Monday, October 25, 2004
KILL BILL VOL. 1
The other day I watched this for about a half-hour, up through the "anime" section. Tarantino undoubtedly had tons of fun writing it; and if I'd had half as much fun watching it, I would have watched to the end. But as it was, I felt that he spent so much time loading the film with tributes to his favorite movies that it never got off the ground.
The film also lacked conviction. A film of this type needs to believe in the rightness of its protagonist's mission (as with the Scorpion films), or at least persuade us that it believes in it. For Tarantino, Uma's quest for revenge is clearly a device for stringing together a bunch of cool scenes. When conviction is lacking, we start asking questions like "Wouldn't it be easier for Uma to just buy a gun and shoot 'Copperhead' when she answers the door?" and "Isn't it ridiculous to have a 'top assassin' carrying out assignments in the open wearing a red vinyl jumpsuit?"
If I remember correctly, Vol. 2 is supposed to be the more "serious" half of the film. Since I wasn't impressed by Tarantino's treatment of "serious" themes in Pulp Fiction, I think I'll pass.
The other day I watched this for about a half-hour, up through the "anime" section. Tarantino undoubtedly had tons of fun writing it; and if I'd had half as much fun watching it, I would have watched to the end. But as it was, I felt that he spent so much time loading the film with tributes to his favorite movies that it never got off the ground.
The film also lacked conviction. A film of this type needs to believe in the rightness of its protagonist's mission (as with the Scorpion films), or at least persuade us that it believes in it. For Tarantino, Uma's quest for revenge is clearly a device for stringing together a bunch of cool scenes. When conviction is lacking, we start asking questions like "Wouldn't it be easier for Uma to just buy a gun and shoot 'Copperhead' when she answers the door?" and "Isn't it ridiculous to have a 'top assassin' carrying out assignments in the open wearing a red vinyl jumpsuit?"
If I remember correctly, Vol. 2 is supposed to be the more "serious" half of the film. Since I wasn't impressed by Tarantino's treatment of "serious" themes in Pulp Fiction, I think I'll pass.
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