Kill Bill, Vol. 1



Kill Bill is, of course, the much ballyhooed 4th film by Quentin Tarantino. It's practically a movie made for me. I'm a big fan of all the various kinds of exploitation films that world cinema created in the 1970s, and Kill Bill will try to incorporate all of them. The film has been split in half, so I'm really writing about a work in progress.

In Kill Bill, Vol. 1 we are introduced to The Bride (Uma Thurman), a woman-with-no-name character who was left for dead years before by her former employer, an assassin named Bill. The Bride wakes from a coma and immediately sets out to kill Bill and all the henchpeople who were involved in the hit on The Bride's wedding.

I've been kind of amused by how many newspaper reviews have claimed that Kill Bill, Vol. 1 is an homage to Tarantino's beloved Shaw Bros. kung fu flicks. While a Shaw Bros. vibe will certainly come into play in the second part when we see training scenes with The Bride and a Pei Mei character, this first chapter actually takes it's cues from 1970's Japanese exploitation, movies with fountains of blood like The Street Fighter (1974) and Lone Wolf and Cub (1972). There's even an anime sequence. Given a budget and artistic freedom those Japanese filmmakers never had Tarantino has created an homage that is almost completely entertaining if slight. The highlight is a massacre in a Japanese night club that leaves dozens of body parts littering the dance floor in a scene that rivals the lawnmower scene in Dead Alive (1992). It looks like Vol. 2 looks like it may have a bit more meat, though almost by default less blood.

All that being said, this is probably my least favorite Tarantino film, and when I thought about it was obvious why. With Pulp Fiction (1994) and Jackie Brown (1997) he was obviously inspired by 70's exploitation, but he surpassed his models by a lot. Here, I'm not sure he's done that. The fights, which are the whole point, are very, very good but I can think of many that are better. The fights in Drunken Master 2 (1994), or those in Fist of Legend (1994). Even the climax of Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (1972). Maybe Vol. 2 will change my mind.

Posted: Sat - October 11, 2003 at      

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