CAUTION - SOME SPOILERS
Just saw this last night with a bunch of friends and was amazed. The sound of this film was wonderful - pounding music giving way to enviro sounds during fights back into the crazy music, pure genius. The fight scenes were amazing - you have to have seen anime fight scenes to “get” why the long buildups on the characters before the blades clash is interesting.
I love how every chapter had a slightly different style to it - even the look of the film changed (at the very opening of the the knife fight scene) the film is very saturated with color it looks playful and happy with all the bright toys in the yard. The coma scenes are so washed out and depressing. And then the anime sequence was great, as O-Ren Ishii is a child the animation has a rough hand drawn panic like feel - as she gets older it becomes smoother, more controlled.
All the little things were so enjoyable, the Kaboom cereal was very funny!
Bloody, very. Strange, of course. Did I love it, you bet!
BTW to those who are saying that without the violence and profanity it would be a lost cause. Well to you I say:
LOTR - no struggle between good and evil, no ring = no movie.
Matrix - no struggle between good and evil, no Neo = no movie.
Mary Poppins - no Mary Poppins = no movie.
Anyway you get the idea if you take the central thing away from any book, movie, or game of course it won’t be the same!