and revealed. Every blood-soaked moment is a surprise. This is also Tarantino's most artistic film today, employing everything from black-and-white scenes (which may have been due to the excessive blood), animation, birds eye shots, oblique angles (there are far less long shots in this film, the story is divided into title chapters, the pace is much faster than the usual Tarantino style, probably cuz there's so many people to kill and so little time), and the scene where Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu have a one-on-one sword battle is film in a beautiful Japanese garden in the snow. Amazing mise en scene. It really reads like a graphic novel, a comic book. It might not be the deepest Tarantino film, but it is certainly the most epic. And there's still another hour and a half to go. I can't wait!