Hyped as much as the anticipated return of a superstar, indie-originating cinephilic director could be, Kill Bill is, in case you haven't heard, the fourth film by Quentin Tarantino. Everyone liked Pulp Fiction, even if they weren't sure why but their friends liked it too. And most people went back and saw Reservoir Dogs and liked that, plus Jackie Brown was kinda fun with some cool songs. If an impoverished student wished to boost the monthly Pot Noodle fund by doing one of those pointless, money wasting pop surveys, most people would say they like Tarantino's movies. When pressed to describe his films' popularity, the average particpant would struggle vainly for some in depth critique and then give up, before just spouting 'Just...because...y'know, they're so cool'. And y'know what? They'd be exactly right.
So, how cool is Kill Bill? The answer is obvious - Kill Bill is very cool. Very cool indeed. Uma Thurman plays the mysterious The Bride, shot in the head by her former partners in The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and left to die, in her wedding dress, and carrying her boss Bill's unborn child. Waking from her coma 4 years later, she immedately embarks on a vengeful mission to kill each and every one of her betrayers, and anyone else who tries to get in the way. The first volume of this two-parter sees The Bride (codename Black Mamba) head to suburban America in pursuit of Copperhead, and Japan to settle her score with Cottonmouth, dispatching hospital orderlies, a housewife and a horde of samurai-sword wielding Yakuza on the way.
Now, stop and think about why that movie sounds cool to you. It could be because, like Tarantino, you are a huge fan of old chop-socky samurai revenge movies and want to revisit these old classics with the power of Hollywood behind you. He has made no secret of the fact that pretty much all of what you see is pillaged from other, mostly 70s, Asian movies (and in fact, there are probably even more extreme nerds than he who will see his homage as actually just one big rip-off, but those people never leave their bedrooms), and he delights in putting on his own version of his boyhood favourites - he even has the cheek to pastiche his own previous successes, with the jumping time line and, most enjoyably, O-Ren Ishii and the Crazy 88's mimicry of the Reservoir Dogs entrance scene. However, for most people who watch it, the quintessential cool is instead ironic. Most people would not want to have to sit through an old samurai serial and endure the over-acting, wanton limb hacking and bloody geysers, but because Tarantino does it to a hip soundtrack with Uma in a Bruce Lee suit, it somehow becomes...well, yeah. Cool.
Tarantino is having a tremendous amount of fun in every single frame of this film. While watching it, you cannot help but be struck by the fact that, above all, he is a guy who loves, knows and understands the movies. In previous films he was lauded for his machine-gun scripts and glorious, often humorous violence. And while Kill Bill is his most gloriously violent movie yet, the script is very bare. What he revels in instead is his framing of shots, his camera movements; Kill Bill is more about Tarantino's skill as a director than as a script writer. He also tries his hand at anime, in the back story for O-Ren. This segment, while a risk (much like the amount of Japanese dialogue) is the kind of thing Tarantino can pull off with flair and is a great addition to the rest of the movie. This is mainly fight scenes choreographed by the newly-revered Yuen Woo Ping, he of The Matrix fame. And while on that subject, Kill Bill knocks the godawful Matrix Reloaded for six, especially in the protracted-fight-scene-versus-hordes-of-suits stakes (not yet a contender for a new Oscar category) which maintains interest by constantly changing pace, music, fighting styles and framing, while dispensing with over-hyped poorly rendered CG characters.
The debate about whether this should have been one release instead of two volumes is irrelevant, because this film is superb on its own, and Tarantino actually planned it in a chapter-based style which would work as a pre-show feature for matinees. He even adds a late, although some might think slightly desperate, enticement to bring you back. Unless you are an extreme movie nerd (in which case, go check if your Mum left your dinner tray outside your bedroom door), someone who doesn't appreciate ironically enjoying stuff you shouldn't actually like, or my Mum who will just frown deeper at each shorn body part, then Kill Bill is very, very, very cool indeed. |
