Kill Bill vol. 1
Posted by Doug Tue, 14 Oct 2003 16:15:00 GMT
I went to see “Kill Bill” last night. This the martial arts film directed by Quentin Tarantino starting Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, and David Carradine. I was totally unprepared for this film. I thought, “Uma Thurman, tights, martial arts. What more does a guy need?” I had to look it up in the dictionary, but I think the best word for this movie is macabre. I was shocked by how gory the film was. The very first scene sets the stage. All you see is what may be Uma Thurman’s head badly beaten with her breathing raggedly. She says, “The baby is yo,” and then BAM the guy shoots her in the head. Then the credits roll to the tune of Cher singing “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)”. I think I can describe this movie by comparing it to two other movies and a TV show: Payback, SE7EN, and The Wild Wild West. The movie is about revenge. The whole tone of the film is geared towards that. It’s like “Payback” in that way. It’s also like “Payback” in how violent the film is. However, it’s not like “SE7EN” at all. That film was both gory and violent and repulsive. “Kill Bill” is shockingly violent and gory, but not realistically so. The gore is almost comical. It’s more like the scene with the dark knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Lots of limbs get chopped of and lots of blood spurts out like a high pressure hose with a leak. The other notable aspect of this film is Tarantino’s use of ‘70s style production with liberal use of sound effects and colors to enhance the scene. “Payback” attempted to be realistic. “Kill Bill” makes no such attempt. I’ll throw in another movie to the mix of comparisons: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The fight directory for both films was Yuen Wo Ping, but they have little else in common. There was lots of “wire-work” for flips and such. However, “Crouching Tiger”’s fighting was stylized; it was almost a dance. “Kill Bill” was just raw violence with little fighting style. In short, I don’t think I can recommend this film. Will I see Kill Bill Vol. 2? I think I have to. You might ask why I didn’t walk out of the film. The “problem” was that the story and the acting was good enough to keep me wondering. I kept wondering how this was all going to play out. I knew Uma Thurman was going to win. I knew she was going to kill everyone she set out to. I even knew roughly how (mostly likely with their head cut off). The film really plays up the background on the characters; but does so in a tantalizingly slow way that leaves you guessing and wondering. BTW, I’m not including a link to All Movie’s review of “Kill Bill” because I think it gives too much away. UPDATE Jamie Zawenski says: ”’Kill Bill’ totally rules. Go see it immediately.” Hmm, whatever.
