KILL Bill Vol 1 is very Quentin Tarantino. It's very slick, it's very stylish, and technically, it's very well made.

It's also very self indulgent, very pretentious, and above all, very, very violent.

Indeed, Kill Bill contains the good, the bad and the ugly from a film-maker who simply won't allow himself to be ignored.

Six years on from his last film (Jackie Brown), Tarantino clearly wanted to return with a bang, to make audiences around the world sit up and take notice. This film will certainly make that happen whether they like what they see is another matter.

On the good side is Tarantino's cavalier narrative style. The director never tells a story straight he loves to chop and change the chronology of events; a dangerous technique which could leave an audience in a state of bafflement, but Tarantino somehow manages to pull it off, and to great effect.

The focus for Kill Bill Vol 1 is the quest for revenge for a character known as The Bride (Thurman), a one-time assassin working for an organisation called The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (aka The DiVAS), whose boss is Bill (Carradine) and whose members wiped out The Bride's wedding party in Texas.

The Bride herself, heavy with child, took a bullet in the head and was left for dead. But she survived, albeit in a coma for four years.

She does finally come to, with a steel plate in her head, without the baby she was expecting, and with vengeance very much on her mind.

Now, so far, so what? Revenge thrillers are ten a penny. But please bear in mind, these events do not take place in strict chronological order. If you think this might be annoying and make the film difficult to follow, you'd be wrong go with the Tarantino flow and you'll enjoy the ride.

The people she wants revenge on are the four DiVAS plus Bill, who of course, she wants to kill. In Volume 1 (oh yes, I ought to point out, Volume 2 will be released some time next year. This is where the self indulgence comes in why doesn't Tarantino show a bit of discipline and edit the film to fit two hours? How would you lot feel if I only wrote half of this review this week and added the other half next week?) The Bride deals with Vernita Green, aka Copperhead (Fox) in a scene that's quick and very much to the point.

The two women face off with knives in a cosy and comfy suburban dwelling, pausing when a school bus pulls up and Vernita's daughter walks in. And just when you think things have calmed down a bit . . .

The rest of this episode takes The Bride to China, to confront O'Ren-Ishii, aka Cottonmouth (Liu), an ice cold killer who has become a criminal mastermind in the Far East.

This proves to be quite a challenge for our heroine, as Cottonmouth is surrounded by a huge entourage and dozens of bodyguards. And all of them are pretty nifty with samurai swords.

It is this segment of the story that is the most innovative, the most bloodthirsty, and the most ludicrous.

Tarantino audaciously gives the background to O'Ren-Ishii's life story with an animated sequence that is every bit as violent as any of the live action stuff he lays before us.

Then we get down to the nitty gritty, with sword-wielding The Bride single-handedly taking on O'Ren-Ishii's foot soldiers. Severed limbs fly all over the shop and blood gushes like geysers in what is likely to be one of the most talked about movie setpieces for many a year.

There is so much to admire in Kill Bill Tarantino's unconventional storytelling style, his stunning visuals, the acting: Thurman is outstanding in the central role, and she is nearly upstaged by Liu, who gives a disturbingly convincing portrayal of an evil ice maiden.

There is also much to despise. Tarantino's films are about violence and there is no point in going to see Kill Bill if you find violence a turn off. But there comes a point in this film when the audience is numb to what takes place on screen, rather than sickened by it.

And the director's obsession with martial arts movies is, frankly, boring. Die hard fans may pick out the various references to obscure chop sockey flicks, but for the rest of us, they fly over our heads like an arm lopped off by a samurai sword.

But whatever your view, Volume 2 should be interesting.

Film writer Stephen Webb reviews KILL BILL VOLume 1

Starring: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A Fox, David Carradine

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Certificate: 18

Running time: 110 mins

Rating: 7 out of 10