Starring: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, David Carradine, Vivica A. Fox
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

To call Kill Bill a dark comedy would be an understatement. The movie is so appallingly violent that I could barely stand it after a while. People made disparing remarks about my squeamishness. I was called a Fife... Well, that's pretty much it. But the pain of their barbs will scar me for life.

The movie's plot revolves around the Bride played by Uma Thurman, who was the sole survivor at her wedding. During her nuptials the evil Bill and his goons kill everyone in site. Well, almost everyone. The bride survives a gunshot to the head and after a four year coma is out seeking revenge.

Bizarre imagery and symbolism abound. But not as much as the over the top violence and brutality. Normally I love over the top violence. I was completely unphased when I saw Once Upon a Time in Mexico and a blast from a gunshot rips the skin from the villains knees revealing shattered bone. However, I think Quentin Tarantino brings his violence to a new level by emphasizing the suffering of his victims. Quentin's characters suffer and squirm during their murder and twitch eerily afterward.

But apart from that I found some of the scenes extremely sad for lack of a better word. The theme of the movie seemed to have something with a reversal of gender roles. Mainly in the character of Uma Thurman who is a woman Samurai of sorts but also in many other minor details of the film. For example, there is a scene in which the Bride is given a sword from a man wearing a woman's Kimono while she herself wears the male Kimono. There are other things. The result however is about three scenes in which women are maimed and suffer horrible deaths often in front of their children! That ruined the mood for me. Perhaps if there was a point to it all I could take it. But if there was a point I missed it and what is left over is a spoof of old Kung Fu movies.

Still, the directing is undeniably very good. I love the way Quentin Tarantino can linger on seemingly trivial details and make that the center of your universe for an indefinate amount of time. Even watching Uma try to will her paralyzed muscles back to life was interesting. He pays meticulous attention to every shot. But what I don't like is that every shot amounts to nothing. There's not really any deep story. There's not any social commentary. No humor that I could appreciate. It's just a collection of symbols and disturbing imagery.

I once thought I was forever desensitized to gore and violence. I saw Robocop at a very young age. I laughed when John Travolta blew Phil Lamarr's head off in Pulp Fiction. But I have not yet found the sight of a mother getting brutally murdered in front of her child and think it was funny, entertaining or even remotely fascinating. As a result of that, and maybe my mood that day, I didn't really enjoy this movie that much.

MastaCSG
Eight

DroopyMcC		I disagree with theories of symbolism and message. There are none. This movie is a straight homage/rip-off of 1970s kung-fu violence-fests and that's all that should be taken from it. Yes, it's really violent, but I remain fascinated by the film and its direction. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you can handle it, it's not to shabby.
Jack