2003, R, 96 minutes

It’s been six years since Quentin Tarantino’s name appeared as “director” on a feature film, and if you’re a fan of his work, the wait has been maddening. You’ve been scrapping together little pieces of information here and there about what his next film would be about, who would be in it, what kind of music would he pick, and finally, would he really split the movie into two separate parts? Anything you could think up to preoccupy yourself while you waited for his next film you were game to try, as long as it would help pass the time until you were sitting in the theater and experiencing his latest vision on the big screen. Well, the time has come for the release of Kill Bill. Is it worth the wait? Does it meet the hype?

Tarantino’s fourth film not only meets the hype; It stabs it through the heart, and then chops off hype’s arm just for the over the top thrill it provides. Kill Bill is not so much a mere movie as it is a peek into the insane mind of its creator. It’s as if the audience is witness to Tarantino splitting his skull open and releasing his id to run wild across the screen.

Kill Bill centers on Uma Thurman’s character, The Bride, who is out to exact revenge upon her former colleagues that killed her entire wedding party and left her for dead at the alter, and all of whom are members of a gang called “The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad," which is led by the mysterious Bill.

The Bride lies in a coma for four years after the nearly fatal attack, and when she comes to she is single-minded in her determination to destroy the ones who tried to destroy her. It makes no difference to The Bride if the former members of the “Viper” squad have left the business to pursue a life of domestic bliss, or if they are the head of the Japanese Yakuza; she hacks her way through them all in hopes that it will lead to Bill.

Along the way there is the patented snappy dialogue that one comes to expect from Tarantino, and a lot of flashy camera moves and editing, but the real fun that is Kill Bill lies in the looseness in which the director handles the subject matter. Where his last film, Jackie Brown, showcased Tarantino’s ability to focus his strength as a storyteller and let the actors lead the film, Kill Bill throws restraint out the window. Kill Bill is set in a reality that is straight out of Tarantino’s own mind. It’s a world where samurai swords are as commonplace as cell phones (there are even sword holders on airplanes in Quentin’s warped world), and memories are recalled in japanimation. Visuals pop off the screen at you, specifically the action sequences, which are dazzling. People don’t just get hit by the Bride's blade and fall to the ground clutching their stomachs, they are sliced in half, beheaded, and mutilated in at least a dozen different ways, each one bringing a literal shower of blood raining down on the scene. And while it is quite graphic (so graphic in fact, the main fight sequence is in black and white because the scene in color would have garnered the film an NC-17 rating), you can’t help but burst out into laughter at many of the more gruesome scenes just because of the sheer absurdity of it all. Believe me, this is not a movie to take to seriously.

It doesn’t seem as if Uma Thurman is taking it too seriously from her portrayal of the blood spattered Bride, but that doesn’t mean that she isn't fantastic in the film. It must be a leap of faith being an actor in a Quentin Tarantino movie. In one scene you are trying to convey fear and panic upon waking from a four-year-long coma, and in the next you are trying to will your body out of the atrophy that said coma can cause while sitting in the backseat of a vehicle called “The Pussywagon." It sounds preposterous, but on the screen it is a great scene. And when Uma isn’t showing off every emotion in the actors’ playbook, she is striking beautiful poses while fighting off dozens of sword wielding bad guys.

The rest of the cast performs admirably, and that is saying something special if you’re in a Tarantino movie. The dialogue he has written for this movie is fast and sharp, and it could come off as sounding silly if you’re not completely, one-hundred-percent behind what is on the page, and all of the actors, from Viveca A. Fox to Daryl Hannah, have fun with their roles. Aside from Thurman, the other standout in Kill Bill is Lucy Liu, who plays O-Ren Ishi (a.k.a. Cottonmouth to the “Viper” gang), the leader of the baddest gang in Japan. She seems to be truly relishing her part in the film, and she is tougher than nails in her dealings with rival gang leaders as well as with The Bride.

Make no mistake; Kill Bill is not the masterpiece that Pulp Fiction is. It also doesn’t have the dramatic glue that held together Jackie Brown so nicely. It is at its heart nothing more than Tarantino’s homage to the Hong Kong action films that he grew up watching, but Kill Bill has a boldness in its style that hasn’t been seen in a long time, if ever, in mainstream American Cinema. That style will keep you from looking away from the screen while the film is running for fear that you will miss even a second of the eye candy that is presented. By its end you will be begging the movie Gods to speed up time till February 2004, when Kill Bill Vol. 2 is released.