Production Year: 2003 - Action/Adventure - Director: Quentin Tarantino - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Michael Madsen, David Carradine, Julie Dreyfus, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Uma Thurman more
This one is showing on UKTV Gold 14/03/2008 10.00pm
Kill Bill is an epic film, which should be seen by everyone who can possibly see it. I love it and would highly recommend the DVD to anyone. There is not much of a plot but this is not really important within this film, what is important is the style in which this film is directed and produced. These aspects are absolutely amazing, Tarantino is a genius. The acting and the music also really help the film to become the masterpiece it is, so here we go....
When the DVD has loaded and the menu appears there is some very eerie whistling but this is soon overtaken but some music which makes you think of a fight, a hard bass line and lots of other instruments laid over this. There is a strip down the side of the menu which plays out various scenes including some of screaming and shooting, these are all in cartoon form. The menu options are displayed on a yellow background with blood splatters on it, very indicative of what to expect from this film. To make a selection from the menu, the option you are hovering over is shown with a slash through it, also very telling of what is to come.
So, we press Play, doing so shoots a bullet through the menu and we see it travel through what looks like a brain, lovely. After some corporate logos, you would think the film would have the common decency to start but instead we see an Old Klingon proverb, "Revenge is a dish best served cold".
The first scene is almost chilling as we see a woman beaten within an inch of her life, only her head can really be seen, then someone approaches her, shown only by his boots. This is obviously Bill as we see a hand tentatively wipe the woman's face with a handkerchief, embroidered with BILL. This is a very famous scene as Bill says "although my actions may seem sadistic this is me at my most masochistic", he then shots the woman in the head, but as he does so, she says "Bill, it's your baby!" "The 4th Film by Quentin Tarantino" then appears on the screen with Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) by Nancy Sinatra playing in the background, very fitting. There are then far too many credits and of course the title of the film., after this we see the silhouette of the woman.
***I fully intend to disclose most of the plot of this film, although it is not really a plot at all. If you don't wish to read the entire review, please do not rate. Thank you***
Chapter 1 - 2 We see the woman pull up outside a house in Pasadena, California in a big yellow truck. When the lady answers the door she looks shocked, they clearly share a flashback of the day the woman was shot?! Some dramatic music is played and then a fight ensues, many weapons are used and the women are quickly hurt. The fight is put on hold when a little girl arrives, a short conversation takes place, but every time the original lady's name is spoken there is a beep so you cannot hear it. There is then some narration from the original woman, who refers to herself as The Bride and the lady she was fighting as Cooperhead. For a moment the two seem to get along, but this quickly descends into insults and the fight is concluded. There is then some Japanese spoken, explaining how and why warriors fight.
Chapter 2 - The blood-splattered BRIDE Four years and six months earlier, in the city of El Paso, Texas We see The Bride lying on the floor, this is obviously after being shot. There is police everywhere and the sheriff is on his way, when he arrives another officer informs him that there is nine dead bodies, the bride, the groom, the vicar, the vicar's wife, even the man who played the organ. The sheriff refers to The Bride as a blood splattered angel until she spits at him and we release she's not dead. The next scene we see her in a hospital bed and then someone enters the hospital whistling the eerie tune from the menu. This whistling lady appears to be a nurse, dresses in the uniform and fills a syringe. Although when her title appears it turns out she is Elle Driver, another member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, known as California Mountain Snake. She is obviously here to kill The Bride until she receives a phone call from Bill. Four years later. The Bride wakes up, shocked, horrified and confused, without her baby. When she hears someone coming she lies back down, a male nurse walks in with a 'friend', "…it's $75 a f**k my friend, so you getting your freak on or what?" Unfortunately The Bride really isn't in the mood and bites his tongue off, some time later the nurse returns to find an empty bed and this mate on the floor. The Bride isn't too happy to see him either, although he does have his uses, she takes the keys to the Pussy Wagon. Sadly for her she cannot move her legs, nothing a few hours in the back of a van can't cure.
Chapter 3- The Origin of O-Ren Another member of the Deadly Viper Assassination squad, known as Cottonmouth, O-Ren Ishii, was the easiest for The Bride when she executed her revenge. Here we learn a little about O-Ren, her first encounter with death was at a young age when she witnessed her parents slaughter, this is a very strange scene as it is all told in a animated style, which means the edge is taken off the tragic events. O-Ren took her revenge for her parents murders at the age of eleven. "By twenty she was one of the top female assassins in the world". The rest of this chapter sees The Bride getting her legs working and flying to Okinawa.
Chapter 4- The Man From Okinawa We she her enter a small bar in Okinawa, there is a furious exchange between the behind the bar and the boy in the back. She claims she cannot speak Japanese and plays the naïve American girl, while the two men fight in their native language. She then reveals she needs to see Hattori Hanzo, the man is very shocked. She is after a sword, to kill some "huge" rats, it appears Hattori Hanzo cannot believe what he is hearing when The Bride reveals that one of these rats is one of his former students. This is all the convincing he needs to make her a sword, although it will take him one month. The vast majority of this chapter is spoken in Japanese with subtitles, I think this really helps to enhance the mood of this scene and make it seem all the more magical.
Chapter 5 - Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves As it happens O-Ren Ishii is the boss of all bosses in Tokyo, Japan, helped by her personal army, the crazy eighty-eight. The Bride flies to Tokyo, to meet her old friend, Cottonmouth. O-Ren and her chosen few arrive at whatever seems to be a club, they have a private room upstairs, but then there is call from downstairs, guess who?! She sends in her army, first one at a time, then a few and then the rest of the eighty-eight, but it's no good, The Bride is not going to give up easily. This is not to say there are not some battle scars, the fights take their toll and produce a lot of bloody mess. The main fight scene with the majority of the Crazy Eighty-Eight is shown in black and white, but in the blink of an eye the colour is back, but then the lights go. The next part reminds me of Narnia a little, from O-Ren's private room The Bride opens the doors out into a snow covered garden where she finds her victim. It looks as though all is lost when The Bride is sliced on her back, she falls to the ground, rapidly losing blood, but still she will not give up. We then see The Bride dump O-Ren's best friend and lawyer, Sofie, down a hill to a hospital. The final scene sees Sofie explaining everything to whom we can only assume must be Bill, though we do not see his face, just his hand and hear his voice.
The main cast in this film are The Bride (The Bride) - Uma Thurman O-Ren Ishii (Cottonhead) - Lucy Liu Vernita Green (Cooperhead) - Vivica Fox Elle Driver - Darryl Hannah Buck - Michael Bowen Sofie Fatale - Julie Dreyfus Hattori Hanzo - Sonny Chiba There are of course millions of extras, but most of the parts are not memorable. Although I don't think that the acting in this film is necessarily essential as this film is really all about style, I do think that the acting throughout is brilliant. Uma Thurman plays all parts of her character brilliantly, she really does become a warrior in the fight scenes and even in the hospital she has such crazy eyes even when what you see seems unbelievable her character seems to be very comfortable and realistic. Lucy Lui really impressed me in this film, you don't see that much of her but what you do see is very powerful. As a leader she is very good and during her fight with Uma Thurman, you could imagine she has been sword fighting for years. Vivica Fox plays a very angry character, this is understandable considering the circumstances but this is not played well. Darryl Hannah is brilliant, she plays a purely evil character amazingly well.
The film was written by Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman, she was then offered the part of The Bride as a 30th birthday present, filming was delayed as she became pregnant.
Tarantino also directed the film. If you have seen Pulp Fiction you will be aware that Tarantino has a very unique style and this film is no different. The story is not told in chronological order, but the strange thing is, the is no logical order to the film. I have seen films where the story runs backwards but in some ways that is easier to follow than the story being completely muddled up. Although, in a way this does make the film more interesting to watch and makes the film more unique. The other thing that you notice throughout this film is how stylised the fight scenes are, every time someone is cut or has something cut off, which happens a lot, blood sprays from the body as though it was coming through a pressure washer. Apparently Tarantino insisted on the blood spurts being in the style of Chang Cheh, this was accomplished using Chinese condoms filled with fake blood, so they would splatter on impact.
The film was produced by Lawrence Bender.
The music in this film is absolutely amazing, it really does create the mood in so many of the scenes. The funny thing is that all the music used in the film has been used in other films, he used his soundtrack collection to find the music.
Some brilliant quotes from the film "I'm done doing what I swore an oath to God 28 years ago to never do again. I've created, "something that kills people." And in that purpose I was a success. I've done this, because philosophically I'm sympathetic to your aim. I can tell you with no ego, this is my finest sword. If on your journey, you should encounter God, God will be cut." - Hattori Hanzo "As I lay in the back of Buck's truck, trying to will my limbs out of entropy, I could see the faces of the cunts that did this to me and the dick responsible. Members all of Bill's brainchild - the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. When fortune smiles on something as violent and ugly as revenge, it seems proof like no other, that God exists, and not only does He exist, you're doing His will." - The Bride
I stumbled across this film while on holiday with a friend of mine, when Kill Bill Volume 2 was realised, we had to rush out that day to buy it. After watching the second film I was eager to watch Volume 1, I instantly fell in love with these films. Not because they are exceptional in every way, but what they do display is some amazing direction, Tarantino is a genius and deserves all the praise he receives.
More information on the film, including some brilliant trivia and more quotes can be found on the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266697/ Wikipedia has also dedicated page to this iconic film : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_bill I have not been able to find an official site for the film.
The film was released on 10 October 2003 The film is 111 minutes long, but it does not seem this long The film is a certificate 18, which is not at all surprising due to the language and violence. Interestingly this is Tarantino's first film that does not contain the F word over one hundred, a meagre 17.
The DVD features include - Set Up You can watch the film in English or English DTS You can have subtitles in English, English for the hearing impaired or none - Scene Selection I hope we all know what this is by know - Bonus Features The Making of Kill Bill - choice scenes from the film along with interviews from characters and producers, director, etc. All very boring in honesty. "5,6,7,8's" perform "I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield" and "I'm Blue" - This is a band we see in the film Tarantino Trailers - Kill Bill Vol. 1 Teaser - Kill Bill Vol. 1 Bootleg Trailer - Kill Bill Vol. 2 Teaser These are not the best DVD features in the world, do not buy this DVD for the special features.
The DVD is available from play.com for £5.99 or HMV for £4.99 My copy will soon be going on eBay in the new year.
I would recommend this film to a fairly limited audience to be quite honest. Do not watch this film if you are squeamish, it is not the actual gore which will scare you but the thought of what is being depicted. The violent scenes in this film are so unrealistic with the pressurised blood that I cannot imagine many people really being worried by this. If of course you don't like the sight of blood whatsoever you should probably avoid this one. If you are looking for an intricate plot, with twists and turns I would strongly advise looking elsewhere. There is a story behind this film but this becomes muddled at times, the main emphasis in this film is really the style and moods that Tarantino can create. The story is a good one, very interesting, with a life lesson to be learned, but it's portrayal throughout the film is not brilliant. I think that this is really the sort of film that should be watched with friends, some cold beers and snacks, not one to watch with the family or the fella, or missus really. What I would say though is that this is one of the epics of today's society, so if you haven't watched it yet, get out there and rent it, just so you can say you've seen it. Despite everything though I would recommend this film anyone, over the age of eighteen, looking for a well directed film rather than a good story, doesn't mind a lower quality of acting to accommodate other features, who likes horror films, doesn't mind the sight of blood and has a few friends to watch with.
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