Starring: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Darryl Hannah, and more... Director: Quentin Tarantino Genre: Action & Adventure
in this film noir tale written and directed by quentin tarantino, an assassin called the bride (uma thurman) *her character's real name was not revealed as it was beeped everytime someone said it* is shot at her wedding by her employer, bill (david carradine), and other members of their assassin circle. she survives, though a bullet in her brain keeps her in a coma for five years. setting out for some payback, the bride hunts down the various assassins, saving bill for last. this is the first half of a planned two-part movie.
much of kill bill feels like watching a long-lost king reclaim the throne from unworthy pretenders, as tarantino reminds us why his is a style that so many have tried to imitate but have yet to duplicate. look past the epic fight scenes, the stomach-turning moments of queasy depravity and the literal fountains of blood, and tarantino's true talents are still startlingly obvious under the gore and gloss.
some of tarantino's stylistic tricks in the most violent scenes -- a flashback done in japanese animation, a fight sequence transforming into scratched, stuttering black-and-white -- are simply brilliant and shows how genius tarantino to combine the two medium in one presentation smoothly. thurman gives a brilliant performance in a genre film, demonstrating in every fight, slash and blow the pain and suffering that have made them necessary.
the whole ensemble and crew rise to the challenge, especially soundtrack composer and hip-hop genius The RZA. the cheap, obvious -- and perfect -- cliffhanger has me eagerly eyeing volume 2, but the pure power on display has me looking forward to Tarantino's next project even more. the 'cut' at the end was damn good, to even wants you to expect what's gonna happen in the next epidode. hat's off to the editing director. hilarious, violent, depraved, geeky, sad, beautiful and full of gorgeous images and ugly wounds, the bride's far-ranging quest to Kill Bill is the long-awaited resurrection of tarantino.
just like any other of tarantino's movies, he always play around with the time plot. forward, present, flashbacks, he plays it well. in the beginning of this movie, he set the tone by preparing them as if you were reading a comic book, only with better version. it even has chapters and title to each one of them. bill's accomplices, although pictured as bad-ass muthafuckas the bride is getting revenge from, they have strong characters that you get to fall in love with their cool style, personally i love the picturesque of o-ren ishii (lucy liu), the queen of tokyo underground mafia. the combination of the japanese anime to the samurai warrior scenes and to the fights, it was just hillarious as it is portrayed in a beautiful scenes, almost typical of the old-school japanese movies. not to mention the anime comes to life, along with the gush of blood on every victim the bride kills. it was just hillarious.. yet it was so cool!
the only setbacks i feel was the amount of violents in this movie. but hey, it's tarantino's movie.. and with the feel of the comic presents.. it was just acceptable, as long as you don't bring along kids to the movie theater. however, i was impressed that not once in this entire bloodbath do they use guns, well maybe except the first time when bill shot a bullet to the bride's head and left her with iron skull, in which they didn't really show it in graphic detail. other than that.. everyone either use knives or samurais or chain ball. it was also hillarious to see that the airlines has a special compartment for samurai in each passenger seat, and people can carry the samurai in and out the planes. imagine that! it was hillarious as it is ironic. it is definitely a must-see movie of the year! can't wait for the second volume.
quote (shown in writing at the beginning of the chapter): revenge is a dish best served cold. - old klingon proverb