07/12/09 - Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003, 111 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266697/

I'm a big Tarantino fan. I appreciate the work and dedication he puts into his films. He always adds tons of subtle nods to whatever served as inspiration for the movie. Further, the music he selects for scenes is up there with Scorsese for its greatness. However, I'd seen Kill Bill: Vol. 1 a long time ago and wasn't that impressed. Choosing to give Kill Bill another chance I start Vol. 1 with the intention of watching Vol. 2 soon after.

Kill Bill is a story of revenge. Uma Thurman plays The Bride who is hunting down and killing the five people who she feel is most responsible for betraying her. In Vol. 1, we see her kill #2 on the list, Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox) along with #1 O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu). Bill is the fifth and final name on this list, but is only shown in this movie via flashbacks.

This is a Tarantino movie and so I always allow the acting to be a little sub par. To me it seems that Tarantino movies have extremely memorable characters, but, with the exception of Pulp Fiction, have cheesy acting. Usually the movie is plot-driven in a good way and Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is no exception. Next, with the full Kill Bill "movie" being a tribute to the old kung fu style of movies that Tarantino loves, we get plenty of over-the-top gore and action. It works for the movie because Kill Bill takes itself just seriously enough to be able to pull this extreme violence off.

One part that I didn't like about the movie was the flashback anime scene. Perhaps this will be more explored or used in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, but seeing as how it was only used for one real scene, it seemed out of place and unnecessary. Maybe Tarantino wanted the massive amount of blood in this scene (orchestrated by a teenage O-Ren Ishii's violence) to show O-Ren Ishii's character arc. Or maybe he had to do it that way since having a teenager do that much killing on screen would possibly make the movie unratable. In any case, it was somewhat jarring to the rest of the movie.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. Kill Bill is a fun experience but I don't feel it lives up to repeated viewings in the same sense that Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs would.