DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Kill Bill Vol. 1 (RECOMMENDED) (1 Viewer)

[Shane Roach]

Thanks, Dave. I'd been wondering about that one myself. I've played through the Vol. 2 CD at least six times the last couple of days at work, and it's chock full o' Morricone.

 

[Alex K.]

Please, enlighten me. What is the Wilhelm Scream?

 

[Nick Sievers]

Alex,

There was this thread recently on the topic.

It is used twice in the Crazy-88 scene.

 

[obscurelabel]

[off topic]
I had to laugh at this. My own similar experience was with Dressed to Kill which I saw some months after it came out (movies played in theaters longer then, now it's usually just a few weeks). It was in a decidely run down second-run theater and the print was pretty beat up, displaying scratches, splices, crackling sound, etc. The best(?) thing, though, was a wide green line that meandered across the screen throughout almost the entire second half of the movie (emulsion damage? Who knows?). To this day I can't help but think that I viewed this stylish trash-fest in truly unique and suitable circumstances.
[/off topic]

 

[Gary->dee]

Are you serious? By that logic the movie could have been done cheaper had it all been done in anime instead of live action.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Thanks for the review, which I finally read last night after watching the movie.

I thought Tarantino's previous three films were brilliant but KILL BILL left me cold and I could help but feel highly disappointed after it was over. The style and direction was wonderful but the film as a whole was no better than any of the films it's paying homage to. I personally thought there was way too much style and not enough substance. I also didn't like the fact that I didn't know why Bill went after The Bride but I guess that will be covered in part 2. We know why the revenge is taking place but we don't know what The Bride did to Bill. I also thought the B&W scenes were poor. To me, they looked very bad just like you were watching a color movie and making it B&W by turning the color levels down on your television. Nothing in the black and white image looked "correct" so it appeared to me as fake as changing the settings on your television.

As for the extras, I think this was the only way to release this. Tarantino couldn't have done a commentary here because there would have been spoilers for the follow-up, which hasn't even been released yet. I'm sure it would have been hard for the director or cast to keep quiet about something that would have happened in the upcoming film. I think the three releases are the best way to handle this, although I still feel the film should have been released as one movie and not split in two.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I agree. If really wanted those scenes to be in B&W, he should have shot them on B&W stock.

Jeff

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Michael -- I think the first KILL BILL will grow on you with repeated viewings. And many of your questions will probably be answered in VOLUME 2.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I'm going to rewatch it this weekend and might go see Volume 2 even though I swore off going to the theater more than once a year.

However, I somewhat wish I had gone along with my original plan of waiting until V2 was on DVD before watching the first. I think the movie might play better has a whole instead of in two parts.

 

[Haggai]

Too bad it isn't, that song is AWESOME! Just finished watching the DVD, and I had forgotten about the excellent music in that particular scene. It really works well the way QT used it.

I'm glad that the excellent Japanese song at the end of the credits of Vol. 1, "Urami Bushi", is on the Vol. 2 soundtrack CD. Great stuff.

Man, am I ready to see Vol. 2 tomorrow. First show, my ass is there. I couldn't really have been more ready than I already was, but I went ahead and got the DVD (originally planned to wait for the eventual combined monster release) to get another viewing in before tomorrow (saw Vol. 1 twice before, both times in the first weekend of its theatrical release).

I noticed that I've seen a little more in the anime sequence with each successive viewing. I'm not an anime fan in general, and the first time I saw the movie, I thought that scene dragged on a bit too long. Second viewing, it went better, and it didn't seem overly long at all. With this third viewing, I found myself totally cutting through the super-violent imagery and focusing entirely on O-Ren's emotions. Very powerful stuff, even more so than I had remembered.

 

[AaronMK]

I had heard about O-Ren Ishii's backstory being done in anime for that reason as well, but that was one of the best sequences in the film, and the anime was a big reason why.

On the other hand, after seeing a scene with certian similar content in The Butterfly Effect, I have to wonder if being able to film it was really an issue. Besides the fact that the scene in The Butterfly Effect was a bit disturbing just becuase of what it was, I had to wonder what kind of parent would let their son or daughter of that age film a scene like that, but I digress.

As for Kill Bill, even not getting most of the refences specific to other films, I still had a great time with it. Definetly a style film, but one of the few that really works.

 

[Gary->dee]

Well for what it's worth, I recently caught the new version of Zatoichi while I was in London and that movie includes a scene in which a young boy dressed as a geisha solicits an older man for sex.

I don't recall hearing about the anime sequence in Kill Bill being done so because of the content. I always thought it was done like that because of the unique style it brought to the movie.

 

[MatS]

sorry I disagree
if you don't get it the first time you're not going to on repeat viewings

I got it the first time and can't wait the few hours left I have to for Volume 2

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I really had a problem with the player generated subtitles with this dvd. Not only was the color bad and hard to read when against the picture and if it was two lines, one line would be on the picture and one line would be hidden by my mask.

I watched the making of doc and noticed that on all of the scenes they showed that had subtitles they showed the correct burnt on subtitles that were perfectly readable no matter what the scene.

Why do they have to keep doing this?

Picture was very soft as well blown up to 110". Glad I only rented this dvd. I anxiously await the uber edition.

 

[Tom Oh]

I'm gonna go pick up the Japanese Premium Box set (30,000 sets only) today It'll cost me around US$77 here in HK.

Take a look at what's inside
ww.geneon-ent.co.jp/movie/killbill/box.html

I'm dying to see all color version. Little expensive and must keep it hidden from the wife. 1/10 scale sword will sit in my office. I will open mail and slit annoying colleagues.

 

[Andy Sheets]

One thing I noticed while watching the bootleg trailer was that they do show part of that sequence in color and when Uma cuts a guy (it's the part when they're up on the second floor and topples over the railing and falls on a table below), the fluid coming out of his body does look very transparent. It makes me wonder if for the color version they used a computer to color it red.

 

[DonRoeber]

Nearly all of the blood in the movie (except for The Bride's) is a very bright red, almost like kool-aid. It's not the burgundy that real blood is. It also flows more like water than real blood. I'm sure it was done for stylistic reasons, just like the fountain spurts of blood whenever someone looses a limb or head.

 

[Nick T Robot]

That is a problem and it's why this really is half a film. This is all covered in the second half which should have been the last half of the movie.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I think the O-ren Ishii backstory was done in anime because I think it'd be a tough sale to do that backstory as depicted with a real child actor.

 

[Nick T Robot]

Pat, I mentioned that here, with slight spoiler

I'd also like to add that I think the fact that Quentin is a fan of Anime played a part. He threw some in along with all the other film styles he's paying tribute to. If he couldn't film that scene with a child O-ren, he could have just had a character explain what she did.