After Jackie Brown, Tarantino took a long break (six years), but when he returned, he did so with a vengeance. If you’re going to compare a Tarantino movie, you compare it to every other movie ever made that wasn’t made by Quintin Tarantino. By that standard, the two-part Kill Bill saga stands among the finest pieces of cinematic art of the century so far. Here, Tarantino does what he does best – lifting fragments from forgotten genre and exploitation cinema and fusing them into something wholly original – better than ever before. It’s a double-edged sword in many ways: a bold blend of Eastern and Western influences, effortlessly shifting between comic-book ultraviolence and moments of genuine emotional weight. This tonal balance works largely thanks to Uma Thurman’s superb central performance as The Bride, which anchors the madness with real feeling. The story itself is simple, yet utterly captivating. The characters are fascinating and endlessly quotable. The style is unmistakable and unmatched. Volume 1 plays like the ultimate samurai/yakuza/action movie of your childhood – the one you could watch endlessly – only somehow even better. Volume 2, by contrast, leans into the rhythms of a spaghetti western, offering more of Tarantino’s signature dialogue and a terrific performance by David Carradine, who reimagines his Kung Fu character Kwai Chang Caine as a pop culture loving and psychopathic mentor. Structured in ten chapters and told out of chronological order, Kill Bill unfolds as a true epic, packed with all of Tarantino’s hallmarks: razor-sharp humor, wax-museum characters, stylized violence, brilliant music choices, and a Pussy Wagon–load of pop culture references. The only Double Bill I actually experienced in theaters – back when Volume 2 was released in 2004 – and one I’ll never forget. Whenever The Whole Bloody Affair finally arrives in European theaters, I will be there for sure.