*** Official KILL BILL VOLUME 1 Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Edwin Pereyra]

Quentin Tarantino’s East meets West martial arts action film is so well-conceived with a storyline that provides intrigue and mystery, a determined and bold performance by Uma Thurman, a solid supporting cast, elaborate action sequences, a pulsating soundtrack, a wicked sense of humor and so many visualized nuances such as the battle at the Japanese garden with light snow falling that it commits to mind so many memorable sequences.

With all the blood, mayhem and carnage, Tarantino’s film is very much aimed at the adult crowd. There is a certain danger though that those who enjoy this picture would be looked upon as endorsing violence in films as a whole. But that could not be further from the truth. This one, as with all other films, is to be enjoyed within its own level of concept, creativity, imagination and art form.

As it is, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is only one-half of an entire film. But so far this half is a killer and it rates (out of four). And already, it raises hopes for its second half. Here’s hoping that Volume 2 will be just as good.

~Edwin ô¿ô

 

[Al Stuart]

Kill Bill is like Cinematic Doo Doo. And I don't mean that in neccesarily a negative way. Tarantino is taking all of the movies he digested as a teenager and shitting them all over the audience. Whether you choose to be a coprophiliac is up to you. Sometimes I was hungry, other times I wasn't. Genre splicing and riffing on 70's films is ok by me, and he certainly managed to do that exceptionally well with his other 3 films. But the difference is that Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Reservoir Dogs actually transcended the material he was stealing from (or paying an homage to, depends on who's saying it) and the movies took on a life of their own. Kill Bill never accomplishes this, although I'm not sure it was intended to. Having panache about how and where you steal from is not an exceptional talent.

What Tarantino is doing shows an enormous contempt for the audience, because he assumes that either they won't be familiar with the material and read it as entirely new, or the fan who does recognize will simply smile at recognizing the reference. It reminded me of the newer Leslie Nielsen type spoofs, where it is no longer necessary to actually parody the material, simple replication will do. What is different about this movie from a lot of other schlocky kung fu movies and revenge melodramas? Nothing really, except the large budget, which is what made the types of movies Kill Bill co-opts from didn't have, and that's what provided them with a gritty, dirty charm.

There is an arrogance to this cinema of cool, where all it takes is an acknowledgement that the director has seen the same movies you have, to suddenly cut him some slack and let him get away with sloppy thievery. In previous films, Tarantino used actors who's career had long since been considered dead (Robert Forster, Pam Grier, Travolta, Lawrence Tierney) to great effect, and it made you realize that they had been neglected and there was a great actor in there who had been saddled with a poor rep or pissed off the wrong casting directors. But thrown into the middle of the action of Kill Bill is a scene where Uma Thurman goes to Okinawa to have a sword made. She ambles into an empty sushi restaurant and has a talk with the owner/chef who is none other than Sonny Chiba (who I guess should thank Tarantino for his resurgence because of his reference in True Romance). This scene and the followup with Chiba go on forever, perhaps 20 minutes of screen time. The only thing accomplished in all of this is that Chiba makes Uma Thurman a sword. There is a hint of his backstory, but not much, and no reasoning given to why he is where he is and has been for so long. There's a lot of cliched material about the profundity of the sword and on and on, but it seems as if the scene is only there because Tarantino wanted to cast Chiba. We don't get to seem him fight, and he has a hammy yelling contest with his assistant about sake, which I guess is supposed to justify his appearence. These scenes stop the movie dead in its tracks.

Now I shouldn't say that the whole movie was awful, because it wasn't. It just tended to move in fits and starts. The fight scenes that are built up to, one with Vivica Fox the other one with Lucy Liu are protracted and sort of unsatisfying in their lack of ingenuity or originality. The most notable fight is at the Blue Leaves restaurant, where Uma fights off many many Yakuza and removes many many limbs. That reached the orgiastic heights that Tarantino was probably going for in terms of going ridiculously over the top. It reminded me heavily of the lawnmower scene in Dead Alive (Braindead), but not quite as inventive or funny. At no point was I ever taken out of the fact that most of this scene seemed like an homage to Monty Python and the Holy Grail mixed with the Baby Cart series. It didn't have the balletic feel of the great wire fu, something like the crowd scene in The Legend of Fong Say Yuk or the restaurant scene in Drunken Master II. Nothing really jumped out at you, it was just there.

Regarding the indulgence of references, while the spaghetti western stuff, Death Wish material, kung fu indulgences are endlessly apparent, there are clear ones to De Palma (who did make Blow-Out, which is apparently Tarantino's favorite film), that didn't really serve much purpose. A long use of split screen and a reconfiguring of Pino Donaggio music has to be used for a reason, not just to say that Quentin also enjoyed Dressed to Kill. The problem I had was that I was constantly aware that I was watching a movie. The stilted dialogue I assume was intended to emulate the stiffness of kung fu movie translations, came off as just stiff. It's nice that Tarantino wants the audience to feel like he's sitting next to them, nudging them in the ribs, going "isn't that cool?" But after 35 minutes of the same tricks, my ribs were sore.

All of that wouldn't matter if we had been made to care about Uma's character. But Tarantino doesn't provide her with anything at all, just that she's taking revenge on an unseen Bill who killed her groom to be and a bunch of wedding guests. From the mass promotion of the movie, I have culled that Bill wanted to kill her because he was jealous that she was getting married and decided that no one could have Uma but him. But that actually isn't in the movie at all and I wonder how Tarantino expected to get that information across if he didn't have the press circuit to do so. We don't even know if Uma used to be in Bill's gang, or just a trained killer herself, or what the event was that triggered her defection, or whether Bill was even on the same side. Simple backstory that could have been solved in three or four lines of exposition dropped in throughout. So basically, we were just supposed to care, because.

I read about Tarantino taking pride in what movies he was going to mash into one, and what I took note of was his mention of Female Convict Scorpion, which is the best women-in-prison movie ever made, a surrealist masterpiece that includes a political commentary hiding in with the generic material. I had hoped that Tarantino would use some of the bizarre visual style that dominated that movie, or perhaps somehow incorporate the feel of the silent yet vicious performance of the lead of FCS. But Uma Thurman never really came across as anything else than a revenge pawn, never quite menacing, and I was always distracted by the occassional use of the stuntman, since her performance is primarily physical. Watch the scene where a fight is entirely played in silhouette at the Blue Leaves and see how Uma is suddenly much shorter and bulkier.

However, I don't quite understand what the complaint about the splitting of the movie is. At the end, I'd had enough of what was being offered, and it properly concluded on a cliffhanger. If it had been 3 hours, I probably would have had to go outside and take a walk, considering how exhausting the movie is.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I really liked it. I was concerned tht Miramax was splitting the film but I have to admit the split works, the revelation at the end concerning Uma ends the picture with the audience thirsting for more. I lie how QT is ready to take chances be devoting a significan amount to running time to having the anime sequence. The film is different when all the films coming out of hollywood feel the same.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Before I went to the movie with friends, we were wasting time in a record store beforehand and I heard two young guys talking about the movie and he described it several times as being "Awesome." I dont use the word very often but ya know, it fits.
Kill Bill Was F****N awesome.
I cant remember the last time where I was grinning during a movie because I was having so much fun.
Kill Bill was great fun. It was quirky, the dialougue was pure Quentin and the Cinematography and actions scenes were wonderful.

I kept thinking to myself, please dont stop and continue it here. I didnt want it to end.
the fight with Lisa Liu and her anterage was worth the price of admission.

What Tarantino is doing shows an enormous contempt for the audience, because he assumes that either they won't be familiar with the material and read it as entirely new, or the fan who does recognize will simply smile at recognizing the reference.

I disagree. I would you assume that Tarantino was selling his audience short because he is giving them references from different types of movies?
Anyone has ever seen a spaghetti western or kung fu flick knows that he is referencing these and adding a spin. Because he is doing this doesnt mean he is ripping things off.

 

[Steven Simon]

I also agree this movie is simply awesome. Uma was a real bad ass!!!! Very well done.... I agree with fellow members, they shoudln't have split to 2 films, but what the heck... We'll still all go and see the second one. NO sense complaining...

 

[Todd H]

I had a ton of things I wanted to put into my review. But when it came down to it, I found I could sum it up in one word....

WOW!!!!

This movie gets :star::star::star::star: 1/2 out of :star::star::star::star::star: (I gave it less than 5 for making me wait for vol. 2!)

And oh yeah...I think I'm in love with GoGo!

 

[Kevin Porter]

:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Wow.

Pros: Everything about this film. I'll cover a couple.

1. Uma Thurman. People complain about not caring about The Bride but I have no idea what they're talking about. Her performance was great plus she looked better than ever. She looked absolutely gorgeous in the scene where she comes into Sonny Chiba's place. You could have mopped my melted self off the floor. I don't think I've ever seen an actress look so beautiful since Ingrid Bergman told Sam to play it.
2. The opening. Ah yes, Tarantino goes back to his roots of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. with an ultra-cool scene before the opening credits. A scene like this was very much missed from Jackie Brown.
3. Chapeter 5: The House of Blue Leaves. If you were not completely entertained by this 22 minute masterpiece of a chapter you are probably dead. And don't even try to compare The Bride vs. The Crazy 88 and Neo vs. 100 Agent Smiths.
4. Bill. Bill just being Bill. One of the most insidious and enthralling villians of the decade (so far) and we don't even see his face.
5. Lucy Liu's little monologue at the meeting. A short but sweet little helping of QT's greatly missed dialogue. My friend pointed out to be that if you're auditioning for something and you can choose your own monologue, this is the one.
7. Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down). Nuff said.

Cons:
1. I thought that the school-girl's quirkiness was a little self-aware and over the top
2. The Crazy 88 fight scene in the House of Blue Leaves was so much to take in even after seeing it twice.
3. They totally underused "Battle Without Honor and Humanity" EDIT: The reason I say this is becaue I edited a baseball (Though I have no interest in the sport mind you) video together to the song. I cut it to song. Here, QT does not and cuts out a pretty big chunk of it. But in retrospect, I realize he didn't need flashy editing to get across his point. He probably used it better than I did.
4. Too little juicy Tarantino dialogue. The most memorable line was Buck saying what he was there to do. It reminded me of "Zed's dead"
5. I'm not a fan of anime so the sequence bogged down the story a bit. But I must admit, the sequence in the film was by far the best I've seen.
6. Not really a complaint about the movie but the soundtrack does not include memorable "Nobody But Me"


I agree with the descion to split the film. You wouldn't think there'd be so much to take in in a simple revenge story but there is. 100 minutes is almost too much. After seeing both films 3 times or so, then it would be interesting to see what it would be like as a 3 hour epic. But for now, Volume One will last me until February. One more thing...

DO NOT GO TO THE IMDB.COM TRIVA SECTION FOR VOLUME ONE. It spoiled one of the biggest things of Volume Two (for me at least). Vivca A. Fox thought it was alright to let people know The Bride's name before V2. Save yourself and do not go there.

EDIT: The Todd posted his the same time I did. I guess the general census is WOW. And I accidentally listed Bang Bang as a con. I fixed that.

 

[Stephen_L]

Al, I'm with you on your opinion of the film. It seemed to be little more than a high-speed collage of movie references without any real story or characters to support it. I love a good fight sequence and Tarantino has a terrific visual style and flare, but a film must be more than fights, style and flare. I guess what bothers me is how QT short-changes the audience. Not only did I not care about any of the characters in the film (despite good work from Uma Thurman), its clear from the film that QT doesn't want me to care. All his energy was invested into style and artifice. I enjoy films that are heavily invested with a director's style (the Coen brothers and Tim Burton come to mind), but there still must be a story to tell and more importantly, characters to care about.

 

[Arman]

Okay, I will be direct to the point and am ready to give an A+ masterpiece grade no less to Kill Bill Vol. 1. It is spectacular in every way and this year's most extraordinarily stylish and creative (even beats American Splendor) film. I love every frame of this over the top mind blowing and blood-spilling homage (and parody) to HK martial arts and Kurosawa samurai classic films.

 

[GerardoHP]

There isn't a single thing that I didn't like about this movie. I went in thinking, "Gee, more martial arts" and came out completely overwhelmed by Tarantino's visual style, his phenomenal sense of humor and his enormous love for the movies, especially those I grew up with in the sixties, seventies and eighties.

Also, I don't think it's the fight scenes that rock in KB, although they do. But we've seen it all before. I think it is the context in which the fights occur that makes them so exciting and fun to watch.

And I think even Uma Thurman, who I was never crazy about, is absolutely flawless in KB.

Wow! It took my breath away.

 

[Chris]

I've been waiting to post a review until I could see this film again. And now that I have, I feel comfortable in saying this may be one of the greatest homages to a genre I've witnessed on the screen, period.

The moment I realized this, was during an over-the-top bloody sequence, in which I realized that the sequence was not done so much for the gross-out factor as it was for the over-the-top statement factor; true of so many 1970s movies in the genre. Tarrintino's easy movements between sequences seemed to play up some fantastic cinematography, and the story telling was done in such a fluid manner that the action sequences built the story just as dance within a ballet can build a story.

The element of using 1./2./3. etc as well as chapter movements provided reasoning, and background, for the happenings.. the unique movement between "here is where she is now" followed by "Here's how we got here" made for a convincing storyline, and made the end far more important the second time I watched the movie.

When I watched the first time, it did not hit me; but the second time, I realized the importance of the sequence with Vivica Fox & her daughter; and the telling of Hantzo regarding vengence.. and the need to do so without emotion.. at that moment, she let emotion slip back into the event, to justify to the child.

The Bride is setup as a character on just a trip of vengence, which is the heart of the film, but put into the context the second time around, there is the storyline that I also enjoyed; that the Bride is not a merciless killer only; and whether or not that is her success or downfall has yet to be witnessed.

There were moments in this film where the cinematography was so good, I could not believe what I was witnessing. In a moment during the fight sequence with Cottonmouth, as snow was falling, the images being presented took on an artistic flair that is hard to render on the big screen, a certain contrast between serenity and the action we had previously witnessed.

While several will no doubt be upset that the film was split in two, the ending provided a fantastic cliff-hanger especially when tied with the beginning, in that the bride acknowledges her granting of mercy.. and her desire for open confrontation.. which makes for the chance of a great second film.

Tarrintino's dialogue was sparse, but when it was present, it was dead on. The narrative provided a backdrop that weaved everything present together and provided the audience with a reason to not only root on the main character, but to feel at least somewhat sympathetic for her adversaries.

Tarrintino's references to previous films, his own and others, provided that kind of "insider" feeling toward members of the audience who knew where he was coming from, but were not done in such a way to exclude audiences who had never seen those films.

The soundtrack provided the right kind of feeling for the movie, and the sound effects were done in such a way as to suck you into the events.

I'll definitely see this at least one more time, and this is a "must own" once it appears on DVD; I only wish I could get a HD version of this, if only for the scene with Cottonmouth, which will stick in my head for it's elegance in contrasting images.

:star: :star: :star: :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

I'll be brief, since I feel I need to see it again before really reviewing it...but first impressions were that it was an excellent, hugely entertaining film, that to me felt like it needed a bit of editing and a release as a single, 2 1/2 hour film. We might see that version on DVD eventually, but for now, this works and works well. Uma Thurman is perfect as the Bride and to my surprise, Lucy Liu is perfect as well! In fact, everyone in the film is just about perfect! The black and white sequence left me a little cold, because it really is pointless (and just doesn't look as good as the rest of the sequence does in color). So, minor quibbles aside (which will hopefully be rectified on my favorite shiny disk format next year), Kill Bill is Tarantino's best film since "Pulp Fiction", certainly the most re-watchable.

:star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2 out of 5

-Dennis

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

One quick comment.

Yuen Wo Ping is brilliant and all, but I really wish he'd stop showing people using horribly incorrect grips on samurai swords (he did the same thing in Matrix: Reloaded). Either he should find a good kendo expert to work with, or insist that directors use Chinese swords instead of katanas.

 

[Jeremy Allin]

Let me just echo the comments here saying that KILL BILL was absolutely increcible!!

:star: :star: :star: :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

It was such a fun movie ... the dialogue, the action ... everything made for a VERY satisfying movie-going experience. I bought the soundtrack yesterday and have been listening to it non-stop since!

I can't wait for February!

 

[Brajesh Upadhyay]

Bloodiest flick I've seen in a while.

:star: :star: :star: :star: (out of 5)

 

[Jimmy Nugent]

to sum it up- A childhood Saturday afternoon... cartoons and Kung-Fu theater.

Can't wait for a second trip in the wayback machine. Hurry up KB2!

Junkie Jim

 

[Morgan Jolley]

My brother is a stage actor. When he watches a movie, he usually focuses on the story, plot, writing, and acting. I prefer the visual side of a film. I watch the editing, cinematography, special effects, and camera work.

With that said, I was the only one of the two of us who really liked Kill Bill.

The story jumps all over the place, sure. The acting ain't the best in the world, but like the acting in The Matrix movies, it serves its purpose very well. The writing isn't the best, but it's more for effect and being "cool" than anything else.

Every piece of this film is good, not great. It's in how well everything comes together that makes it great. The sometimes cheesy dialogue, odd editing pace, drawn out dialogue sequences, and overtly unrealistic gore make this movie a true experience. You're not in the real world anymore. You're watching something that isn't real, and rather than try to emulate real life, this movie has the balls to do whatever it wants. It doesn't want to start in the beginning? Then it won't. It doesn't want to show the audience everything from the beginning? Then it won't.

Fortunately, this movie DOES want to be cool. I'd say that the only real way to describe this movie is by using the word "cool." It's not style over substance, the style IS the substance. I'm sorry, but when a movie has action scenes that are THIS cool, it deserves a lot of credit.

But then again, what did the film really do that was THAT good besides the action? Nothing, frankly. The story is so-so, the acting average, and the writing is purposefully bad. Some of the lines are instant classics (such as one delivered by The Bride near the end of the movie to a bunch of her victims) while others are there either because of pop culture significance or because they might be cool.

In the end, this movie is just 2 hours of "wouldn't it be cool if right now this happened" moments. Anything wrong with that? Absolutely not. Just be sure you know what you're getting into.

:star: :star: :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

The most satisfying time at the movies I've had all year, and the best big-budget Hollywood film of the year. :star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2 out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[SteveGon]

Just got back from a screening.

I'm hardly an expert on the genre Tarantino is paying homage to, but I have seen a handful of the Zatoichi and Sword of Vengeance flicks. Kill Bill is as gleefully bloody as the latter series and that's a breath of fresh air considering the relatively neutered action fare we get these days.

Tarantino once again proves his naysayers wrong: the man can direct. The convoluted story in Kill Bill moves so fluidly you don't even notice the fractured timeline. His movies may not have the depth of Bergman, but he's a master stylist and even if said style is a pastiche culled from his encyclopedic knowledge of movies and infused with pop culture references, who cares? It's what you do with it that counts.

Kill Bill is a bloody barrel of fun.

:star: :star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star:

"She's the one dressed like a villain from Star Trek."

 

[MatS]

Brilliant and Breathtaking

welcome back QT

:star: :star: :star: :star: :star: