Joe Lamantia.com

Kill Bill Volume I

It is difficult to anticipate what one is supposed to take away from just the first half of an eclectic and heavily stylized movie released far away from its conclusion. Nevertheless it's safe to set this qualifier aside when reviewing it, since some combination of director, producer, studio, actors, and distributors obviously believed the first half of Kill Bill Volume I was solid enough to stand on it's own as an offering, and accordingly released it with all the customary fanfare. Regardless, I was disappointed (even after establishing low expectations in the first place). The action and fighting set pieces were fine (Yuen Wo Ping did a much better job creating interesting choreography for Kill Bill Vol. I than for The Matrix: Reloaded), but the story used as Kill Bill's skeleton is so flimsy it is almost in the way - especially when presented in the - disjointed plot / narrative we're accustomed to seeing from Tarantino - and aside from a few scattered moments of inspired cinematography ( the water bucket and fountain in the zen garden), I found the film flat.

As an homage to samurai movies, it was largely faithful: Tarantino managed to convincingly recreate the feel of a Saturday afternoon B-movie on cable television. But from a Hollywood director in 2003, that's a loosing gambit. What made the original Samurai movies Tarantino apes in Kill Bill a satisfying experiecnce was their essential foreigness, and the very different viewing contexts and associated expectations that enveloped them. Lacking both of these key supporting elements, I'm left wondering about the point of the exercise for the moment.

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