Rating: 
Summary: Kill Bill - ready to be rewatched a thousand times
Review: I'm not going to go deep into the movie all over again. The DVD will most likely be the high-point in our February 2004. Finally fans can re-watch the movie over and over again.
From what we read from the press releases and from what we can conclude from Buena Vista's releace policy, the movie will be a 2 DISC SET, will be presented in ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (2.35:1) and will surely contain a bunch of SPECIAL FEATURES, Tarantino even said he had some SURPRISES ready for the fans.
Personally, I can't wait to hold this in my hands.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a patch on the original drama
Review: I give Tarantino his props for creating his own genre of blood splashed action but he has absolutely no idea when it comes to paying homage to the original kung fu and samurai films that he claims to love. KILL BILL is well-crafted but overlong and it lacks the passion and sense of duty and honor that make the true HK and Japanese so-called "chop-suey" flicks so well regarded. Not a bad way to kill a rainy Saturday afternoon but hardly worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as some of the true HK classics.
Rating: 
Summary: Pure Adulterated Cinema
Review: In the opening credits of Kill Bill, it is announced that this is the fourth film by Quentin Tarantino... or at least half of the fourth film. After such a self-indulging credit, I guess an overwhelmingly self-indulgent film should have been expected. Tarantino so completely overstuffs Kill Bill with extraneousness as to leave nothing non-extraneous. It becomes a masterpiece of excess, in which every single scene probably should have been cut. The cinematography stands out as jerky and under-whelming, with only the cartoon colors to give it pizzazz. The editing is choppier than the old Kung Fu movies Kill Bill is attempting to emulate. The Kung Fu itself is paced and boring. Only Go Go Yubari (played by Chiaki Kuriyama) with her ball and chain is able to liven up an overlong bloodbath with a little teen-inspired angst. One might say Tarantino missed the story for the action... but the problem with that criticism is character. Without character, there is no action, and Uma Thurman's 'The Bride' is not character.So, The Bride wants to kill Bill (the big boss) and all of Bill's henchman as revenge for trying to kill her and killing her husband and her baby. The rest of the movie, and presumably volume two as well, consists of her tracking down the henchman, and ultimately Bill, and killing them in long boring gory fight scenes. For some reason, Tarantino decided to tell it all out of order, thinking that like in Pulp Fiction it might make things more exciting. All it does is contribute to the fact that it doesn't matter when or how you dole out information if everybody already knows what's going to happen. Before being killed, each member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad gets a cinematic introduction (the best of which is the animated O-Ren Ishii scene). A few overwhelmingly stupid scenes, including a sex craving hospital attendant that prostitutes out coma victims (The Bride being one of them) make the already over-long movie over-longer. Overall, the only thing remarkable to be seen here is how Tarantino was able to lay such an expository piece of dreck over such a thin narrative skeleton. The result is less than watching those classic Kung Fu movies on shuffle in a five disc DVD player. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Tarantino can, he did, and he shouldn't have.
Rating:
Summary: Kill Bill Vol 1--Visceral Visual Vivisection
Review: Kill Bill never is anything more than its cornball title leads you to believe. It is a comicbook, complete with a simple, over the top, comicbook plotline, characters, and extreme level of much-welcomed violence. If you are a more modern day "politically correct" type of person in todays litigation crazy world--then look else where. This is simply Tarantino at his best. This is his best work since Resevior Dogs over a decade ago. This movie was made for people that are very much like Tarantino himself. People that grew up in the age of muscle cars with 427 hp under the hood, went to cultish explotation flicks in the theaters, and enjoyed a good pack of smokes. Sure we are all healthier, smarter, etc now. But those "good old days" sure were a lot more fun, and hard to forget! Well, they all come roaring back to life in this classic film filled with incredible female killers and the 'Kung-Fu' master himself--David Carradine. I won't summarize the plot here----everyone else's reviews here have already swiped, cut and pasted it from the original critic's write up for you. If you enjoy comics, girls, swords, and violence, than this is the movie for you! Note: Not for children under 18.
Rating: 
Summary: ok
Review: im a 15 year old boy who loves bloody fight scenes and kung fu. theres no problem with that, and since kill bill delivers that i liked this movie. its kind of stupid and over the top but it has its moments. it sucks in comparison to pulp fiction and reservoir dogs but it was still half-decent tarantino. sides note; the anime parts are sooo stupid. what kind of idiots like stupid stuff like that?
Rating:
Summary: A Cinema Masterpiece
Review: Kill Bill Volume 1 is a cinematic masterpiece. Its the most exciting and daring Hollywood film I've personally ever seen in my life. 60s/70s Grindhouse Cinema is Kill Bill's roots, but as those roots grew they transformed into something brand new that Ive never seen before in a movie.
The film is a work of cinematic art only a guy named Quentin Tarantino could create. A cinema lover long obsessed with the pop art films of Sergio Leone, Brian DePalma, Chang Cheh, Lucio Fulci, Kenji Fukasaku and Mario Bava to just name a select few. A guy who loved the down and dirty Grindhouse-Drive In films of the 1960s and 1970s growing up. Tarantino has created something that has surpassed the original written script (which I read and LOVED). The visuals along with the music will boil your adrenaline. Kill Bill is a testament to what a true love of cinema can bring to the screen. As opposed to popular belief, Its NOT about making the AFI Top 100 List or winning shiny awards. Its about LOVING CINEMA in all its forms. Thats EXACTLY what you get when you pay to see a Tarantino film. The Kill Bill story is very simple. Its the standard spaghetti western or kung fu Revenge plot. But that "plot" is only the framework to hold something much richer and deeper. You could say Kill Bill is an exercise in highly stylized cinema, and it DEFINITELY is that, but Tarantino has also brought something else to it: Heart and Soul. Kill Bill has audible languages in it (including Japanese), but the one language that QT speaks fluently and perfectly himself is the language of cinema. Its in every shot, every scene. Running through the film like a river. Kill Bill deserves all its praise and for real film fans like myself, its great to see someone in love with making movies as much as Tarantino.
Rating: 
Summary: Can exquisite style triumph over lack of substance?
Review: Question: Can exquisite, riveting style overcome a near complete lack of substance? Answer: Very nearly. KILL BILL, VOLUME 1 is a perfect compendium of Quentin Tarantino's impressive gifts and lamentable shortcomings as a filmmaker. From the opening studio credits to the closing credits, this film is glitteringly stylish, with virtually no uninteresting frames in between. I was intrigued by the opening logos, but I confess I was utterly hooked from the second Nancy Sinatra starting singing "Bang, Bang" as we gaze at the beaten and battered face of The Bride, played by Uma Thurman. We never learn her name, and the credits list her as "The Bride" (the film is based on a graphic novel of the same name), but we learn that her code name from the secret organization of assassins to which she belongs is Black Mamba. The rest of the film tells in nonchronological fashion the tale of her avenging herself on those who killed her and her wedding party, beginning with her waking up from a long coma, and proceeding to her systematic revenge. Part of the problem I had with the film is that you have to turn off your brain most of the time and merely enjoy it on a purely tactile level, or at most as a series of cross-references to other movies. Virtually the entire movie was based upon swordplay, but any dweeb with a gun could have handled any of the assassins in the film with ease. At least in ENTER THE DRAGON, they took the time to invent a pretext for why there were no guns on Han's island. In BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL there is the pretext that guns were ineffective on vampires and demons. In KILL BILL, The Bride herself is shot, but why the absence of guns? Clearly, they are missing for purely stylistic reasons. But even granting the presence of swords and absence of guns, The Bride's taking on a small army of swordsmen stretches credulity. If you don't turn off your brain, you will find it impossible to enjoy this film. Approximately half of the film deals with her epic attempt at inflicting her revenge upon O-Ren Ishii a.k.a. Cottonmouth, played by Lucy Liu. It is preceded by a animated segment that tells of the making of O-Ren Ishii. The long scene is a movie it itself, and is as visually and stylistically as stunning as anything Tarantino has ever done. Except on the level of logic, everything about this long scene works. The set of the Japanese restaurant is spectacular, and there is a wealth of great little touches, like the marvelous Japanese all-girl barefoot surf band (played by The 5, 6, 7, 8s). Ultimately, I wondered what the point of it all was. It truly did end up being all style and no substance. Can a film be any good if it is nothing but a succession of brilliant images, even if many of the images are in some way referential to other films? In rewatching all of films (including his screenplays) recently, I came away wondering if Tarantino has any view of life, has done anything thinking about greater issues. If he has, it isn't reflected in his films. Based on them, one sees a view of life that moves exclusively from one pop cultural image to another. The Text ends up being about other Texts, not about anything that transcends them. Is Tarantino capable of making a film with genuine tragedy? Could he make a film featuring a believable moral dilemma? Can moral issues arise in a Tarantino film? They nearly did in RESERVOIR DOGS, but he hasn't come close since. My own gut feeling is that Tarantino will always be hampered as a film maker because he lacks a vision about the significance of any realities beyond the language of pop culture. He may make more films that are exhilarating and funny and exciting to watch, but I am beginning to wonder if he can make a film that makes us think, or makes us question the shape or point of our lives. These issues do not, of course, arise with the vast bulk of filmmakers. If it arises with Tarantino, it is because his gifts are so obvious that one wishes he would move beyond a superficial brilliance to a deeper exploration of the human condition. Is it possible that he will do this in the second half of this film? Yes, but I will be amazed if he does so. There will certainly be surprises, but I doubt if they will have moral or metaphysical aspects. Warning: This is almost certainly the bloodiest movie ever made. The blood flies, oozes, spurts, flows, and sprays in a variety of ways. The way that it spurts from severed limbs reminds me at times of the dismembered Black Knight in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. Mercifully, in the long fight between The Bride and a few dozen swordsmen, the bulk of the fight was filmed in black and white. This mutes the red from the blood that would have otherwise have covered everything.
Rating:
Summary: Silly Rabbit, and many other reasons why this film is cool.
Review: Kill Bill is the Brain child of a person who realizes that in film, there are no rules. Let me re-phrase that, there are no rules that Mr. Tarantino cannot break. In this world, anything is possible within reason. For example: The heroine must be able to carry her sword from Okinawa to Tokyo on a commercial aircraft - No problem. Rather than giving in to the desired urge most director's would concur to create some sort of secret mode of travel: Tarantino says, "Lets make the entire population carry samurai swords." Moments like these make me want to shout, "Lord, there ARE directors who break tradition! Thank you! Finally someone unwilling to conform!" Kill Bill is splashed with stylized visuals, with its very own type of violence. Blood, with more blood, but squirting with the strength of a firehose at 200 psi. After this film and the Evil Dead's I have learned a great fact: It's ok to make people laugh amid the brew of violent stew. Tell me you can watch a groovy fight scene with the "Crazy 88's" that embody's the entire last half of Bill, and not grin with delight. The story is simple, yet unpredictable. During the wedding of the main character (shown briefly in a animated sequence) an unnamed Uma Therman (Going so far as to BLEEP out the name to keep her identity hidden) is beaten up, and shot in the head. Her entire wedding party is slaughtered, "even the minister and old organ player!" Somehow she survives, and remains in a coma for four years. When she awakens, she comes to realize many horrible thing's, the worst of which that her daughter, which was still in the womb, was also dead. Thus, the revenge begins. Kill Bill is something that should be seen on the big screen. I rarely go out on a limb like this, being the owner of 200 plus dvd's and hardcore advocate of home entertainment, but this is a MUST for the big screen. No doubt, unless you have the projector setup and a sweet sound system with a good woofer, you will kick yourself in the head for not seeing it in large scope. Loved this movie. 5 out of 5 for the film that takes chances and willingly breaks the rules to make its own...Death to being chagrined!
Rating:
Summary: Why was this movie ever made?!
Review: This was probably the worst movie ever made. First off, I will say that I like Lucy Liu as an actress, but this movie degraded her acting prowess. Uma Thurman was sadly disappointing. You can find better acting in a children's theatre than in this movie. Also, there is such a lack of realism. Maybe that was what Tarantino was after, but the movie would have been better if it focused more on the plot and storyline and less on the gallons of fake blood that exploded from severed limbs. I won't even mention the music, of which made me cringe everytime I listened to it. If you do like non-realistic depiction and bad acting, then this is the movie for you. Rent it before you buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Ubber-Ultra-Violence meets Cinematic Advancement
Review: Yeeaaaahh!!! Without a doubt Tarantino has set out to make the kind of movie that HE wants to see - and you should be glad that the studio has let him have his way. So if you are movie buff then you will be in heaven for the next two hours. However mainstream cinema goers may shy away from the heavy amounts of splatter violence, themes of extremely bad taste and what seems to be a very shallow plot. First of all, Kill Bill is comprised of several different genres and themes stemming from femme fatal, the Yakuza, Spaghetti Westerns, Kick Boxer, Japanese Manga Anime, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Star Trek! Essentially the plot is simple. Uma Thurman plays a woman called **** a.k.a Black Mamba who is avenging the death or her unborn child after her wedding massacre. There seems to be some past employment link between her and a mafia of trained assassins led by an unseen Bill (David Carradine) and this is revealed in flashback style as **** goes about seeking her revenge. All of the characters have a background which is fleshed out visually during lots of these various flashback pieces that are extremely bloody and graphically violent in nature. In fact Kill Bill looks likely too be one of the most goriest movies ever made... however it is also extremely funny. There are so many taboo elements brought up like pedophilia, coma patient rape, parents graphically murdered in front of their children and women killing other women (Extremely violently I might add) but Tarantino manages to make us laugh at these things every other five minutes. Seriously - this film makes fun of all the things that you would generally shy away from even under the influence of a few bottles of saki. It is an extremely black violent comedy in many ways, but at the same time you can not help sitting there in awe as Tarantino pulls out every trick in the book and then some more. The Manga type cartoon in the middle will either turn you off or blow your mind... it sure did mine! The ending is a real cliff-hanger and although this is not Tarantinos best film by a long shot it is certainly his most ambitious work to date - if not one of the most ambitious films this century. By the way - did I mention that the film was extremely bloody? The GORE and I mean G O R E on display here is like nothing you have ever seen before. There is a shot of the Japanese club after a violent wake in what has to be one of the most longest and bloody battle sequences ever filmed. You have never seen anything like it, nor will you again. The are some downsides to the film. The end fight sequence has too many pauses and some parts do drag on for five minutes more than they should which leads us to suspect that pieces of this film have been extended to help make up for the running time of what is a film of two parts. However these misgivings are easily cast aside by the sheer energy that is on display here. So if you got the stomach for it then you know what to do - Go watch the killing of Bill. Role on the bloody part deux!
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