"It's your job, right? You know, the guy who kills me, I hope he does it 'cause he hates my gut...
"It's your job, right? You know, the guy who kills me, I hope he does it 'cause he hates my guts. Not 'cause it's his job" - Sonny (Al Pacino) in 'Dog Day Afternoon' (1975)
Member since:26.02.2003
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... and it certainly is in Quentin Tarantino's highly anticipated, long overdue "rip roaring rampage of revenge", Kill Bill.
Quentin Tarintino, one of the most influencial film makers of the last decade has been keeping a low porfile after his crime drama 'Jackie Brown' was released back in 1997. After six years of intense writing (not only for this film but for others) Kill Bill comes along and makes a big impact with the newly reformed family friendly (cough> 12A <cough) orientated cinema in our country.
The story is simple, non complex and admittedly not the most original but is done in true Tarintino style, cringe worthy violence, machine gun dialogue and not conforming to standard cinema narratives.
Uma Thurman (Pulp Fiction, Paycheck) plays 'Black Mumba' or better known as 'The Bride' a member of an elite team of assisins in the form of Michael Madsen, Darly Hannah, Vivica A Fox and Lucy Liu. This circle (known as 'The Vipers') are lead by the mysterious and ruthless Bill (David Carradine).
When The Bride decides to leave this life and start fresh "they did her in". She is at the altar of her own wedding and is shot in the head by Bill, her reception is also masacred by his elite Viper assasin squad. After nine years of comatose and a miscarridge, The Bride wakes up and sets it on herself to kill the Viper squad and Bill.
This being the first volume (the second is out in April nationwide), we only get half the story, this isn't a bad thing. The splitting the over three
hour bloodfest into two shoter films swings in Tarantino's favour, unlike what happened with the 'Matrix Reloaded' and 'Matrix Revolutions'. Kill Bill has no complicated philosphy or twists and turns or illusions that will make you lose your way. It is a simple premise (not the most original however) but it contains its fair share of surprises, not of the monumental, head s**ging scale of the Matrix but more of the cliffhanger at the end of your favourite soap opera.
The performances all in all are good but not exceptional, there are no talks about foot massages or what a quater pounder with cheese is called in Paris. Uma Thurman plays her part confidently, due to her previous experiences on a Tarantino production (Pulp Fiction). The only members of the Viper squad that get a lot of screen time are Vernita Greenwood/Cooperhead (Viviva A Fox) and O-ren Ishii/Cottonmouth (Lucy Liu).
Lucy Liu Japanise, Chinese, American Yakuza gangster is very stern and brutal and Liu pulls this off convincingly but by no means was it spectacular.
Vivica A Fox's single mum, ex assasin works well. She gets by and can handle herself in a knife fight when The Bride pays a vengeful visit.
Prehaps the best performacne for me was that from Japanese Martial Arts legend Sonny Chilba, who ironically doesn't spill any blood as Samurai Swordsmith Hattori Hanzo. His character injects both wisdom and humour into the film in true Tarantino fashion. Another standout character is Cottonmouth's teenage girl henchwoman Go Go Yubari played with a grim and surreal intensity by Chiaki kuriyama, who is an expert with the spiked ball and chain that she's equiped with. She says very little in the film but still boasts an overwhelming presence, despite her dressing as a schoolgirl.
Now i'll be honest, this film is violent, one of the most I have seen in recent years. There must have been at least a hundred severed limbs via dangerous swordplay. The twenty minute finale at the 'House of the Blue Leaves Nightclub' with the Bride and Cottonmouth's (Lucy Liu's) masked henchmen is by far one of the bloodiest battles ever committed to film. Tarantino is deffinately raising the bar in what audiences will watch. Don't get me wrong, its not that the violence is done in great graphic detail and with sadistic intentions, its just relentless. It provides the old fashion shock factor that is familiar in Tarantino's previous works.
Just like Resovior Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, the narrative is not simply from begining to end. In Kill Bill, the scenes are organised as chapters, which helps an audience undertand the narrative. There is no particualr advantage to this method of film making but for Tarantino to go against the conventions of mainstream and sometimes manufactured cinema, it makes him the difinitive cult film director.
Other innovations included in this picture is the use of black and white, or film noir. This is employed at the very begining of the film and during the bloody finale at the House of Blue Leaves Nightclub to show the gritty surrealism of the story. Another style employed by QT is a ten minute Japanese Animie short film that shows how Lucy Liu's character became the world's greatest and most feared assasin. This sequence of animated events are very violent to pay homage to the genre.
Tarintino's direction is his usual old school style, the film never feels like hollywood at any stage. Very rare are films crafted rather than manufactured by fat cat producers who are powered by briefcases full of green paper. Not a single CGI effect was used in this film as famously said by Tarantino one time:
"i'd rather stick my (a part of his anatome that will we call Quentin junior) into a disk drive before I use computer effects in my films"
The film doesn't boast Tarantino's most innovative script to date, but damn is it entertaining. The House of the Blue Leaves Nightclub showdown can easily give the Matrix Reloaded's 'Burly Brawl' a run for its money and proves that you don't have to be superhuman to cause unnecessary violence. As I said in the previous paragraph, no CGI was used meaning that the film was a lot cheaper to make compared to your bluescreen dependant summer blockbuster. Wirework is of course used to ring true to the Hong Kong style of action, which is cleverly blended in with western cultural ideas on how action films should be made. Kill Bill is not an action film, despite its stupidity in certain places it is cool. Cool in the Vincent Vega sense not the Neo sense...
BOTTOM LINE Kill Bill does not beat Pulp Fiction, but makes for a worthy runner up. I'm just counting down the days to when Kill Bill Volume 2 is coming out, with its delayed release in April (apparantly Tarantino wanted more time for editing). Complete with a quality soundtrack, classic script and blood stained swords, this film was well worth the six year wait.
If You Like This Try... Pulp Fiction - Tarantino's landmark achievement that has gone down as a revolution in modern filmmaking.
On a personal note; this review is written to celebrate my first years membership on ciao and i'm sure many more reviews will follow, thank you... <DarkMark
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Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 2008 - Action/Adventure - Director: Christopher Nolan - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Proudly billed as "the fourth film by Quentin Tarantino",Kill Bill, Volume 1is actually ... more
half of it (if you include his chunk ofFour Roomsit's really the fourth and a quarterth). IfJackie Brownachieved a certain maturity beyond callous cool, then this i...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Proudly billed as "the fourth film by Quentin Tarantino",Kill Bill, Volume 1is actually ... more
half of it (if you include his chunk ofFour Roomsit's really the fourth and a quarterth). IfJackie Brownachieved a certain maturity beyond callous cool, then this i...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon...
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revenge movie Uma Thurman plays 'The Bride' a woman seeking vengeance on those who massacred her wedding party... Inspired by countless Japanese swordplay actionfests...
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The acclaimed fourth film from groundbreaking writer and director Quentin Tarantino, KILL ... more
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clarebartlett1974 12.07.2004 (12.07.2004)
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Review of Kill Bill Vol.1 (DVD)
Advantages: A Quentin Tarantino film with a great plot, and amusing blood Disadvantages: Some people find it boring, but I don't understand it myself...
![Kill Bill, Volume 1 [DVD] [2003]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78528686.jpg "Kill Bill, Volume 1 [DVD] [2003]")
Feb 25th, 2004
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