Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Uma Thurman is The Bride, an ex-assassin, gunned
down on her wedding day by her former associates,
members of The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, of
which she was part of. She is shot by their leader, Bill,
and left for dead, but instead sinks into a coma only to awake 4 years later. She swears to kill the people that did this to her and sets off on a "roaring rampage of revenge".
The plot, as simple as it is, supports what is, essentially a complex film. It is about revenge, and as Sonny Chiba's character Hattori Hanzo states "revenge is never a straight line. It's a forest. And like a forest it's easy to lose your way... to get lost... to forget where you came in" and this is played upon to great effect by taking the film out of chronological order, which works well and progresses the story even if the events you are witnessing do not happen one after the other. The film ends just as one vital piece of shocking information is revealed, and as this is only the first part of a two part story things are, naturally, left unkown, but rest assured, they will be revealed when the time comes. For now we are fed the backstory of O-Ren Ishii which is told in a beautiful anime segment, also directed by Tarantino, during which we see O-Ren growing up to become the ruthless killer she is today, and we understand why, it's not just a case of accepting it at face value, we witness the brutal deaths of her mother and father and we can see how this effects her.
O-Ren, at least in Volume 1, is the lead villian in a way, the whole movie is playing up to the fight between her and The Bride, and when we finally reach the climactic battle the tension is unbearable. Lucy Liu does a great job as O-Ren, possibly some of her finest work, but the real star here is The Bride. Uma Thurman is sensational, the things she does in this film, the emotions she has to go through, all conveyed to such a high degree, we see her joy, her sadness, her anger, her bloodlust and we are completely mesmerized by her presence. As Micheal Madsen's character Budd says, in his only line in this film, "that woman deserves her revenge", and being what the film is about there has to be a reason, and though we may not know the full story, what we do know is that Uma sells the emotion, she makes it real and we are able to follow her and root for her throughout the film. When the vengence theme plays we cheer her on as she pummels those who wronged her.
Speaking of music, the soundtrack is possibly the best I have heard since Pulp Fiction. Tarantino decides to use Nancy Sinatra's Bang Bang following the hit on The Bride and it makes perfect sense, the battle at the House of Blue Leaves is just track upon track of great music and is wonderful to watch. That whole scene in fact is ultimately the best part of the film, showcasing Tarantino's directorial skills, proving that he can do action, and without resorting to CGI. The choreography is so impressive you will be stunned, the fight between The Bride and Go Go Yubari is too good to describe and the orgy of death that follows is truly spectacular. The violence itself is usually comical, it's completely over the top and used to hilarious effect, especially during this scene, with heads and limbs flying all over the place and geysers of blood flowing free and painting the room red. When it's all over Thurman delivers one of the many great lines of the film: "those of you lucky enough to have your lives, take them with you! however, leave the limbs you've lost. They belong to me now".
The dialogue in general is superb, though sparse at times, but in the end actions speak louder than words and that is what this film is about. The violence is almost like another character in the film, with the blood literally bursting from victims, when O-Ren gets revenge on her father's muderer the spray of claret conveys her satisfaction and fulfilment during the act, there is nothing subtle about it.
There are many great visual gags too, but these are slightly more subtle, notice how The Bride is not the only one who carries her samurai sword on board a plane, but these types of jokes never reach the point where it becomes a spoof, instead they are just part of the world of Kill Bill.Tarantino has created his own universe here, where the laws of society and physics do not apply, and these kinds of allowances are vital to support the story. Admittedly though, a lot of explanation and plot development is left for Vol. 2, and even characters such as Daryl Hannah's Elle Driver and David Carradine's Bill only make brief appearances here.
Still, this film has a lot going for it, great direction, amazing action, wonderful acting, larger than life characters, beautiful backdrops, cinematography, dialogue, pacing, everything has been achieved to such a high degree, but in the end this film has been made for a certain audience, naturally Tarantino fans and fans of samurai movies and grindhouse pictures will enjoy this more than the average film goer. What I can say is that Kill Bill is the most fun I have had in the cinema in a long time, and I urge everyone to go and see it, you will enjoy it as long as you know what you're going in to. This film delivers pure unadulterated fun in the most stylish way possible without resorting to cheap computer trickery, Tarantino does it the old fashioned way and better than anyone else, it's a big "fuck you" to most modern Hollywood action films and filmmakers, and will no doubt become a classic in its genre.
Rating- 9/10
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