So this was the first time, where nothing really special happened. I worked quite late this day, and the only thing worth mentioning on this day was that Jose and I went to the UCI Empire cinema to watch:
I didn't learn much about the movie in reports before, only one of them being that it would be really gory, messy and packed with fighting scenes. The trailer I saw to it also only contained fighting scenes. So I was going there with quite a bad feeling, thinking that I will be seing an action-only movie, with the weird/absurd and funny stuff Tarantino usually does.
And then the movie started. Really good and in a straight way, which immediately sucks you into the movie from the first second on.
Uma Thurman, playing the Black Mamba, is really no beauty - but she does her acting quite believable. Basically, the whole movie is about her Revenge to a group of Assassins, where she was a part of. They tried to kill her on her wedding day, with her being pregnant. They shot her in the head, but she survived and woke up from her coma 5 years later. And, as introduced by a klingon proverb: "Revenge is a dish best served cold".
The movie gets some definitive action just 5 minutes later, and we saw the first fight between Uma and Vivica Fox. The fighting itself was just as I expected a bit overdone, unrealistic and boring to me, so I thought: Damn, I was right. This movie is only about Matrix-like fighting and no characters what-so-ever.
But in Mid-Fight, the movie begins to reveal its true face and shows the characters in-depth. With only a few sentences, we get drawn into what each of the two girls is after, and what their emotions are. But I won't go into depth if that to not spoil your fun.
The movie goes on with not much action-fighting scenes, which I took notice of very happily. Of course, there is a lot of violence and gore. In about half of the settings where you see blood splattering, the violence is used to promote the feelings of the character and to support a dark atmosphere. But there also many occasions where I was really shocked by the cruelty and thought that this was a bit too much, actually.
There's a massive fighting scene, featured in the spoiler, which surely takes about 15 minutes. This is the one part I didn't like at all, because there was no sense in this extensive fighting. Everything worth for character expression could have been done in time-lapse, if only Tarantino wanted.
But apart from that, the movie's atmosphere is so tight, like no other movie I've seen in the past year. It's really comparable to Pulp Fuction: It keeps you watching and urgently needing to see how it's going on, you are feeling with the actors and can understand their motivation. Even of the bad guys, Tarantino depictures so well. There are some flashbacks in the movie, which refreshes your memory of pulp fuction and associate the two movies with one another. But it's not as nicely done as in pulp fiction, so don't expect that to be alike.
And the soundtrack of that movie really kicks ass, you feel yourself moving in your chair all the way!
The movie is like old Kung-Fu movies in very different ways: The basic setting, the fighting style, the sound effects, the actors. And the basic storyline of revenge and a samurai.
And, man, what did I hate the cliffhanger-ending! Tarantino, why are you doing this to us? The 2 hours of the movie went by so quickly, I would have spent another 2 hours watching the movie get to its end. And now I have to wait until February 2004, that ain't fair.
In short: Even though you might think, there are too much fighting scenes, you won't get disappointed. There's not that much fighting in it, anyways. If you expect good acting, a dramaturgic storyline and something to FEEL with - go see the movie. If you can live with huge globs of blood without beeing too much disgusted, go see the movie. If you don't like Kung-Fu movies and can't even laugh about it, don't see the movie.
It's hard for me to rate the movie without having to see it as a whole. But as I wasn't offended by those many Japan/Anime/Kung Fu-Elements and could take the gore, there were only single elements I disliked. Because of some overdone splatter FX and too intense fighting and the missing satisfaction in the end, I rate it 8 Points. Mostly because of the great atmosphere, the movie contains.