I dunno, I think you are proceeding from a false premise. Impressive visuals are not always without substance. Lengthy monologues and tricky plot twists are not always substance. What makes a movie substantial? I think if it effects you emotionally, if you can come to care about the characters, you have substance, IMHO. A movie need not be about Ghandi or recall Goddard and the French New wave to be good.
Is a revenge picture enough to satisfy you, the movie-goer? Well, it sounds like maybe it isn’t. Some movies are not for everyone. But if you are a fan of Kung Fu movies, spaghetti westerns and revenge movies, I think you might want to give this movie a try.
I think it will be interesting to see if Tarantino can pull off this film without the crutch of his very recognizable dialogue.
It could be very shallow and the over-all premise of the film sort of sets it up to be shallow. It depends on how the characters are drawn. Will it merely be a conglomeration of all his genre favorites, or will it be better than the sum of its parts? I think it will transcend genre, I have faith in QT.
Even if it is merely a very good genre movie, that would still be pretty great in my book. I like movies like that. I don’t worry about critical reaction or look to films to fulfill something or make “statements”. It’s nice some times when they do have meaning, but it’s not always neccesary.
I think QT has seen that he can make very good, character and dialogue driven films and wants to challenge himself by making a movie that is more visually complicated. A film which relies more on the visuals to tell the story rather than a bunch of stylized talking.
It’s hard to say anything without having seen it first, though.
I didn’t mean to start a Michael Bay war. 
I never even really compared the two films, I was just making a joke.
Master Kill Bill mentioned that the script was an earlier draft, which is true. That could possibly have something to do with my fears. I wasn’t really impressed with too many of the characters. I could be just basing my fears on an early draft of the script, which isn’t really a good thing. I dunno, maybe I need to read it again. I’m sure the shooting draft (which even that changed as the shoot went along) was much better.
I don’t seem to be alone, though. A few people I know that are hardcore Tarantino fans and major movie buffs who have read the script, seen the trailers and the pictures, read set reports and just are not impressed. One friend of mine is hoping this doesn’t turn out to be another Heaven’s Gate. [For any of you not familiar with that film, it’s a case of a director being given way too much freedom. Its budget and shooting schedule ballooned way out of control (something that happened with KB) and the movie ultimately suffered from it.] I’m not saying that will happen, I’m sure Tarantino can handle the freedom.
Anyway, I’m hoping this film will kick ass, and will be one of many that I’m looking forward to in the coming months.