A Masterpiece!

Rating: 9/10 (22 January 2005)

I had heard so much about this movie before I saw it. Yet none of what I heard/read prepared me for the brilliance of this movie. Quenton Tarantino knows all the hooks that make a great movie and uses all of them here.
It's strange, because, I kinda know what's going to happen throughout the movie, yet the movie kept surprising me. You know Bill has to die at the end, but yet.....
There are so many WONDERFUL performances throughout the movie, but two stood out to me: David Carradine, and Daryl Hannah.
David Carradine is brilliant with his understated performance, going from affable, to menacing quickly and smoothly. You understand his side of things at the end and find yourself thinking...."Well, maybe" before you remember that there were other people in that chapel besides The Bride and he is a hardened killer who, although he regrets what he did to The Bride, he never expresses remorse for the others.
Daryl Hannah shows another side to her acting which, in my humble opinion, was just as shocking as seeing Charlize Theron in Monster. The public is not used to seeing Hannah as a hardened character. She usually plays the sweet, lovely girl. The films I have seen her in have all been fluffy and light. Even Clan of the Cave Bear wasn't as gritty as the book had been. I feel she comes into her own in this movie and shows what a real craftsman she can be.
One of the things I liked most about this movie was that it was a serious movie that didn't take itself seriously. There were several moments when you couldn't help but smile (the scene where The Bride is being taught by Pei Mei is a classic!) At the end, when they show scenes from the movie as they roll credits, when they show David Carradine...well, ya gotta see it to believe it...BRILLIANT!!!!!!!