Kill Bill: Vol. 1

A cool rip-off of Shogun Assassin with references to a couple dozen other films. One big stylistic exercise, which in the shadow of the brilliant Volume II completely loses its meaning and unnecessarily takes away from the credit of the whole. ♫ OST song rating: 4/5 (03/17/2023)

If there’s one film that loudly argues that Quentin Tarantino is an even better director than screenwriter, that would be Kill BillVol. 1. It’s an INCREDIBLY well shot series of micro-stories, whose grouping and method of (in)closure may be questionable, but every second fully reflects the inexhaustible genius of one anointed filmmaker. Unfortunately, Quentin uses his supporting actors as surprisingly passive pawns on a journey through East Asian cinematic attractions, and he often blatantly revels in his own audiovisual perfection, but it’s impossible not to love it. The film is one big goosebumps fest, caused by the unearthly staging of the action accompanied by one amazing track after another (although the final fight, for example, loses its impact quickly, mainly due to the annoying black-and-white composition), and the subjective length is somewhere around 80 minutes. It's a kind of unpretentious treat that is simply a joy to watch, even though it doesn't have that much to do with the sequel and works more like porn for geeks than a starter of a complex and layered story. 80% (11/04/2011)

There is a certain dose of exaggeration and typically Tarantino humor that the viewer must embrace right from the beginning, otherwise the film be a lousy experience. Tarantino is firmly in control and directs the way he wants, which is, of course, evident in the result. The whole film carries an excellent atmosphere, enhanced by perfectly tuned exteriors and brilliantly interwoven music. Kill Bill fulfills all the film elements to the fullest but it may happen that a more conservatively inclined viewer won’t find their way to it and will not like it. It was also very interesting to see Uma Thurman, who underwent intense training for this role and it is truly visible. Tarantino plays with visual composition, constructs dialogues well, and overall the film is more captivating with a plethora of references and clever tricks, rather than a basic message as such, which is truly simple. (11/08/2003)

The last time I met Bill was about twenty years ago. Since then, time has taken its cruel toll on me and David Carradine. I gave this film five stars back in the day, and I'd happily give it five stars again today because I enjoyed all those gory action scenes (yes, including the animated ones) and the cheesy clichés that Tarantino deliberately used in the film (with glee, I’m sure). I was even willing to get over all those many logic holes except for one. The waking up from a four-year coma was a bit too much for me. I guess I take it personally, but I just couldn’t get over that bullshit. I was only dead for four days, spent the next month staring intensely at the ceiling, and when they finally managed to sit me up after that relatively short period of time, I found that the speed of the earth's rotation had dramatically increased, so I had to be propped up to keep from collapsing. And then it took ten days of practice before my useless rubber limbs started resembling legs again. So, all that nonsense about just thirteen hours after four years made me take one star off my rating. Otherwise, the film was a standard Tarantino wackiness (just the way I like it) as in: a lot of severed body parts, oodles of blood (black and white, animated, and regular), and a bunch of over-the-top nonsense (the kind that I didn’t mind). I was just surprised by how light on dialogue it was. / Lesson learned: Enjoy life. (09/18/2022)

Several years after the fading of unbearable hype, Kill Bill is still a spectacle that has no equal in the realm of multi-genre action. Despite Tarantino being somewhat annoying from a media standpoint during this period, his sense of revenge's tempo, the soundtrack, and the supporting characters were almost perfect. And when Hattori Hanzo appears and I swallow all previous prejudices, there is nothing left but to give it five stars. (04/20/2005)