Rating: 
Summary: punch, kick, slice, swirl...sigh...
Review: Strange how Quentin's superb film-play style has improved, but the substance and dialogue he's known for has degraded. This is a classic case of style over substance, and I truly think even the biggest fans of this movie will first talk about how great the scenes looked and how the camera work was dashing. No one can doubt this movie has pinache! But when it comes to interesting plot and well-written dialogue, this movie comes up short. Seems there's a big "hate it or love it" thing going on with this film. But I didn't hate it, but I surely didn't love it. I'm giving it 3 stars because at first I was genuinely interested in what was happening, and I really DID love the style and variations in visuals. But when the movie was about half over, I realized we weren't going to get any more depth, and the movie turned into just one big mess of fights after fights. And I thought the "Matrix: Reloaded" fights were boring! Once Uma confronted another enemy, I groaned: "Not again!" Fight, punch, kick, slice, move and swirl, exaggerated blood gushing, and...repeat! Well, glad I watched it, and I'll watch the 2nd Volume (I hear it's better), but it's not good enough to watch again.
Rating:
Summary: Grossly Amusing
Review: Imagine your worst nightmare: garish scenes of violent blood-letting, fast-paced action, brilliant sword-fight scenes, cold revenge murder storyline, and deep, deep down, sympathetic anxiety for a wronged mother-to-be who loses a child (maybe) and nearly dies. Stir this all together, put it on a tight action board with brilliant directing, add a dash of sardonic wit and a haunting recorder melody (shades of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns) and you have Kill Bill. And just for an extra bit of zaniness, add anime scenes which merit the "R" rating (for violence). All in all, the movie brought an ironic smile to my lips and perhaps a grimace or three, (the fight scenes are gruesome). It also satisfactorily killed 111 minutes on a long airplane flight.
Rating: 
Summary: Pathetic Plot
Review: Esoteric and artistic bloodbath. Simple, pathetic plot. Clichéd vengeance story. I do not see the good in this film-- one could not walk away having learned anything other than how to never be caught watching it again.
Rating: 
Summary: Virtuosic filmmaking that needs a little more substance.
Review: Having just seen Kill Bill, Vol. 2, I can confirm that the interviews and press reports are accurate: By splitting one film into two, what you get are two halves that each has its own very pronounced merits, but need each other to survive. In fact, I think if the two volumes had cross-pollinated a little more, you wouldn't have had just a good movie and a half, but two great films. But for now, Kill Bill Vol. 1. It's the "action" half of the twins, and it dazzles right from the start with an audacious, extended extreme close-up on Uma Thurman's face. The scene after, the duel between The Bride and Vernita Green, is classic Quentin Tarantino, heralding a return to his outrageous, dramatically intense roots. Probably the strongest scene he's directed since the Mr. Pink-Mr. White altercation in Reservoir Dogs. Unfortunately, after The Bride wakes up from her coma, the dramatic content flies down the meter, with a lot of posing and one-liners but very little in terms of character or emotional satisfaction. Which means it's up to the endless action set pieces to grab our attention. And they do. However, I find them a little too bloody, even though I've spent the last 16 months digging through Shaw Brothers films (through the excellent Celestial Pictures VCD and DVD releases). The endless bloodletting in Kill Bill Vol. 1 is shocking in the beginning, but after about five minutes in the extended climactic massacre, it's numbing. And for the record, Kill Bill Vol. 1 is not a Shaw Brothers kind of film, despite the Shaw logo which opens the film. You would have to wait until the "training" sequences in Vol. 2 to get Shaw Brothers-style cinema (which Tarantino appropriates very well there). Vol. 1 is much more a paean to the Japanese style of filmmaking: Extremely saturated colours courtesy of cinematographer Robert Richardson (even Shaw films didn't go this far in terms of garish colours -- we're in '80s Kurosawa territory here), emphasis on extreme wide shots, the very long builds, the brilliant music by The RZA. And the martial-arts sequences are modern in their multi-angularity and speed cuts; Shaw Brothers action as epitomized by Chang Cheh's style focuses much more on choreography and mise en scene than multi-angularity, letting long medium shots capture the movement of the actors and fighters, relying very little on cuts. All in all, the most lacking element in Kill Bill Vol. 1 is still story and character. Uma Thurman has some great moments (such as when The Bride first wakes up in the hospital), but after those blazing first 30 minutes, she will mostly become a statuesque hellfire angel who doesn't have a great deal of emotional advancement. You will get that in spades in Vol. 2, which is hands down a superior story and film -- without the visual eye candy and endless action of Vol. 1, but with such powerful dramatic moments that it barely matters. Again, I think if Tarantino had been able to meld the action and the drama a little more, rather than separate them into two movies that contain most of one and almost none of the other, he would have made both films greater than what they are. As it stands, Vol. 2 will be what truly burns these characters and Tarantino's vision into your mind, while Vol. 1 is the adrenalized thrill ride with energy to spare, but without much in terms of thematic depth.
Rating:
Summary: Tarentino's World: Amputation as Humor...
Review: 'Kill Bill' is a difficult film to review. It has many elements simply copied from other, older genres (martial arts films, westerns), has music from 60's/70's TV shows, and buckets of surrealistic blood (gushing like fountains from amputated limbs/heads). Inject Tarentino's bizarre sense of humor, and you have one oddball of a movie! Tarentino's penchant for time frame manipulation (ala Pulp Fiction) can make things a little confusing for those not familiar with his approach, but it all comes together if one has patience. His cinematography is simply superb, especially in the fight sequences, which are the real stars of the film. The final battle in the Japanese bar is awesome, in spite of the extreme gore. Tarentino has a way of making dismemberment a humorous event: witness the Lucy Liu 'Yakuza' meeting. I'm not sure I like Tarentino's flippancy toward bloodletting-it's all a sort of cartoon to him. When one thinks about the real blood being shed in Iraq and Afghanistan (which the US government goes to great lengths to PREVENT the American public from seeing), this stuff feels awfully petty. Nevertheless, Quentin makes it all seem like no big deal, and creates a near-poetic way to present it to us. Think about it: if you saw this amount of human devastation on CNN, how would you react? We snicker because we know it's Tarentino, and 'It's Just a Movie'...
Rating:
Summary: Pretentious and derivative
Review: Yep, pretentious and derivative. I have no objection to the violence--I have tremendous respect for good movie violence--but Tarantino has ripped off so many other film makers mercilessly with this movie, it's ridiculous. I wouldn't even give it one star but evidently that's not an option...
Rating: 
Summary: It's just Tarantino is paying homage to himself
Review: Like Pulp Fiction, the story is told out of sequence, but lack any of the witty dialog that made Pulp Fiction good. Tarantino film making is "borrowing" scenes from other directors/films and blending them into his own vision. His films are also usually interesting, and always sport quick and interesting dialogues. But they're basically popcorn movies, without any real depth of plot or complexity to the characters. Tarantino delivers a film that struggles so hard to call attention to itself, and to its lack of originality. He has borrowed from an international grab bag of amusements, kung fu movies, spaghetti westerns, comic books, to build his B movie, and then drenched it in a bucket of blood. You almost expect their lips to move out of sync with the dialogue. They should change the title to Kill Quentin. This movie simply did not ever need to be four-plus-hours long. By the time the last enemy is crossed off The Bride's list, you simply don't care all that much anymore. It's just Tarantino is paying homage to himself. Many scenes from would be far more interesting as filler on a Kill Bill extended cut with Tarantino commenting that "here's a scene I really liked but just couldn't use. Kill Bill is like a school paper were your the spacing and the font size turning a lousy 5 page paper into a lousy 10 page one.
Rating:
Summary: stylish but nothing more
Review: Imagine the television show batman, with the dynamic duo using swords instead punches. Well that sums up the last third of this movie. Kill Bill is a shallow patchwork quilt of campy gimmicks involving a lot of violence and even more redundant dialogue. Basically quentin takes the foxforce 5 idea thrown out by mia in pulp fiction and makes a whole movie about it, although the names are different and the characters are more sinister. Uma is somehow supposed to be this Yank who's a superior sword wielder/killer, and manages to hack 88 or so Japanese men into pieces who have swords too, apparently because she has the great Hanzo's sword, specifically tailored for the mission she's trying to accomplish. In reality of course, Uma wouldn't manage to kill a single yakuza before getting chopped to pieces, but whatever the writer wants he gets, right?
So anyhow, this movie manages to shock and appall with its quentin-esque violence, yet not have any depth whatsoever. Probably good enough for the Anime nerds, but nothing that will be remembered in a year's time. Incidentally, I thought he did a really poor representation of Japanese culture, despite what Q's fanboys report. One saving grace is that he wasn't in the movie. THANK GOD
Rating:
Summary: A Film's Better Half
Review: As many know, Quentin Tarantino's lovingly crafted "Kill Bill" was originally filmed as a single movie. This review deals with its first half, volume one of two. The movie starts off with a blast... a gunshot to Uma Thuman's head, to be precise. Tarantino doesn't waste any time in showing you that this movie is going to be grossly gory, but fortunately, this first shot is the most realistic depiction of violence and gore within the entirety of this first volume. As the credits roll, we're treated to Tarantino's as-always stellar ability to match music with a film--"Bang bang, my baby shot me down" plays over the opening credits. This excellent taste in music pervades the entire film, and every selection works alongside the visuals on the screen to give a very specific impression. For, evident as always, Tarantino knows exactly what he's doing when crafting visual and aural sensations within his films. He's masterful director when it comes to this, and "Kill Bill" shows this off remarkably, its looser reality, roving story, and larger budget giving Tarantino the freedom to really wow us with some great visuals. Many have stated that this movie is an elaborate homage to Tarantino's old grindhouse loves, and this is so. The very style of the film reeks with it, and this isn't a bad thing--it gives the movie a very fresh atmosphere, apperance, and feel and only serves to enhance the story. Unfortunately, the dialogue in "Kill Bill", while competent, doesn't even approach the mastery of Tarantino's previous pictures. But the movie doesn't rest on this as much as, say, "Pulp Fiction" did, so it's not a serious flaw in this case. The film climaxes with a huge fight scene, so long and over-the-top gory that you're numb by its conclusion. Nevertheless, Tarantino did an excellent job of directing the action. "Kill Bill" is a thrill ride from start to finish, and while it shows the same artistic love of filth that Tarantino has always wallowed in, it's well worth the time of a less than squeamish viewer. Action fans, those who love the films Tarantino did, or those who simply love *his* films would all get loads of enjoyment from this picture. The DVD itself is sparse, though its featurette on the making of the movie is interesting and entertaining. For casual viewers, this edition is probably a rental, but die-hard Tarantino fans should definitely pick this up.
Rating:
Summary: absolutely putrid
Review: I`m tired of seeing films with girls going around kicking ass.Its a theme thats getting old.And what kind of message does it send to our young ladies? That its okay to degrade innocent men by kicking their butts with fighting skills invented by men?This film is violent and bloody,and like all such films,it has a potentially dangerous influence on viewers.
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