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[FiggyCal]

I think it was intentionally goofy. If we take the Fox Force Five thing seriously, then the whole premise of Kill Bill is that it's this failed show (in at least Pulp Fiction's universe) that somehow got made into a movie. So the dialogue being weird and immature at times is in line with what the movie is supposed to be.

Where it doesn't make sense is in movies like Resevoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, where we're supposed to take constant use of the n-word as "just how people talk... it's totally normal".

 

[Vault Dweller 111]

It's good but Basterds, Django, Fiction, and Dogs are better.

 

[VAD]

The first QT movie I ever saw. A true masterpiece.

 

[Blader]

Tarantino's magnum opus. Never gets old for me.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

My personal favourite QT film/s.

I also love this deleted scene with Michael Jai White, Although I understand why It never made the cut.

 

[schwabdizzle]

It's a near perfect film. I feel Tarantino experimented more in this film and took more risk than his other entries. If I was really going to nit pick it, I would say it doesn't have the acting talent a lot of his other films have.

 

[Monocle]

I can see it being a favourite but his best? As a film? Nah. Too messy, unfocused and with less depth and thematic content than his better works.

Style but no substance which comes below Style and Substance in the medium (and he’s delivered both elsewhere).

The style is awesome though.

This is a common criticism that sounds valid but usually falls apart at a second glance. In any work beyond strictly amateurish film student level, style and substance are reciprocal.

Style makes statements about the film's world. (In Kill Bill's case, the whole story is framed as a theatrical tale of revenge in the tradition of Lady Snowblood and other films.) Style sets context, giving viewers important cues for how to interpret the substance. There's no sharp demarcation between style and substance anyway. All of Tarantino's dialogue has a distinct performative quality that evokes his references and keys into whichever theatrical mode he's choosing to work in.

It's just plain shortsighted to dismiss Kill Bill as style over substance when both volumes are very purposefully cycling through a succession of distinct styles that can usually be traced back to an individual film, director, or subgenre. Style is kind of the point. And these homages aren't lazy either. Each element is selected and placed with consummate skill, often in incongruous combinations that somehow work.

There's really no better curator/mixmaster of film history than Quentin Tarantino. His oevre is mightily impressive. Kill Bill, perhaps more than any of his other movies besides Pulp Fiction, highlights his unique strengths as a director.

It's good but Basterds, Django, Fiction, and Dogs are better.

The only remotely competitive choice here is Pulp Fiction.

 

[Currygan]

worst Tarantino movie. Jackie Brown still on top

 

[RecRoulette]

Damn, I was thinking about watching it this week too. Kill Bill is my favorite movie of all time. Still waiting for The Whole Bloody Affair

Still waiting for The Whole Bloody Affair, Quentin.

My man.

 

[Monocle]

worst Tarantino movie. Jackie Brown still on top

Nah.

 

[Rockandrollclown]

Its good, but not Tarantino's best. I'd put Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Basterds, and Reservoir Dogs all ahead of it. Still a great movie though.

 

[creatchee]

Vol 2 is the true masterpiece.

The Superman Monologue is my favorite thing Tarantino has ever written, and Carradine fucking nails it.

 

[Spwn]

Kill Bill films always felt a bit too all over the place for my taste and a bit too much weird references that the viewer is expected to appreciate. They're ok, but nowhere near my list of favourites. Especially pt2 is something I never enjoyed.

Pulp Fiction, Basterds, Jackie Brown, Django, Reservoir Dogs... They're all better films. Hateful 8 I might but below Kill Bill films.

 

[Master Yoshi]

Probably my favorite films. I enjoy them every rewatch, just as much as the last.

 

[DeathyBoy]

Kill Bill is weird for me. It has some scenes that stick with me and others that just... don't. Like, the whole showdown with Bill in Vol. 2 is awesome, but I literally can't remember what happens before that. Like... she fights the lady in a trailer? I think? I vaguely remember that.

It's too inconsistent for me to really love it, but I can understand why someone would.

Sleeping on Michael Parks as Esteban?

 

[Gorillaz]

Not gonna lie - it's tougher to watch Weinstein produced movies now.

Weinstein dont have creative control over QT movies like that thst should be obvious

 

[Ricky_R]

My fav is Inglorious Basterds, but Kill Bill is fucking great.

 

[Lord British]

Really disliked these films close to release, but revisited them in recent years and found a lot to like. Cracking romp.

 

[br3wnor]

Really is a brilliant movie. It came out shortly after I saw Pulp Fiction for the first time so it was the first Tarantino film I saw in theaters, and as a nerdy ass high school kid, the movie was immensely satisfying. It still holds up on repeat viewings and overall I think is more re-watchable than Pulp Fiction (by a hair, and if you condense Pulp Fiction down a half hour, it’s still my favorite) and it is amazing how much genre mashing he does.

I’ve seen Volume 1 MANY more times than Volume 2, so I’m biased, but this is my favorite scene of the whole damn thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkJ2bZGuiaI

Best use of music IMO of QT’s entire catalogue. I’ve rewatched this specific scene at least 100 times.

My personal QT list is:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Kill Bill
3. Django
4. Basterds (This is honestly down 2 spots if not for Christopher Waltz, he’s such a huge part of the enjoyment of the movie for me)
5. Hateful Eight
6. Reservoir Dogs
7. Jackie Brown

Granted I’ve only seen Jackie Brown once and it’s been almost 15 years, so that could move on the list whenever I decide to watch it again.

I know he’s said there’s only 1 or 2 movies left in him, but I hope he never stops. No one makes movies like him and he’s a Director who I see in theaters opening weekend no matter what.

 

[SuperEpicMan]

Sleeping on Michael Parks as Esteban?

He's awesome. I loved his delivery in this line lol

 

[FTF]

Still waiting for The Whole Bloody Affair, Quentin.

This!

 

[BlackBanditSho]

worst Tarantino movie. Jackie Brown still on top

Absolutely. QT was at the peak of his game with Jackie Brown.

Fave = Jackie Brown
Least Fave = Django

 

[Currygan]

Nah.

You're right, I forgot about Basterds. Basterds best Tarantino movie along with Jackie

 

[theinternetman]

worst Tarantino movie. Jackie Brown still on top

Your first sentence might be right (imo IB is the worst), but your second is definitely right.

I think if Jackie Brown is your favorite Tarantino movie, you just don't like Tarantino.

 

[Currygan]

Your first sentence might be right (imo IB is the worst), but your second is definitely right.

I think if Jackie Brown is your favorite Tarantino movie, you just don't like Tarantino.

Tarantino is many styles and many things. Jackie is as much his style as PF

 

[jett]

Kill Bill is also my Tarantonto fave.

It's a work of pure, unbridled genius. Both volumes work better together.

 

[Romars202129]

Kill Bill feels so overdone imo. It was an ok watch but both films are near the bottom for me.
Jackie Brown is the opposite, too dry, not stylized enough.

 

[DeathyBoy]

Kill Bill feels so overdone imo. It was an ok watch but both films are near the bottom for me.
Jackie Brown is the opposite, too dry, not stylized enough.

I really think Kill Bill is the first time he really made a film where you needed a knowledge of other films to dig it. Unless you're versed in westerns and Kung fu films, or doesn't work as intended. Because it's literally a love letter to both.

That and the way it slowly morphs from revenge is cool to it ultimately being empty is some of QT's best writing. Like The Bride does the same thing to someone else without giving any fucks.

 

[BorkBork]

2 > 1 for me.

 

[yepyepyep]

I think it is his greatest as well. I don't think Tarantino is director with something to say or has any intellectual depth so I find it odd when people have hang ups on the more outrageous and genre nature of Kill Bill. He is a genre filmmaker who is pretty good at what he does, none of his films are really about anything or serious examinations of the human condition, and I think he sort of admits that anyway in interviews.

I also find it questionable when people complain that there is too many homages in the film which makes it derivative. He sometimes describes himself like a DJ or beat maker who samples existing work to make something new which is a pretty apt comparison. You can do really lazy sampling where you just ride off the back of an existing song or you can be like the Avalanches and sample a gazillion things to make something new. His film making in Kill Bill reminds me of the latter. Yes, you can see direct references to previous films, but if you watch those films they feel different than watching Kill Bill.

Kill Bill is a weird mix of Shaw Brothers, Samurai films, Anime, Pulpy Westerns, Brian Depalma visuals and other exploitation cinema. The soundtrack is all over the place (in a good way) and has become iconic, although I hate how he uses that disco version of Don't Let Me Be Understood during the Oren-Ishi snow garden showdown, should have done it entirely without music. In my opinion it feels like his most idiosyncratic and unique film despite being indebted to cinemas past.

 

[ZiggyPalffyLA]

Still waiting for The Whole Bloody Affair, Quentin.

I got to see it at the New Beverly (the theater he owns in LA). It was fantastic.

 

[jacobs34]

My personal list:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Jackie Brown
3. Inglorious Basterds
4. Kill Bill
(You can flip these two depending on the day)
5. Reservoir Dogs
8. Django
7. Hateful Eight

For me Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown are the movies I revisit the most, I would say probably once a year or so. There's something that feels so fresh about these movies still, in the way the characters talk to one another and how each scene is a delight. I think Jackie Brown get's extra credit for being Robert DeNiro's last great role, and I do mean great. I'm not sure cinema gets much better than the opening car scene in Pulp Fiction, I'm not using hyperbole when I say that watching Pulp Fiction for the first time completely changed the way I looked at film, and other mediums within pop culture.

Of course it's easy to blame early Tarantino films, even dating back to True Romance, for all of the awful knock offs that would follow, kind of like the scourge of late-90's rock following Nirvana, but there is still something that feels so alive in Tarantino's early work. You can still feel his exuberance in those films. I felt so lucky to grow up watching early Tarantino, Anderson, and Coen films, and no matter how great their later work has become I still enjoy the early stuff the most.

 

[Romars202129]

I really think Kill Bill is the first time he really made a film where you needed a knowledge of other films to dig it. Unless you're versed in westerns and Kung fu films, or doesn't work as intended. Because it's literally a love letter to both.

That and the way it slowly morphs from revenge is cool to it ultimately being empty is some of QT's best writing. Like The Bride does the same thing to someone else without giving any fucks.

I do have that knowledge, tho.
I get the references. Problem is its a complete overload of elements. Kill Bill feels like a parody of those films more than a loveletter because of it.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

No Lies detected.

Tarantino's magnum opus.

 

[sanstesy]

The Kill Bill movies are his worst movies bar none. Exceptionally forgettable. If this or Vol. 2 were my first introduction to Tarantino I probably would have completely dismissed his catalogue but fortunately these are outliers.

 

[daveo42]

His homage work in the Kill Bill films were fantastic. Some of his best work tbh. But...Jackie Brown is QT's best film, OP. Maybe you'll understand that when you're older.

 

[Aiustis]

Kill Bill was my favorite as a kid.

But as I got older it's definitely Jackie Brown.

Edit:

His homage work in the Kill Bill films were fantastic. Some of his best work tbh. But...Jackie Brown is QT's best film, OP. Maybe you'll understand that when you're older.

LOL

 

[blackflag]

opinions are opinions but id have to say Jackie Brown and Inglorious Basterds are his best films.

i think all of them are great except for Hateful 8. that one was kind of a letdown but still not entirely bad.

 

[black_13]

Absolutely agree! Kill Bill is a masterpiece to me. I love everything about it. The music, the over the top action and violence, the characters, the story and I can go on and on.

 

[Phinor]

As much as I like Jackie Brown, and that opening scene/credit sequence is perfection, Kill Bill is my favourite of his. Vol. 1 is more style over substance but every once in a while everything just clicks in a movie and that style completely takes over, from music to action to anything else, it just becomes way more than the sum of its parts.

I might be a fan though because even Death Proof is four star fun for me.

 

[itwasTuesday]

Bill: Pai Mei taught you the five point palm-exploding heart technique?
The Bride: Of course he did.
Bill: Why didn't you tell me?
The Bride: I don't know... because I'm a bad person.
Bill: No. You're not a bad person. You're a terrific person. You're my favorite person

It has one of my favorite exchanges in movies.

 

[TAJ]

Vol 1 is Tarantino at his most ordinary. Vol 2 is really something special, though.

 

[DrSlek]

I hate Kill Bill more than I can possibly describe.

 

[Einchy]

Agreed.

Kill Bill is a perfect movie, every second is perfectly directed and edited.

[edit]

I really hated part 2 when I first watched it but I think it was all due to my expectations. I went into it thinking I was gonna get another Samurai film and what I got was a Western with a Kung-fu section, the kung-fu section was cool, but I hated everything else. A few years later I caught the movie randonly on TV and was completely blown away by how much better it was now that I didn't go in with any expectations of what I thought the movie was going to be.

 

[not psycho]

The more time goes by the more I agree with this. I was frustrated having to wait for part two, but as a whole it's his best and most powerful, stylish work.

 

[Leatherface]

OP I can’t believe how absolutely correct you are. Not only is it Tarantino’s best movie but also one of my favorite movies of all time, period. 🤘

 

[Einchy]

Yo, the soundtrack is amazing as well. I've listened to vol 1/2's a million times. Tarantino is great at picking and implementing songs.

 

[Hesh]

Saw Kill Bill Vol. 1 in the theater, really enjoyed it but never watched it a second time. Never saw Vol. 2. Still waiting so many years later for that "Whole Bloody Affair" edition to be released so I can finally finish the story.

 

[Einchy]

Saw Kill Bill Vol. 1 in the theater, really enjoyed it but never watched it a second time. Never saw Vol. 2. Still waiting so many years later for that "Whole Bloody Affair" edition to be released so I can finally finish the story.

You'll probably never see volume 2 if you're waiting for that to get released. I'd suggest just watching volume 1 and then putting volume 2 right afterwards, there's not many changes and the biggest change isn't actually that impactful since you've already seen volume 1.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

May give you that it is his best directed, but it is not better written than Django, Pulp Fiction, or Basterds. Those are some of the best written american movies ever.