Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Kill Bill: Vol. 1
A Film Review by Joel B. Kirk

WHAT IT'S ABOUT:

On the day of her wedding, 'Bill' and his four assassins (Vernita Green, O-ren Ishii, Elle Driver, and Budd) murder pregnant, and former employee known only as 'The Bride.' After waking up four years from a coma, she vows revenge.

MY TAKE:

This is a fun film, concocted by Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman. However, it is a film that is half-done; a take-no-prisoners action/blood fest that departs from the usual monologue exchanging features that Tarantino is known for, acting as a great introduction to a two-part series.

We open with a 'Shaw-Scope' banner, cutting to another nostalgic 70s intro: 'Feature Presentation.'

After laying out the characters she is going after: Vernita Green and O-Ren Ishii, we build up to the exploding, and highly exciting climax that ranks as the bloodiest ever shown on film. This combines the kung-fu flicks of the 70s, by the Shaw Brothers, and the Japanese samurai flicks of the 70s and 80s. These are not the Akira Kurosawa samurai dramas, but the heavily violent exploitation flicks: LADY SNOWBLOOD--whom O-ren Ishii resembles in the final fight-- LONE WOLF AND CUB, HONZO THE RAZOR, and ZATOICHI.

Tarantino gives us action that was only hinted at in his previous pictures. Actually, the most potent aspect of his previous films was the bad language.

KILL BILL prepares us for part 2 to find out: Why did 'Bill' attempt to kill 'The Bride' in the first place? Who is this 'Bill' to begin with? And will we get a chance to learn more about the 'The Bride'?

POSITIVE/NEGATIVE NITPICKS:

-The Sheriff that arrives to inspect the murder of 'The Bride' after the wedding his son, the deputy, as 'Son number 1.' Is this a reference to the old Charlie Chan films? (That homage might seem like an insult toward Asian-Americans, as that character was a racist yellow-face caricature).

-References to THE GREEN HORNET: Music during a montage of a plane trip to Tokyo; and, the masks worn by the Crazy 88 yakuza.

THE GREEN HORNET, of course, had the character Kato, portrayed by the legendary Bruce Lee-whom is further referenced to by Uma Thurman's character, wearing a similar outfit seen in Lee's film GAME OF DEATH.

-The Quincy Jones IRONSIDE vengeance theme that would sound each time Uma Thurman was to exact revenge on one of her former comrades, gave us a little rush of anticipation.

-The anime sequence showing the origin of O-ren Ishii seems a bit more gratuitous in the violence than the live-action sequences. This was obviously filmed as an anime sequence due to its high level of violence and subject matter, i.e. pedophilia.

-Chiaki Kuriyama, like Vivica A. Fox's 'Vernita Green,' brings a certain deadly sexiness to her character, 'Go-Go Yubari.' Hopefully, we'll see more of this actress in the future.

-"Silly Caucasian girl likes to play with samurai swords." -Quote by O-Ren Ishii

Back in 1973, EON, producers of the James Bond flicks wanted to cash in on the SHAFT craze by having a villain, and majority of the supporting characters Black-American for the film LIVE AND LET DIE.

Today, that film is a bit disheartening because it shows Roger Moore's Bond 007 saving the (literal) virginal Jane Seymour character-Solitaire--from the evil Black villains.

Quentin Tarantino wanted to combine the 70s martial arts, samurai flicks for KILL BILL; but, the villains happen to be Asian cut down by the non-Asian 'hero.' (Sonny Chiba with an amusing introduction, becomes the stereotypical wise Asian philosopher, and doesn't count as a positive).

Looking at that aspect, will KILL BILL hold up during the test of time? Will it still be looked on as the homage it was intended to be?

Yes, what we see is highly 'cool,' but it's something to think about.

FINAL COMMENTS:

Why were we given only Vol. 1? Possibly to cash in on the episodic franchise crazes, i.e. THE MATRIX and THE LORD OF THE RINGS sequels, and maybe even the STAR WARS prequels.

In any event, KILL BILL Vol. 2 is going to define whether or not this idea was a success or failure.

MY RATING:
**** out of *****

DIRECTOR: Quentin Tarantino
WRITER: Quentin Tarantino

CAST: 
Uma Thurman-The Bride/Black Mamba
Bill-David Carradine
Daryl Hannah-Elle Driver/California Mountain Snake
Vivica A. Fox-Vernita Green/Copperhead
Michael Madsen-Bud/Sidewinder
Michael Parks-Sheriff
Sonny Chiba-Hattori Hanzo
Chiaki Kuriyama-Go-Go Yubari
Gordon Liu-Johnny Mo

GENRE: Action
RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes
YEAR OF RELEASE: 2003 by Miramax Pictures

Email: joelkirk@sbcglobal.net

Copyright 2003 Joel B. Kirk

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X-RT-RatingText: 4/5