Tarantino - the indie kid's favourite - shamelessly ransacks the martial arts movies of his mis-spent youth to deliver a riveting spin on the genre.

Gone is the snappy, popular culture-obsessed dialogue that distinguished his breakthrough movies Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

Taking his cue from the samurai soaps and yakuza classics of Asian cinema coupled to the spaghetti western, he's refined his trademark violence into an art form.

There's balletic bloodbaths, cartoon gouts of blood spurting from headless shoulders and minutely choreographed set pieces that resemble Smithfield on speed.

Regular Tarantino collaborator Uma Thurman is The Bride, the victim of an attack by her former accomplices which leaves her and her unborn child for dead in an altar slaughter.

After four years in a coma, she embarks on a gorily meticulous quest for justice (she's happy to wait a month for a top-notch samurai sword) and - most of all - the head of Bill (Carradine).

He's the leader of The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DiVAS), a cadre of accomplished killers each named after a poisonous snake.

The first duplicitous serpent to feel The Bride's steel is Copperhead (Vivica A Fox), who is slain in front of her four-year-old daughter among the cornflakes in her kitchen.

Next in line is Cottonmouth aka O-Ren-Ishii (Liu), the queen of Tokyo's underworld... but The Bride's got to get to her first.

Rather than cherrypick the choicest ideas from old 70s kung fu movies, Tarantino seems to have ramraided the entire genre for inspiration.

The whole premise rises or falls on Tarantino's arrogant flair... and it's to his credit that he carries off the total, bloody shebang with such cut-throat panache.

Everytime the action threatens to overwhelm, Tarantino pulls back with some nifty device such as switching to Japanese anime or reverting to monochrome from colour.

Highlights include O-Ren-Ishii's bodyguard - a lethal kilted Japanese schoolgirl who packs a mean ball and chain - and a sublime duel-to-the-death that appears to take place in a Christmas snow-shaker.

A triumph of the magpie's art, it's fast-paced, supremely watchable and boasts a set piece fight sequence in a Tokyo restaurant-come-abattoir that makes The Matrix look like Tom & Jerry.

Tarantino's fourth - and possibly best effort yet - this is a kung fu movie for people who don't like kung fu movies. Part Two can't come soon enough.

Tim Evans