Kill Bill - Volume One
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Movie Reviews of Kill Bill - Volume One
Movie Review: Awe inspiring
Summary: 5 Stars
I basically forgot about Quentin Tarentino for a number of years. After watching the fantastic "Reservoir Dogs" years ago, followed by the even better "Pulp Fiction" a couple of years later, Tarentino seemed to drop off the radar. Occasionally, you would see his mug turn up on one of those television talk shows, or hear about him doing an interview somewhere, but his career as a director seemed to have hit the skids. Then he did "Jackie Brown," a film that certainly embodied many of the Tarentino stylistic elements (wrapped around a still foxy Pam Grier), but failed to compare favorably with his two earlier efforts. Fans of the man sat back and waited patiently for his next project, which turned out to be the hyperkinetic "Kill Bill Vol. 1." This film reaffirms one essential fact about Quentin Tarentino: he's one of us. What I mean by that is that he's a fanboy of the sort of cheap, cheesy cinema pumped out of diverse locations such as Asia and Italy. The Spaghetti western is what I'm talking about, and chop socky potboilers from the great old days of Hong Kong. His knowledge of these usually ignored films is incredible; I've seen my fair share of low budget cult classics, and many of the references in "Kill Bill" soared right over my head. But I know enough to see where he gets his inspiration, and it's nice to see someone paying homage.
Why even discuss the plot of a film so overanalyzed since its release? Because I like to write to excess, so here goes. The Bride (Uma Thurman) survived an assassination attempt carried out by her former partners in crime, specifically members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, and has just woke up from a lengthy coma. Her last memory is, unfortunately, the sort of memory that would give the rest of us a coronary; she remembers the enigmatic leader of the group, Bill (David Carradine), putting a bullet into her head. Now she's wide awake, having lost her unborn child, and ready to get back out on the street to seek revenge against her former associates. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, they say, and boy are they right! The Bride works hard to restore her body and mind to pre-injury levels, and makes a list of five people who must go down for the agony she has endured. Victim number one is Vernita Green (Vivica Fox), who perishes after an ultracool knock down drag out fight in Green's suburban home, a fight that pauses long enough for Green's little kid to go up to her room after arriving home from school (!). The next killer to go down will be O-Ren Ishi (Lucy Liu), a scary thug who now runs her own organized crime racket in Japan.
Before taking down Green and Ishi, Thurman's character heads to the Far East in search of the elusive Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba), a sword craftsman extraordinaire and the man who trained Bill himself in combat techniques. But there's a big problem: Hanzo has had a change of heart and isn't interested in making weapons anymore. The Bride must convince him that what she's doing is right, which she does, and the craftsman makes his best sword for her so she can carry out her revenge plots. Hanzo's clout carries such weight in the underworld that O-Ren Ishi visibly pales when she learns what The Bride has accomplished. That's all in the future, however, as Thurman's character must battle her way through a veritable army of dangerous goons to get to O-Ren Ishi. The sinister Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama), a willowy teenager who is a whiz with painful looking weaponry, is Ishi's personal bodyguard. So are the Crazy 88s, the yakuza goons that form the central pillar of Ishi's organized crime network. In a finale that one must see to believe, The Bride wreaks havoc--no, apocalyptic carnage--on O-Ren's criminal empire. Gore, blood, limbs, and assorted other body parts soar through the air as Uma goes on a one woman killing spree of epic proportions.
I could go on and on about the various details of the movie, such as the animated sequence telling the story of O-Ren Ishi's transformation into a professional assassin, but I won't go into more particulars. "Kill Bill" is a film best experienced for oneself. I think it's wonderful that people--most of whom would never watch the sort of films Tarentino lovingly cribbed from for this masterpiece--went to see his movie in the theaters. Now do you understand why we obsess over cult cinema? Even if you don't understand the references in the film, you can still get a kick out of the over the top performances, the scorching soundtrack, and that ultracheesy atmosphere Tarentino throws around all over the place. I loved the sound effect we hear whenever The Bride homes in on one of her targets, a sort of loud siren effect that must have had viewers scratching their heads in bewilderment. My favorite part of the film was none of these things, though. I have to say Lucy Liu was the best part of "Kill Bill Vol.1." For such a lovely looking woman, she's downright chilling as O-Ren Ishi. I thought she did a phenomenal job with her role.
The only extras I saw on the disc I rented was a music video and a behind the scenes feature. I wouldn't even consider buying this disc right now because you just know they'll release a double disc set of both films, probably with a third disc chock full of extras. Incredibly, I have not seen "Kill Bill Vol.2" yet. I know, I know--I'll bump it up on my rental list as soon as possible. I don't know if the second installment is as good as this one, but hopefully it is just as entertaining.
Movie Review: Flawed Masterpiece. Better if you see the two together.
Summary: 5 Stars
Quentin Tarantino originally made the `Kill Bill' movie to be seen in a single showing. While one is not left with many dangling loose ends as you are when you walk out of the first `Lord of the Rings' chapter `The Fellowship of the Ring', you definitely feel an imbalance created by the intensity of some scenes unbalanced by a suitable resolution. Tarantino strikes me as one of those rare directors who will take risky scenes to their logical conclusion and make them work much better than if he had lost his nerve and abbreviated the action in the scene. This is similar to Stanley Kubrick who, in `2001' can draw an utterly banal scene out to great lengths to intensify the drama of the scene to follow. As with Kubrick, Tarantino can generally pull this off, but the technique betrays him a bit in this movie, due to the absence of the resolving scene, to be continued in `Kill Bill Volume 2'.
By far the most famous scene in this movie is the combat scene between `The Bride' played by Uma Thurman and the Tokyo crime gang of the object of the Bride's first revenge target. Aside from missing the resolution of a proper denouement, the scene is pure comic book superhero implausible. I will even go so far as to say that it is not even the best choreographed battle scene I have ever scene on film with hand to hand weapons. That distinction goes to some of the battle scenes in the Brad Pitt vehicle, `Troy', which succeeds in saying new things about filming hand to hand combat with edged weapons. Tarantino relies on relatively standard albeit very competent `Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' style choreography. Even if one buys into the absurd notion of 21st century combat with Samurai swords rather than Uzi's or Kalishnakovs, the notion of a warrior's beating 90 to 1 odds in an open field without even the advantage of a bottleneck like the famous battle of Thermopyle is less believable than an elf warrior bringing down an Oliphant crowned with 10 archers in the big battle scene of `Lord of the Rings'. After all, in `Rings', we have already bought into a fantasy world where swords and arrows are the only weapons available to the hero of inherently special abilities on the side of truth and justice, not just out for revenge.
Aside from this imbalance created by the `big fight scene' without a resolution, the movie is clearly first rate, in many ways the equal to `Volume 2' in the quality of the direction and story line. Tarantino's famously asynchronous scene placements are masterfully done to achieve a positive effect on the impact of the storytelling. Tarantino's technique was a bit unsure in `Reservoir Dogs' but it was used to very good effect in `Pulp Fiction'. Quentin has clearly mastered the potentially disconcerting effect in these movies, using it to compensate to some degree for the incomplete story in this movie. There are other scenes where one wants to not even believe what they are seeing, as he shows scenes similar to the great James Cameron directed scene in `Aliens' where the little girl is threatened from behind by the queen alien, and it is by no means certain that hero Ripley will arrive in time for the rescue.
The role and performance of Uma Thurman dominate this movie. A sign of this fact is in the credit crawl, where I spotted at least six (6) credits dedicated to the care and grooming of Ms. Thurman. Watching her in this movie gives ample justification to the opinion that when she appeared in a supporting role to Ben Affleck in `Paycheck', her talents were being wasted. Thurman and Tarantino seem to have sharpened her performance to as fine an edge as there is on the samurai swords so prominently featured in the fight scenes. Thurman's whole body plays an important part, even down to the anticipation one feels while we wait to see if she can move her paralyzed great toe and thereafter the rest of her atrophied legs. She looks every inch the part of the samurai warrior, trumping performances of Tomb Raiders, Charlies' Angels, and other female martial artists. Lucy Liu, Vivica Fox, and Daryl Hannah also give strong performances, although Hannah' `big scene' comes in `Volume 2'.
Bill never actually appears on the screen in `Volume 1', and this is OK, as it holds something in reserve for `Volume 2'. Michael Madsen's character appears only briefly, to reappear and be dealt with in `Volume 2'. Tarantino, like Kubrick and Woody Allen, has a real talent for using music from other sources to nuance his scenes, but somehow, this does not work as well in `Volume 1' as it does in `Volume 2' or in `Pulp Fiction'. It may just be me, in that the music simply did not touch associations I could make with these selections. I also found the very odd `Matrix' style red / green dominated coloring more annoying in `Volume 1' than I did in `Volume 2'.
The use of Japanese cartoon art in one of the scenes may seem oddly out of place to some viewers, but I think it really works in the very least, to tell the story of the main Japanese character and to hark back to the source of the story `The Bride' in a Japanese anime picture novel.
`Kill Bill Volume 2' is more balanced with fewer strains on your ability to believe the action than this `Volume 1', but `Volume 1' improves after being seen together with `Volume 2'. If possible, do yourself a favor and watch the two movies together. They run to about four hours, and have absolutely no scenes where you may be tempted to check your watch.
Movie Review: Maiming and decapitation are never fun. Until now...
Summary: 5 Stars
Oh, the joy of being a movie geek. This year has been a tremendous blessing for all of the human race, or just us film fanatics, as the movie gods have listened to all our prayers to deliver cinematic goodness. One of these that came as a major grace is called "Kill Bill: Volume One", the latest offering from the dark, perverted but brilliant mind of Quentin Tarantino. Last seen under the spotlight in 1997 with "Jackie Brown", we have been painfully awaiting his next move throughout a six-year-span. Well, time finally came upon us and the wait is definitely worth it. Appropriately entitled "Kill Bill", Tarantino tells a simple revenge story, albeit through his usual non-linear storytelling structure, about a lanky blonde woman (played by the invigorating Uma Thurman) only known as "The Bride" a.k.a. "Black Mamba" who wakes up from a coma to exact revenge on her former assassin group called "The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad" lead by Bill (David Carradine), who aren't really happy of her decision to quit and marry someone in El Paso, Texas. Hence, bloody carnage ensues as Bill and the gang made of eclectic members-Budd, Vernita Green, Elle Driver and Oren-Ishii-massacres The Bride's family and guests on her wedding day, including her unborn baby. Bill saves her for last and shoots her head (on what could be one of the most startling introductions in a movie). Thinking that she's dead, they leave her cold in her blood-splattered wedding dress, which is a terrible mistake on their part, as The Bride gets up from her hospital bed after four years with furious determination and will to destroy every single one of the perpetrators, saving the best for last, which is, of course, Bill, proving that as far as justice goes, it can easily get very poetic.
However, this is only half of the story, as Miramix, the film distributor, and Tarantino himself decided to cut the three-hour long movie in half and released them four months apart. That being said, I am very sure that Volume Two will be as equally brutal and vigorously entertaining to what I've seen four times in the theaters (Yes, four times! It's that good!)
"Kill Bill: Volume One" is perhaps the most violent American movie ever (and I've seen a lot of movies). It can be easily be used as an example of how the morals of the Western world have dramatically fallen in the 21st century. But it's most important to know that this movie was made as an ode to those rare, odd, cheesy and absurd kung-fu, Western, exploitation, slasher and grindhouse movies we usually see gathering dust in the cult section of a video store or occasionally seen playing on television at 3 in the morning. Kill Bill: Volume One on the surface looks like a very empty fluff made to only shock the already seemingly desensitized viewers, but underneath, it is really a very intelligent piece of art. Intelligent in a sense that it knows the rules of the cinema: it knows it audiences are and doesn't give a damn thing or two to those who don't want to get involved. For instance, The Bride wears a yellow jumpsuit during the last hour of the movie. To the uninitiated, it's just a striking sexy vintage number. To those in the know, it's a replica of Bruce Lee's tracking jumpsuit from his 1979 movie Game of Death. And this is just only a fraction of Tarantino's endless references, in-jokes and homages to old and obscure cinema. From Brian DePalma to Godzilla, from giallo films to Japanese animations, God knows what else are there he injected. I say this movie is an entire pop culture of pop culture.
Even without this quality, it's still deliciously entertaining, boldly creative and visually arresting, it's safe to say that this is an instant classic. No, this is not an Oscar-winning movie, let alone be nominated. But not everything has to have a deep storyline with complex characters to be a great film. This movie has no substance and as empty as a dead shell. But it's an amazingly great film, nonetheless. The fact of the matter is that Tarantino made this with great respect, love and passion of the medium, that he practically utilizes everything to its full advantage from complicated camera shots (the long tracking shot of The Bride going to the washroom is incredible), beautiful cinematography (the claustrophobic and filthy Hospital environment, the beautifully exotic and bright Japanese backdrop), the amazing eclectic selections of music (from Nancy Sinatra's "Bang, Bang" to "The Green Hornet" theme song) and the excellently choreographed fight scenes as if we're watching an amazing, exhausting ballet dance with swords. Oh yeah, and the beautiful gushing of the blood and gore like water coming down from Niagara Falls.
"Kill Bill: Volume One" is an extravagant, highly-stylized, ultra-energized, uber-violent piece of celluloid. It's made up of a world were grativity is without law, violence is sheer poetry, pissed-off Caucasian women likes to play with samura swords, and even assassins have feelings. It's a world where obscure 1970's disco music goes perfectly seamless along with the motion of decapitation and maiming.
Oh what fun!
Aside from that movie that left me with tears featuring hobbits and wizards and that fetus-looking boy-fish who seems to say the word "Precciooooooussssss...." a lot, this year belongs to Kill Bill: Volume One (and I cannot wait for Volume 2!)
Thank you, Tarantino for your sick and twisted mind.
Movie Review: Just brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
"Revenge is a dish best served cold."
Quentin Tarantino's fourth film and the first one since 1997's Jackie Brown takes the theme of revenge like Hamlet on steroids. It has not been an easy road for this generation's "It" director. Tarantino once worked at a video rental store before writing the script for Reservoir Dogs that he later directed. It was his directorial effort in 1994's Pulp Fiction that catapulted Tarantino, as well as the independent film company Miramax, into the Hollywood mainstream. Unfortunately his next film, Jackie Brown, which, by the way, was not written by him, was not widely accepted and then Quentin Tarantino dropped off the scene for nearly six years. In that time period he took time off to act in some films but, for the most part, the idea for Kill Bill had been bouncing around in his skull. Now that idea has burst out of that skull in all its blood spewing, gut splattering glory reuniting Pulp Fiction star, Uma Thurman, with the acclaimed cult director in a film series that pays homage to the 70's karate films that many us grew up with.
The story centers on a former member of a group of assassins who seeks revenge for the actions done on to her by her former colleagues. A woman known only as The Bride has waken up from a four year comma after her former boss Bill left her for dead on the day of her wedding killing her fiancé, the wedding party and her unborn child. Unfortunately for the skilled assassin, he made one big mistake: he failed to kill her. Now that she has awakened from her living slumber, The Bride will travel the world picking off her attempted killers one by one including the mysterious Bill. First up on her list is O-Ren Ishi, aka Cottonmouth, and her group of Japanese underground assassins. They better watch out because here comes the bride! The story for Kill Bill (Volume I) is probably one of the best scripts of the year despite being only half of the true plot. In a wonderful bit of technique, Tarantino starts the film off in the middle of story then backtracks to the events that start the chain reaction of revenge. He then flashes backwards and forwards in several instances that offer the best insight into the characters the audience is about to encounter. This gives better meaning to most of the fight sequences that take place in the course of the two hour feature.
A relative bunch of low-profile actors and actresses make up one of the better casts of the year for this film. Uma Thurman, who starred in Quentin Tarantino's breakout film, Pulp Fiction, once again works her magic for the talented director in probably her best film performance. Thurman gives a witty and exhilarating go around with her role as The Bride seeking revenge against her former colleagues. She presents a style to the character that makes you clamor for her all the way to the shocking break point. Lucy Liu has another kick-ass character performance as O-Ren Ishi, the leader of a group of Japanese assassins. The only problem with this role is that it makes Liu feel type-casted into this sort of character. Not that she bad at it, she's extremely effective in her performance, but you get the feeling that eventually she may get bored with these roles but if it works for her then ignore this comment. Vivica A. Fox doesn't really get to show much acting ability as her character is killed off in the first fifteen minutes of the film but what she does show is her amazing fighting moves, which is the only evidence needed to prove her worth in the film. This is only a small portion of the full cast, the rest of which will appear in Kill Bill (Volume II) coming February 20th.
Overall, Kill Bill (Volume I) is a wonderful kick-off point for Quentin Tarantino's best work since Pulp Fiction, despite only being half of the entire feature. Though that being said, there are a couple of things to pick at including the well-choreographed action sequences. It wasn't exactly the sequences themselves but the rather large amount of blood and gut spilling that occurred during them that had more then one person squirming in their seats. Granted having your arm or leg cut off results in a large amount of blood loss but does that blood spew out like a fountain? The campy style of violence that occurs in Kill Bill (Volume I) may seem disturbing as the feature starts off but by the end, it doesn't seem so unnatural, which says something our culture's customization to violence and bloodshed in films. The pacing of the feature seemed well balanced but definitely dragged near the end as the film wrapped in a spin-chilling conclusion for the time being. But other then those small squabbles, Quentin Tarantino gives an eerie insight into what the concept of revenge does to the human psyche and what it could potential lead people to do if not controlled. It is said in the film, revenge is like a forest. Men (and women) can easily be lost in it and lose track of where they started or where they were going, so caution must be taken when start off on this path. The famous cult director starts off with accelerating beginning; let's hope he can deliver on what the chilling twist promises.
Movie Review: Revenge at its best
Summary: 5 Stars
Quentin Tarantino has made a career of writing and directing fantastic films, and with the first volume of the Kill Bill duet the tradition continues. On the surface, Kill Bill: Volume 1 spins like an above average revenge flick - an ex-assassin known only as "The Bride" is brutally tortured on her wedding day by her former employer's lethal band of contract killers: the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. The `blood-splattered bride' is left for dead on the church floor, but her wounds eventually heal and four years later she begins her personal quest for revenge. Plot points such as these, however, are not what make Kill Bill (or any Tarantino film for that matter) special.
From the first grizzly minute all the way to the credits, every shot, every character, every line of dialogue, and every aspect of the story is driven by Tarantino's love for Hong Kong martial arts films, samurai movies, spaghetti westerns, and revenge flicks. These influences can be seen everywhere - from the camera framing copied from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, to the final battle at the House of Blue Leaves where The Bride wears a yellow catsuit very much like the one worn by Bruce Lee in Game of Death. Tarantino uses references such as these to give Kill Bill: Volume 1 a cinematic depth that most revenge films can't match.
Quentin Tarantino dropped out of school at the tender age of 16 to pursue acting. However, he developed his love of film while working at a video rental shop in California. Since then, Tarantino has directed a total of five films, written eight, and won an Oscar (for Pulp Fiction). His love of film bleeds through every frame of every movie he is directly linked to - as evident by his use of homage as a film style. Pulp Fiction paid tribute to (among other things) gangster movies. In Reservoir Dogs, it was heist films and undercover cop stories. And in Kill Bill it was revenge, samurai showdowns, and old Westerns.
One of the strongest aspects of Kill Bill is that Tarantino embraced the simple mentality of typical revenge flicks while, at the same time, generously applying his own spirit. By default, movies that deal with reprisals tend to be a little bit shallow and predictable - someone has to kill or harm someone else for some wrongdoing.
What sets Kill Bill apart is the dialogue. For the film's entire 111 minute running time, the story is unfurled using dialogue that is packed with black comedy, old Asian legends, pop culture references, and extraordinary bravado. For example, when The Bride awakens in a hospital bed four years after the massacre, she learns that when she was comatose the head hospital attendant was acting as her pimp - selling her for $50 a "session." While this might have otherwise come across as a totally revolting and extremely dire situation, the dialogue and characters involved turn the scene into black comedy gold by playing off of the hick stereotype associated with many small Texas towns.
Another example of where the dialogue shines is when The Bride travels to the tiny island of Okinawa, Japan to meet with the legendary sword smith Hattori Hanzo. The nature of the film changes dramatically (for the better) as Hanzo passes on ancient Samurai proverbs to aid The Bride in her fight. This scene sets up a more purposeful tone for the remainder of the film and might contain the most powerful lines in the entire movie. Before giving the `yellow-haired warrior' (The Bride) his powerful `Hanzo Steel' samurai blade, Hattori effectively sums up the entire idea of vengeance by saying that revenge is "never a straight line. It's a forest, and like a forest it's easy to lose your way." This is the type of dialogue that sets Kill Bill apart. The ideas behind it are not new, but they are executed in such a way that they come off as fresh, funky, and unique.
The only downfall of Kill Bill: Volume 1 is the way it was released. Originally, Tarantino wrote and directed the project as one film. However, due to its four-hour plus running time, the Miramax production company decided to split it into two `volumes.' Due to this separation, the first volume comes across as light on story and heavy on violence while the second part seems light on action and heavy on plot exploration. The difference is especially noticeable in Kill Bill: Volume 2, which contains only two major fight sequences. The lack of closure at the end of Volume 1, due to Miramax's attempt to sell multiple tickets to the same movie, must be listed as a flaw of Tarantino's (otherwise) brilliant project.
Kill Bill is an experience. It pulls ideas from many different cultures, movies, genres, legends, and old television shows, and packages them together in one super-fine blood-soaked escapade. The only problem is that it's not one escapade (as it was originally meant to be) - it's two. Splitting the film causes a jarring shift in tone that's difficult to ignore. The best solution is to watch both DVDs back-to-back, thus eliminating what might be the only problem with one of the best films of the past decade.