Usually, I’m a big fan of self-indulgent art. In fact, I believe that all good art is by nature self-indulgent; without an at least somewhat selfish motive, we’d be left with impersonal, soulless pieces, void of passion or direction. No painter would create a portrait they wouldn’t find aesthetically pleasing; no novelist would write a story they wouldn’t want to read; no filmmaker would make a movie they wouldn’t want to watch. But Tarantino pushes it way, way, way too far.
Everything about this movie is just so, so boring. The costume design (minus the yellow drip) is bland, the performances (minus Uma Thurman in Immense Excruciating Traumatizing Pain) are bland, the chapter structure feels forced for the sake of coherence with his other films, the dialogue is ambitious (I guess) but the delivery is subpar, and the gore, the gore is SO BLAND. I hate the way Tarantino uses gore; there’s no build-up, no tension, no suspense, no emotion evoked. Just shock value, except it’s not very shocking when every. single. movie. he’s ever made uses the same shtick. It was cool in Pulp Fiction, satisfying in Inglorious Basterds. Here, it’s just boring.
I could not for the life of me empathize with the Bride. She has no moral high ground to stand on; sure, her husband was murdered, but she too is a murderer. Do the countless Japanese men and women she slaughtered not also have partners, mothers and fathers, children who love them, waiting for their return? Maybe if she had a motive with more appeal than “revenge”, or maybe if she had even a spit of personality, I would root for her. Good movies don’t fundamentally require likable characters, but when every other thing about this movie is unlikeable, I couldn’t bring myself to even try to care.
Don’t even get me started on Tarantino using the Bride killing her rapists as a way to sell her as a femme fatale while also continuing to support Weinstein after Uma Thurman herself confided in him.
This gets 1 star because the scene in the snow was pretty. Badly written female protagonist, plethora of foot fetish shots, AND subpar cinematography (in comparison to the GIGANTIC budget)??? Unforgivable sins. UNFORGIVABLE.
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