Review:Nobody does Tarantino like Tarantino.

Say what you want about Tarantino...he's a cinematic god, he's a pop-culture loud-mouth, he's the annoying geek who hung around the teachers at recess...whatever you want, the man has come back after a four year hiatus and made one hell of a wonderfully messy movie.

With references and influences from everything along the range including 70's Japanese chop-socky flicks, sitcoms, Japanimation and even his own flicks Tarantinon has come back with a film sure to be dissected and enjoyed over and over again.

Which is an odd thing to say considering the amount of blood, hacked limbs and beheadings that occur within this first volume of Kill Bill. You may have heard that this is a violent film. Oh yes, yes it is...but it is a smartly calculated violence. Like Reservoir Dogs where you never see the ear get cut off the cop Tarantino employs interesting tricks to bring the nastiness down to an almost cartoonish level. Black and white sequences, a quick shot of a tongue being bitten before flashing to the remains of The Bride's victim. Yes, it is all violent and not for those who are easily shocked...but, and it could just be me picking this out, but I feel that Tarantino has just been so busy watching films his entire life that the works of directors like Ishii Teruo, Kinji Fukasaku and his own aspiration Sergio Leone are so well represented here it's not a rip-off or a hommage but an entirely different cinematic achievement.

Alright, alright, enough about Tarantino for now...how is the film? Damn fascinating. At the core of the whole first volume which runs 1 hour and 41 minutes it is a revenge tale. 'The Bride' our nameless Leone style type hero(ine) is shot on her wedding day, pregnant no less. So is the groom, the minister, his wife, and five other by-standers. Whoever did this is serious, methodical...and as the opening sequence shows you, obviously Bill. An opening sequence that rivals Pulp Fiction for sharp, unique and double edged writing that says so much about The Bride and her unseen tormentor.

Then the film kicks into overdrive..it proceeds to jump around in its tale, flashing back and forward like a comic book broken up into chapters. What really impressed me with the film is that everytime it even hints at normalcy, convention or cheap theatrics, it quickly reverses course and slaps you on the ass. You're watching a real life cartoon here, anything can and will happen.

Uma Thurman, back in a major big budget flick for the first time since the horrendous Avengers, is now better than ever. I thought sword sequences between a six foot woman and say the five foot three Lucy Liu might play odd but there is never time to question anything, like I say the action move fast and furious and the blood is all over the lens. As for Lucy Liu, let's put it this way, I always thought she has been overrated even though she keeps croppping up in flicks I like. Well, I may have to alter my opinion, a woman who can run along a table top quietly, quickly and assassinate a Yakuza council member and then give a sweet little innocent speech about working together can't be all bad.

You know, I can go on and on...the Bruce Lee outfit sported by Thurman, the Red Apples cigarettes ad, the high octane style of camera and action...blah, blah, blah...the point is I really thought this was something fun and different in a rather dull year of films and I can't wait for the second one in February 2004. All I can really say is that Tarantino is back and it is as if he has gone from student to Master...he pulls every cinematic trick and makes it all look seamless and easy. The bloody brilliant bastard.

Oh, and one last thing...don't take a five year old to this...this is no ordinary Hollywood violence...this is hacked limbs, table legs nailed to head and swords slicing through human bodies at crazy rates type violence. And I have to give it 5 stars out of 5.

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Copyright© Written By: Rob Paul
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