KILL BILL: VOL. 1 (2003)
Tagline: On October 10th...a Quest for Revenge begins
(Action, Revenge, Double and Triple Dog Revenge) [R]
Its mercy forgiveness and compassion I lack…not rationality.
In this one a bridal party is murdered and the pregnant bride is nearly killed by her former lover and boss Bill. She survives but is sent into a 4-year coma. In the process, she loses her baby and now had decided to exact her revenge on those that destroyed her life. See, this isn’t just any bride… this is former assassin Beatrix Kiddo, aka, Black Mamba. Her first target is O-Ren Ishii, aka, Cottonmouth, but she’ll have to face members of the “Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, The Crazy 88, and other shady characters before she can finally get herself in a position to…kill Bill.
First off, I am in that crowd of people that can’t stand most of the movies that Quentin Tarantino directed. Both of the KILL BILL flicks and a few others are exceptions to that rule. My only live encounter with him was a horror festival back in 1996 or so and he was basically a real a-hole to the only other person on the stage who had actually worked for him on FROM DUSK TILL DAWN at the time. So needless to say my personal opinion of him is low. He also did some other stuff I am not going to rehash. That trip overall was actually pretty epic, I got to meet Heather Langenkamp, so it’s all good.
When we start digging into this thing, if don’t like ultraviolent movies this isn’t going to be for you. It’s not super “gory”, it’s just ultra-violent, kind of like being in a drive-thru at Mcdonald's when the shake machine breaks down. What is different about this film is that there is a lot of actual storytelling here. This movie is essentially a storytelling master class. The backgrounds are rich, and the score is near perfection. The soundtrack isn't my favorite, but it's what they were going for, so it gets a pass. This isn’t just all action all the time, which I don’t mind, but it’s an in-depth invite into this world where the moral lines are so blurred, you almost expect them to be thrown out the window with each passing scene.
When I first saw this, I wasn’t that pumped about the crazy back-and-forth style. I mentioned that Cottonmouth was Black Mamba’s first target. That scene though, doesn’t finally get presented till the last chapter of the film. However, as time went on and I watched this a few more times, the disjointed style grew on me and now I appreciate it more than if the story had been told straight forward.
Acting wise this is a top-notch cast. Uma Thurman is still making movies, but this is arguably her best film aside from KILL BILL VOL. 2. She kills the role of Black Mamba in this thing. Lucy Liu is very good as Cottonmouth, but this isn’t her best film. I thought she was better in THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS and SHANGHAI NOON. Vivica A. Fox (INDEPENDENCE DAY) doesn’t get a ton of screen time in this as Copperhead, but in the scenes she gets, she does a solid job. We also get a bit of Daryl Hannah in this. She might always be best known for SPLASH, but she’s done a bunch of other stuff and was even in a random shark flick called SHARK SWARM.
I don’t want to say that KILL BILL: VOL. 1 is the best 70’s style martial arts homage ever made, but when we start looking at some of the top action flicks, I think it’s fair to throw this into that conversation. As I stated earlier, this thing isn’t going to be for everyone but it’s extremely well thought out, well produced, and in my opinion this is to this day the best cinematic experience Tarantino ever offered.
This one gets a 7 out of 7. I like these kinds of over-the-top quirky, interesting, well-told action flicks. That is probably also why I liked BULLET TRAIN so much.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF MIRAMAX AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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