Kill Bill Vol. 1
Certified
K-Billy Top 20 Film
The Plot:
Uma Thurman is going to KILL BILL, in Quentin Tarantino's latest film about a former assassin betrayed by her boss, Bill (David Carradine). Four years after surviving a bullet in the head, the bride (Thurman) emerges from a coma and swears revenge on her former master and his deadly squad of international assassins, played by Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox and Michael Madsen. (From Yahoo Movies)
My Thoughts: (Reviewed by K-Billy)
This is the first volume of Kill Bill, which was split into two parts for
financial reasons. It chronicles the tale of the bride (Uma Thurman), left
for dead, surrounded by her murdered loved ones at her wedding. Once part
of an assasination squad she is betrayed by her former colleagues and her
mentor Bill, because she tries to leave the life and start anew. Upon awakening
from a dark coma years later, her mind is hellbent on revenge against the
friends who turned on her and the man who ordered them to strike. In Volume
One we see the bride take on two of her former colleagues, O-Ren Ishi (Lucy
Liu) and Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox).
This is the fourth film by writer/director Quentin Tarantino. The hype surrounding this man and his movies since the release of his first major success Reservoir Dogs is unequaled. Luckily for Tarantino he lives up to that hype and goes beyond. His second film Pulp Fiction is one of the most well directed, smartly written, genius films that has ever graced the silver screen. After another success with Jackie Brown, Quentin is back again with his new film split into two parts, Kill Bill. Once again the hype is larger then life itself…and once again Tarantino delivers. This is such a well made film that it’s unbelievable to think of the accomplishments this man has made in his relatively short career. Not only directing his films, to write them also is such a rare talent, that Tarantino is in a league of his own as far as current filmakers go. Kill Bill is a tribute to the old spaghetti westerns, yet at the same time a throwback to martial arts films of the 60s and 70s, and comes off with a revenge story that does so much with so little. The beauty of the film is that it’s a simplistic revenge movie, it has a bare bones plot. In fact the first installment really doesn’t give away or explain much of the backstory of the main character, the bride. Or her former mentor Bill who ordered her life to be ended. However it doesn’t have to. For Vol. 1 is much more about style and paying homage to older forms of cinema that it works on many levels that do not require it to go into all the backstories. Leave that for the second film. So what we are left with is quite a stunning achievement in action/martial arts filmmaking. A movie that like so many of Tarantino’s others has a wit as sharp as the samurai swords swinging throughout it.
The Bride is a much more interesting character then any male lead would’ve been. Her name bleeped out whenever uttered just for the sake of keeping her identity a bit of a mystery. Uma Thurman seems to be Tarantino’s “golden” girl. Gracing the screen in his legendary “Pulp Fiction” and now returning for “Kill Bill.” It seems that this character was created for Thurman, and as a result she is so easily watchable in it. Whether she’s spouting off almost Shakespearean lines while confronting Vernita Green or single handedly defeating a gang of 88 men with samurai swords in a confrontation of ultra violence. Perhaps her early and brief confrontation with Vernita Green (played by Fox who doesn’t get very much screen time) is the most satisfying moment of her character. A scene that’s darkly funny, yet entirely visceral at the same time. Lucy Liu impressed me which was difficult to do because I’ve always found her to be an unlikable prescence. However, her fiesty nature as O-Ren, displaying both psychotic coldness yet a strange innocence is rather interesting to watch. And her departure in the film is altogether gut wrenching while remaining eerily beautiful. The rest of the cast really doesn’t get much screen time in this installment so it would be hard to judge them. Although who could forget Sonny Chiba as the famous sword maker Hattori Hanzo. I thought he was hilarious in his comedic scenes and entirely serious in those dramatic. A great cast overall.
The film certainly doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to it’s action sequences. It transcends the level of violence and enters a realm rarely entered. Freddy Vs. Jason somewhat went to it in it’s finale and Dead Alive, a horror film made by the now famous Peter Jackson went right over it. Kill Bill comfortably sits in between. Of course when an arm is severed and blood shoots about fifteen feet across the room you realize that Tarantino’s reason for such graphic killings isn’t really to be a money making gimmic as much as it’s just paying homage to the ridiculously over the top kung fu films of the 70s in which fists would be torn apart during punches. This can be seen in full view throughout the Crazy 88 sequence in which the bride battles 88 of O-Ren’s henchman in a scene where limbs fly as far as the blood gushes. However beyond being violent it’s an impressive scene just for the fact that none of it’s computer generated. All of the moves are coreographed and make it that much more interesting. But don’t forget the violence. It’s all very overly sensationalized and Quentin uses this to his advantage. Most evident in an anime sequence that is truly stunning in both it’s brilliance and it’s nightmarish scenes. It serves as the background for O-Ren Ishi but also goes to show just how far Tarantino would push it if it weren’t for the NC-17 rating he’d be slapped with. Either way it’s an interesting depature, unexpected, yet not unwelcome, for the animation really is done wonderfullly and adds another dimension to a film that while seeming so simple is so complex.
Of course in the end of the first installment nothing much is resolved. There is a twist that changes much of what the bride had set out to do in the first place but unlike other directors such as M. Night Shyamalyn, the twist is hardly the main attraction of the film. It merely sets the stage for questions that will need to be answered in Volume 2. I suppose you could argue that since this is one half of a film and doesn’t relay the entirety of the story then it cannot be that special. That is where you would be wrong. For this film would’ve been a classic if Volume 2 hadn’t even existed. It stands on it’s own as being probably one of the greatest revenge films of all time, and certainly one of my favorite swordplay movies. Where the samurai sword is almost idolized in a very interesting way. Tarantino seems to bring out the best of Uma Thurman and she of him. Jackie Brown was an excellent movie but didn’t really compare with his previous releases. However with Kill Bill I am happy to report that he’s back on track. Call him eccentric, call him crazy, but the fact is that he makes the most interesting films of almost any director today. And to write them as well makes him quite possibly a genius of filmmaking. His films are truly a joy to watch.
