Kill Bill: Volume One
Cast
Uma Thurman .... The Bride/Black Mamba
David Carradine .... Bill
Lucy Liu .... O-Ren Ishi/Cottonmouth
Daryl Hannah .... Elle Driver/California Mountain Snake
Vivica A. Fox .... Vernita Green/Copperhead
Directed by
Quentin Tarantino
Rater #2 has description and review.
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
9/10. Eleven years ago, a young man named Quentin Tarantino released his
first film, Reservoir Dogs. It became a huge hit, and two years later
he released Pulp Fiction. In 1997, he made his least acclaimed film,
Jackie Brown. The long six year wait is over. Kill Bill: Volume One
has been released into theaters with a great reception, and possible
more violence than Pulp Fiction. Although I don't know much about the
man, I can guess that Tarantino is not a modern Hollywood director.
As he was working on Kill Bill, he didn't allow "squibs" to squirt
fake blood, and he doesn't cast the most famous Hollywood stars.
Knowing this, I was surprised that he allowed Miramax to split this
movie up into two parts in order to get twice the revenue. Of course,
if this movie hadn't been split into two, it probably would have been
NC-17.
Uma Thurman isn't a name that rolls off of the tongue, nor is it the
first name you think of when you hear the word "actress". That's
where Tarantino's work comes in: having worked with her in Pulp
Fiction, he knows her. Any mainstream actress would have not
accepted, for it is "too hard of a part" to be a martial arts star.
Thurman was perfect for her role as "The Bride". She's an assassin
who has been in a coma for four years, brought there by the title
character, Bill (David Carradine) and others, including O-Ren Ishii
(Lucy Liu), Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), and Vernita Green (Vivica A.
Fox). She simply wants vengeance, for not only did they nearly kill
her, but they also killed her unborn baby.
Put simply, Kill Bill is the most entertaining movie of the year.
It's not light and breezy, but it's never boring and really keeps a
smile on your face for most of the time. Tarantino goes from quick
thrills to a heavy-handed sequence in the middle of the film, but the
transition is smooth, which makes it bearable. The fight scenes were
amazing. Uma Thurman doesn't look like someone you would normally
equate with "action star", and that's what makes her even better in
her role. She plays it was fierceness and the right approach. She had
the discipline to learn the complicated moves for all of her fights.
They weren't wanna-be kung-fu fights like in The Matrix, but real
ones. There were barely any special effects for them, and they looked
spectacular.
Of course, where would Tarantino be without controversy? The violence
is much debated about, mainly for the cause of the two parts. Many,
including me, say that the main reason that Kill Bill was split into
two separate movies was to keep the MPAA rating for both as an R,
instead of one NC-17 movie. The violence was gratuitous and extreme,
constant throughout the movie, but it didn't seem real in the least.
I've seen much of the same in the Grand Theft Auto video games. All
of the blood did look real, however, and made me believe that it was
actual blood.
The cinematography, by Robert Richardson, is spectacular. He tries a
variety of styles: quick, MTV-style cuts, long, three minutes takes,
and views from every conceivable angle, and some inconceivable ones.
Another factor I loved about Kill Bill was how it tried, and
successfully, recaptured the cheesiness of the 70's action movies
Tarantino wanted to make this movie like. Although those movies
didn't shift around time like Tarantino does here, it had a low
budget feel to it (like in the opening, before, and during the
credits), and a plain feeling to it.
There were only two things I didn't like about Kill Bill. First was
how cheaply Tarantino tried to tone down the violence in a few scenes
by either making the fight in black-and-white, or just having the
silhouettes fight. The other was the ending. I wanted Kill Bill to go
on longer, I enjoyed it so much. It left with such a cliffhanger
ending, which revealed something shocking about The Bride, who, in
100 minutes and is actually a despicable person, I grew to like as a
character. Other than that, if you can stomach it, go out right now
to see Kill Bill.
Rater #3
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #4
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content.
Running time: 110 minutes
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