a review of 杀死比尔整个血腥事件

I've been thinking about this Whole Bloody Affair for a couple of days now wishing that Letterboxd did quarter points, because I think where I'm really at is a strong 3.75. It's been well over a decade since I've seen each volume of Kill Bill in their original forms, but I think there are aspects to them that I prefer over this one:

• I think that I prefer the black & white Crazy 88 fight. I think how it went into and out of b&w was done smartly and I think it was more effective to see it in that fashion.
• I know that I prefer the original O-Ren Ishii anime sequence. Adding the extra crap to it lessened my enjoyment of it; it was unnecessary.
• ...and maybe more(?)(!). Also, I think there was a time when I thought the dialogue in these films was perfectly fine (if not kinda fun), but there were moments I only had a vague recollection of and thinking "this is kinda bad". Yet on the other hand, I still found a lot of it enjoyable, and much of the action is well done (ripped off? homage? pastiche? does it matter?)! These days, it also takes a lot of effort for me to separate Tarantino as a person from anything that he does or has done, so it was nice to rediscover that he's not in this at all in any capacity, not even as a superfluous narrator to recap the first half of the movie coming out of the intermission (which was also rather bland! no countdown? no vintage animated concessions walking around to scratchy 70s soul music? would digging out even more Morricone have been just too showy for his sensibilities?). If this was a dozen years ago, I probably would give both individual volumes 4 stars each. I can't say what I would give each of them now, and as much as I feel 3.75 here, I can't. And regardless of everything I just said, I did have a good time at the theatre with my good friend Jesse, so I guess I'll just round up...and for old time's sake.