What happens when a high energy, heavily celebrated movie fan/film maker with only three features under his directing belt takes six years off? In the case of Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill happens. In a huge, bloodsoaked, ball of kinetic fury, this hilarious and quite often brutal homage to many of the pictures Tarantino watched as a kid in the 70's, emerges as the true definition of grand scale popcorn entertainment.

Uma Thurman stars as a trained killer who decides it's time to hang up the weapons. This proves to be more than difficult, for most employees in her profession don't simply get to quit their job. Without much of a warning, her boss Bill (played by David Carradine) dispatches some of his toughest crew members to dispose of this once faithful employee. The crew make one fatal mistake; They don't finish the job. For four long years, Thurman lies in a coma until she finally awakens with one thing on her mind; REVENGE! This sets the entire story in motion as Thurman sets out to take her vengeance out on those who left her for dead.

Where to start? Kill Bill is incredibly ambitious and like other Tarnatino films, it creatively finds ways to make the familiar, appear fresh and exciting. This action epic makes obvious winks at the likes of Game of Death and Enter the Dragon, but Tarantino is hardly interested in stopping there. This extraordinary talent is like a sponge and through the years, he's absorbed information and imagery from hundreds of movies, and I'm sure that there are several films he's seen that many of us have never even heard of. Kill Bill inventively pays homage to Bruce Lee, Brian DePalma, Sonny Chiba (who appears in this film), nearly every cheesy kung-fu flick you can think of and countless others. He also pays homage to himself (there are gags that are lifted from his own films). He even brings in a character from From Dusk Til Dawn which I got a huge kick out of. Of course, in the end, Tarantino makes this movie his own. Like many other innovative film makers (think Martin Scorsese, David Mamet and even the overrated Paul Thomas Anderson), Tarantino's movies have a distinct tone and rhythm that make them vintage Quentin, and certainly, Kill Bill is no exception.

Pulp Fiction is one of my all time favorite movies and Reservoir Dogs remains one of the great freshman efforts by a young film maker. Jackie Brown showed a different side of Tarantino. It showed his ability to achieve understatement, and proved that he was very much capable of telling a story without shock tactics (save for that fantastic DeNiro/Fonda confrontation in a mall parking lot). Not that I have a problem with shock tactics mind you. Tarantino's use of violence in movies is poetic, and in most cases, quite funny, and this was never more apparent than it is in Kill Bill.

Kill Bill represents something much simpler but no less grand from the hyper film maker. Yes, this movie is clearly a case of style over substance. It is flashy to say the least, but who cares? This is kinetic, ass kicking film making at it's very best. The action sequences are breathtaking, the look of the picture is absolutely gorgeous (particularly the scene in which Thurman does battle with Lucy Liu while snow lightly falls in the backdrop), and the pacing is break neck. There are also buckets upon buckets of blood in this picture. Flying limbs, decapitations and spraying blood. It's all there and by the gallon, but most of the gore is done in a cartoonish fashion. Keep in mind the movies that Tarantino is winking at.

Kill Bill is dripping with moments I won't soon forget including an absolutely breathtaking sequence in which Thurman does battle with 88 sword wielding assassins. Tarantino never cheats the audience. We see this entire fight first hand, and while we feel we're witnessing the impossible, Tarantino ultimately makes us believe. This is girl power as you've never seen it. Then Quentin does something that I will never forget. Right in the midst of the bloodshed, he goes from color to black and white, a deliberate and deserving slap in the face to the MPAA that not only works as a great inside joke, but adds to the visual splendor of this wildly creative movie.There are many other visual assaults including a spellbinding Japanimation sequence that deftly gives insight into the background of O-Ren Ishi (Lucy Liu). This is really amazing stuff. And we're only half way through. Yes, Volume 1 ends with a cliffhanger and it's a doozy.

I've gotten so carried away with the look of the picture that I haven't even mentioned the performances. Tarantino wrote the lead for Thurman and even put the picture on hold while the actress had a child. Thurman trained hard for this part and it shows. And while you wouldn't guess it from the previews, she's also quite dramatic. The moment in which she awakens from her coma is truly devastating. Lucy Liu has great fun and delivers her dialogue in a perfectly deadpan fashion. Also showing up for the proceedings is legendary martial arts star Sonny Chiba. In a switch, this charismatic action star plays the man with words of wisdom. David Carradine also appears as title star Bill, but in Volume 1, we only hear his voice.

So is there anything I didn't like about Kill Bill? In all honesty, I do miss the playfull dialogue that oozes from Tarantino's other films. This movie does have some colorful moments, but for the most part, it's all about visual splendor. I also wanted a more creative plot structure. Kill Bill does double back once in while (something that really took Pulp Fiction to another level), but it's fairly straight forward in it's storytelling technique. It could also be argued that these characters lack the depth of past Tarantino creaqtions, most notably Jackie Brown (which was based on Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch). As I stated earlier, Kill Bill is extremely simplistic. It is a movie about revenge and nothing more, but this is hardly a knock towards the picture.

Kill Bill does what so many other popcorn movies as of late fail to do. It exhilarates. This movie is exciting from beginning to end and there isn't a moment where it feels as if Tarantino isn't in control. This makes four in a row for Quentin, and while Kill Bill isn't as deep as his other films, it's still a grand scale entertainment from a wonderfully innovative director who obviously sleeps, eats and drinks movies. Bring on Volume 2.