Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of dark...
Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness (...) And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers.
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Master Quentin couldn’t get out more surprised from that meeting with Miramax’s “Big Boss” Harvey Weinstein, where he found out that after all his new masterpiece will not only be one movie but actually two… Not that the idea had never crossed his mind before and one hour after receiving Weinstein’s suggestion, Tarantino knew exactly were to split the movie.
“Kill Bill” is a movie you will want to watch in one go, so just prepare yourself and find 4 and a half hours with absolutely nothing to do (the movies actually only add up to 4h07m but you may need to stop for natural reasons like cold beer in the fridge…).
Why watch it in one go?
When I first watched volume one of “Kill Bill” I was simply in a state of elated bliss, (now you only have to multiply that by two…). But all that excitement wasn’t only because of the cinematography, the games with the camera, the fighting scenes, or the delicious references to the pop culture that intersect any of Tarantino’s movies, but because soon in the first volume you can identify an epic characteristic that will be confirmed in the second. When I say epic, is not in the way you would apply the word to movies like “Lord of the Rings”, where the heroes’ saga is seen like something colossal from the visual point of view. I use epic here in a way that the story of “The Bride” overtakes the character’s seek for revenge. Again we are in the presence of a reconstruction of a hero’s myth, in this case, a fallen hero.
And why prepare yourself?
Well let’s just say that Tarantino used 450 gallons (!) of fake blood during the shootings, and of course with all this blood you may think I’m writing about a very violent movie(s), but if you’ve ever seen “The Passion of the Christ” (Mel Gibson, 2004) you will easily realize that it isn’t… I deeply disagree with all the accusations the movie was a target of, and the reason being is that everything is so absurd that in any moment gets to be close to veridical. In other words, the
quantity of blood that flies out of a chopped off member (and you can choose, a head, an arm, maybe a foot… lol) is so absurd that gets to be comical. Everything is extremely cinematographic, or if you prefer, unreal.
“Kill Bill” is Tarantino’s tribute to Sergio Leone’s Westerns and Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai adventures that made part of his own youth. It’s for Master Quentin what “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” are to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Samurai stories and westerns are very typical in their home countries, there’s in them something almost stereotypic; something essentially human. Wouldn’t it be that way and a movie like “Shichinin no samurai” (Kurosawa, 1954) could never had been “cloned” in the huge success that was “The Magnificent Seven” (John Sturges, 1960). Kung Fu & Samurai stories, as Westerns have in them a mythical strength to the countries they come from, but not only for those ones.
These stories are, in reality, a ransom of a past not necessarily perfect, but a past in which moral principles like honour, self-respect, and the search to overwhelm every possible limit makes a lot more sense than in the cynical actual days we live in, even though we all still have to pay for that past. Maybe this is one among several factors that made “Kill Bill” to cause such impact in the media…
I don’t know exactly the reason why, but Samurai stories have always been an important part of my cultural experience. Maybe because I reached my teenage days during the eighties, when TV was being bombarded with Japanese series and cartoons that perhaps left something in me, making me later search for similar productions, even though of a better quality. The truth is Samurai’s principles and the search for perfection through the path of the warrior, have always attracted me.
And “The Bride’s” story crosses exactly that path. The “Black Mamba”, codename the character used to be known during the time she worked for Bill, chooses to follow an assassin path and to be the best at what she does. The assassin path is usually a lonely one, and invariably leads to Hell, but not even because of that she’s deprived of her sense of honour. Walking this path can give you an almost supernatural status, but the price to pay is very high, there’s no opportunity for redemption…
Or should I say, apparently, there’s no opportunity for redemption; because it’s exactly here that Tarantino overturns fatality’s definition. How? Fooling us all presenting “Kill Bill” as a revenge drama; the bride that claims for blood to wash the innocent lives slaughter at her wedding rehearsal, especially the one of her unborn daughter… But the little girl is alive, and so, the revenge doesn’t have any reason to exist… And it’s in the moment you find this out that you will realize that “Kill Bill” never was a revenge story, but a love and redemption one. It’s the love story of Bill and “The Bride”, but also the one between “The Bride” and her daughter.
Oscar Wilde used to say: “Yet each man kills the thing he loves, by each let this be heard, some do it with a bitter look, some with a flattering word. The coward does it with a kiss, the brave man with a sword!”
And there’s nothing more appropriate to describe the relationship between Bill and “The Bride”, he truly loves “Black Mamba”, even killing everyone at the wedding rehearsal, even shooting “The Bride” in the head, he still loves her. And it is exactly because he still loves her that he does all this. And “The Bride” loves Bill, what doesn’t stop her of wanting so badly to see him dead too…
There are several types of love. Some like this one are imprisionable; a possessive love, selfish, strong and tortuous, what makes the story even more tragic. On the other hand there’s another type of love, a love of donation, capable of release and lead to redemption… As a good “geek” (like plenty of us), Tarantino learned a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, that the only way to reach redemption after letting ourselves be seduced by the dark side, is through our own children.
Although “The Bride” is, like Bill says, a “natural born killer”, she is a mother as well. And she would be in the
Pictures of Kill Bill Vol.1/Kill Bill Vol.2 (Box Set) (DVD)
Uma Thurman is "The Bride" a.k.a Black Mamba.
disposition to give up all her past, to purify herself, only to give her daughter and herself a chance of happiness. It’s the love for her daughter that moves “Mommy”. It’s because of all this that “The Bride’s” saga is also a reconstruction of a hero’s myth. She may be an assassin, but has in herself such nobility that makes her a fallen hero. And to achieve the plenitude of this status she has to go through all the pain, suffering and sacrifices she puts herself to in both movies. Only with that she’s allowed to assume herself as a mother, to self-release from her past, to purify herself. It’s in this sense that I’ve written in the beginning of this review, that “Kill Bill” is a truly epic movie.
I think it’s obvious that what you will see in “Kill Bill” you probably have seen it millions of times in other movies, in other stories. This movie is full of clichés in the majority of the scenes. You know how the movie will end exactly in the first minute, especially in the first minute of the second part. So, what makes “Kill Bill” so genial then?
I’ve heard several times that what’s really important is not the story itself, but the way it is told. And that has never been as truthful as it is in this movie. The intelligent dialogues in Tarantino’s script, together with the visual excellence and all the technical details, carefully developed make this a very special movie. Is important to notice the incredible way as both volumes make up the whole, the consistency they give to each other, even though they’re completely distinct.
The first volume has a frenetic rhythm, defined by the action scenes, whilst the second supports itself on the dialogues that can be as hurtful as the gashes of the sword. The second volume is at times intimate. Both volumes of “Kill Bill” make a unique and fabulous movie, being at the same time two great movies themselves. It’s almost inexplicable, because one doesn’t make any sense without the other. And maybe it’s because of that that in the end of the second movie you will see two ending credits, one inspired on Volume 1 environment and the other on Volume 2.
Besides all these details, another key factor for the success of this film is the performance of Uma Thurman; impeccable! At the same time she manages to be the betrayed bride, the cruel assassin, the caring mother, the woman in love, and emanate indescribable nobility. Amazing how she surpluses everyone surrounding her every time she comes on scene. Maybe that’s just because she has become a mother shortly before she started shooting the movie, and that, (by the words of some critics), made her better understand the conflict of the character. I really believe that being “The Bride” a creation of Uma and Quentin had a major impact in Thurman’s performance. She doesn’t only perfectly impersonate “The Bride”, but she does the same with “Black Mamba”.
“Kill Bill” not only consolidates itself as a great movie(s) showing that Master Quentin has reached maturity as a director and screenwriter, but proves that he, even with all the blood splattering, is a sensible guy… and that there isn’t bigger love than the love of a mother (or father) for their children.
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: 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
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! For the first time both parts of Quentin ... more
Tarantino's martial arts homage are available on this fantastic collection box set. Kill Bill - Volume 1: In part 1 of Quentin Tarantino's delirious revenge movie Uma Thu...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Kill Bill Volume 1The acclaimed fourth film from groundbreaking writer and director ... more
Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown), KILL BILL VOLUME 1 stars Uma Thurman (Pulp Fiction, Batman & Robin), Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels, Chicago) and Vivica...
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...
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 1 and 2 (Box Set) [DVD] [2003]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78506941.jpg "Kill Bill 1 and 2 (Box Set) [DVD] [2003]")
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