I may have said in the past that I’m not one for bold statements, but I’m certainly about to make one: Quentin Tarantino has outdone himself.

With “Kill Bill,” the most inventive, visually striking American film in years, Tarantino has crafted a movie that kills the notion that filmmaking can’t break any new ground, that everything has been done and, most importantly, that an action movie can’t be made without the reliance of special effects.

Tarantino has created the best film of his career with this brilliant, solidly entertaining revenge flick. Where “Pulp Fiction” succeeded with its distinctly original script, “Kill Bill” dazzles with its admirable technical achievements.

Uma Thurman stars as The Bride, a female assassin who is attacked on her wedding day by her former partners, the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad.

After awaking from a coma four years later, she wages vengeance on Bill, played by David Carradine, and the four others who left her for dead: O-Ren Ishii, code name Cottonmouth (Lucy Liu), Elle Driver, code name California Mountain Snake (Daryl Hannah), Budd, code name Sidewinder (Michael Madsen) and Vernita Green, code name Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox) — are these not the coolest names ever?

Tarantino again borrows from genres of all kinds, including American, Italian and Japanese cinema. Progressing like chapters in a book, Tarantino dons motifs, camera movements, musical accompaniment and other styles from great masters of cinema. He applies it with great skill and vigor, keeping even the dorkiest of all movie geeks on edge.

Yet “Kill Bill” is alive on screen with a fire all its own. It succeeds in its own merit, which is all the more impressive considering we’ve only been served half of the final product.

“Kill Bill” utilizes the musical and imagery allusions of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns and taps Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s creative flare during the film’s climactic battle sequence. Even more noteworthy are the implementations of contemporary American techniques (choppy editing, slow motion) that Tarantino somehow exploits — and manages to make work — in the film’s final showdown between O-Ren Ishii and The Bride.

Aside from its director, “Kill Bill” belongs to the electrifying Thurman.

Tarantino’s affection for Thurman is quite apparent, with her smoldering in a role both daring and romantic in scope. Just like the character of Mia Wallace in “Pulp Fiction,” Tarantino provides his audience a reason to fall under Thurman’s spell. Even in the face of danger, it’s amazing how in control, charming and commanding she is in this role.

Those skeptical of the film’s gruesome violence should take comfort in knowing that if they’ve seen the play performed by Wednesday and Pugsley Addams in “The Addams Family,” they’ve seen the extent of the blood-spraying-everywhere cartoonish violence of “Kill Bill.”

What makes “Kill Bill” such a great film is its existence in a world of its own. It exists in a place only someone like Tarantino could create, full of rich characters, unforgettable images and a sense of humor so dark and twisted it’s almost as if Tarantino is mocking his own creation.

“Kill Bill” is nothing short of an American classic.