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Dancing_P [ 9.0 ]
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Oh baby. I was looking forward to this movie (like everyone else) and it did not disappoint, to say the least. Tarantino takes on grindhouse kung-fu with Kill Bill, which gives any action movie serious competition. Uma Thurman is The Bride, shot and left for dead (along with her husband, the preacher, the guests, her unborn child and the organ player) on her wedding day. The culprit? The mysterious Bill (David Carradine, never seen… in this half, at least) and his cronies (Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Lucy Liu and Darryl Hannah). After four years in a coma, she wakes up with one thing in mind: bloody, bloody revenge. Words cannot describe how freakin’ awesome this movie is. Tarantino has complete mastery of the material here; he knows his stuff so thoroughly that watching his film unfold is like watching a great painter at work. The film is never anything more than a kung-fu film, don’t get me wrong; there’s no real serious underlying theme, or at least not more than you’d expect from a kung-fu film. But Tarantino is so good at telling a story that it grasps you from beginning to start and leaves you reeling. The showdown at the House of Blue Leaves, which makes up roughly one third of the film, is so exhilarating and perfectly directed that it leaves you wanting more, right away. But of course, as everyone knows, Miramax split the film in half. I personally find nothing really wrong with this; even though I was ready to watch more, I doubt that, had the rest of the film been there, I would really have been so happy to see it. In any case, I think Miramax and Tarantino did the right thing (besides, the film will make more money, which seems bad… except who wants Tarantino to have a flop on his hands and not work for six years again?! Just see it.
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chapter11 [ 8.0 ]
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It's not as deep as the post-op cleansing of "Kill Bill Vol. 2," but it may be the more entertaining of the two. Quick, broadly-drawn, a choppy pastiche of seemingly disparate styles and themes, and given that extra oomph by pure old blood-splattered limb-littered glorious stretches of wanton violence, "Kill Bill Vol. 1" provides the aesthetic and adrenaline-rush kick needed to hook viewers into the overall arc of the story. Sure, they don't unveil the most complex characters until long after "Vol. 2" starts rolling, and come to think of it, "Vol. 2" gets all the good dialogue as well; but what "Vol. 2" lacks are the stunning action setpieces of this one, which houses what will clearly go down as one of the most memorable sequences ever laid to film. What amazes me about "Kill Bill" is that hearing a verbal summation of it makes it sound kind of like "Natural Born Killers," a pox i wouldn't want to wish on any film; but "Kill Bill" is loads of fun, boasting some of the most impressive cinematic limb-rendering in years, and .. just .. COOL.
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kafkaprowl [ 4.5 ]
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One, Uma Thurman looks more like a junky than a karate expert. Two, Tarantino has a serious foot-fetish that is really starting to annoy me. I appreciate Tarantino – he’s one of the few directors today that is deft enough to create lyrical moments in film: through a combination of sound and image Tarantino is able to create his own sense of illogic and humor. But this movie is too long (and I’m not even thinking about the second as yet unreleased half) and not very funny or interesting. Sure there are a couple “cool” scenes but cool is like the satisfaction you get when sneezing, it passes quickly and without any sort of real connective-resonance; you may whisper “hey Robert that was really cool” during the animation scene (assuming you have a friend named Robert) but that’s probably about it. Maybe you are the kind of person that likes to say “cool man” or “cool dude” a bunch of times when you are watching a movie, if that’s the case then this may be the movie for you. But if you are about seeing a good and cool movie and not a bad movie sprinkled with a couple cool scenes than go check out Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. Two movies that actually seem like they were written over the course of more than one night.
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gamer27 [ 8.5 ]
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It isn't fair for me to review this film. I only got to watch half of the movie, because my mom was watching the film with me and forced me to turn it off during the anime scenes.
During the parts that I saw I was inamered (sp?) with the story, diolaugue (sp?), and it's style. The one problem I had with it was the gore. Tarentino must have a thing for anime style gore.
with what I saw, I would give this movie a
***/12 out of ****
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Ncoherent [ 8.0 ]
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...the most fun i've had in a theatre in a long while...growing up as a fan of 70's/80's kung fu cinema KILL BILL vol. 1 brought back alot of great memories (i had a grin before the movie even began when i saw the Shaw Brothers logo)...
...this film looks amazing...very stylized...violent, but in a very weird & unrealistic way...the pace is brutal...so much so that i'm a little glad the film was cut in two...
...Uma Thurman is simply extraordinary...yes the role is very physical but...she gives a tour de force performance...
...the soundtrack to KILL BILL vol. 1 is a MUST buy...
...my only complaints about this film is character development & the dialogue i'm so used to from Tarantino...but then again..this is only half of the film...
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scottwblack [ 3.5 ]
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A bloody mess. Tarantino does himself in with overlong and cartoonishly violent martial arts scenes (I thought that the Blue Leaves sequence was never going to end) and an odd obsession with lead actress Uma Thurman's feet.
Second viewing: I liked exactly two things about this movie: 1) the creatively choreographed fight sequence between Uma Thurman and Vivica A. Fox and 2) Chiaki Kuriyama as teen killer Gogo Yubari. Otherwise, I found it to be bloody boring despite the numerous eruptions of graphic violence.
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Strangef8 [ 7.0 ]
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Uma Thurman plays The Bride, a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who wants out in order to get married and have a family. We all know that once you’re in, you’re in. So her Boss, Bill (David Carradine), shoots her in the head at her own wedding. Did I mention that she’s pregnant also? She does not die, but is in a coma for 4 years. When she wakes up, she goes out to get revenge against Bill and her former teammates.
Casting: I have no complaints on the casting except for one minor detail. Maybe I haven’t seen a lot of Uma Thurmans movies but it seemed that in a few scenes she was playing the same character from Pulp Fiction. The whole square finger motion thing really reminded me of Pulp Fiction. Otherwise, everybody was great. Michael Madsen is always a bad motherfucker and even though her character was the least memorable, Vivica Fox was good too. David Carradine just has the whole Crime Boss attitude down pat. Darryl Hannah has gained a lot more respect in my eyes as after Blade Runner, she hasn’t done anything to action oriented that I have seen. Lucy Liu – She is great in everything I have seen her in. Hell, her and Fish were the only reason to watch Ally McBeal. I think she should have played Deathstryke in X2. But, that’s just my opinion. Sonny Chiba guest stars as Hattori Hanzo and his introductory scene is great. The comedy in the scene makes it hard to believe that he is a master sword maker.
What a way to start a movie though, a bitchfight in the suburbs. Let’s you know that this will be an unrealistic yet intense and fun flick. I say unrealistic because if you were intent on killing someone who put you in a coma and helped take your baby, would a kid in the room stop you? On the other side, if you were a member of the “DiVAS”, wouldn’t you have better security for your family? Or would you even have a family? Another reason is the style, as Judi said “It’s like live action anime”. I prefer to think of it as taking Pulp Fiction, the Matrix and about a half dozen anime flicks and throwing them in a blender.
The fight scenes were great. Way over the top with the amount of blood but well choreographed and executed. After seeing Gogo with that ball and chain, the stereotypical Asian schoolgirl is no more in my mind. I’d be afraid to let here around my balls. Bad joke, I’m sorry.
Here are a couple pieces of trivia and questions. The officer that Michael Parks played at the beginning is the same character he played in From Dusk Till Dawn. His son in this is playing the same character he played in From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money.
As we were watching the scene where The Bride flies into Tokyo, I said that the miniatures of Tokyo were horrible. And that I had seen better miniatures in A Godzilla movie. While looking at IMDB for the best lines, there was a piece of trivia that caught my eye. It seems that the miniatures are from the Godzilla movie Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidorâ: Daikaijű sôkôgeki. Or Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack for those of us who don’t speak Japanese. How funny is that?
Some quirks of Quentin Tarantino are that I don’t understand. It seems that almost all of his movies are out of order. Why is that? And why is The Brides name bleeped out? I guess I need to watch it with the commentary on.
I prefer Pulp Fiction over this only for the story, but if I want some over the top violence and a woman who kicks ass fix, I’ll toss these in. I own both so obviously I like them. I don’t know if I will be doing a review on Vol.2 as Jordan aka Mr. Versatile, a member of my group – Reviews from the Couch, suggested I do Vol. 1 and he would do Vol. 2. With his permission I may post his review as a companion to this on my blog.
So until the Rabbit get’s his Trix,
Stay tuned.
Mitch
Best Lines:
The Bride: Those of you lucky enough to have your lives, take them with you. However, leave the limbs you've lost. They belong to me now. EXCEPT YOU, SOFIE! You stay right where you are!
The Bride: How did you find me?
Bill: [off screen] I'm the man.
Hattori Hanzo: I'm done doing what I swore an oath to God 28 years ago to never do again. I've created, "something that kills people." And in that purpose I was a success. I've done this, because philosophically I'm sympathetic to your aim. I can tell you with no ego, this is my finest sword. If on your journey, you should encounter God, God will be cut.
Title Card: "Revenge is a dish best served cold" - Old Klingon proverb.
The Bride: [Japanese] I need Japanese steel.
Hattori Hanzo: [Japanese] Why do you need Japanese steel?
The Bride: [Japanese] I have vermin to kill.
Hattori Hanzo: [English] You must have big rats if you need Hattori Hanzo's steel.
The Bride: [English] ... Huge.
O-Ren Ishii: You didn't think it was gonna be that easy, did you?
The Bride: You know, for a second there, yeah, I kinda did.
O-Ren Ishii: Silly rabbit. Trix are for kids.
The Bride: [spanking a young member of the Crazy 88s with her sword] This is what you get for fucking around with the Yakuzas!
[with a last spank, lets him go]
The Bride: Go home to your mother!
Earl McGraw: Son number one?
Edgar McGraw: Yeah?
Earl McGraw: This tall drink of cocksucker ain't dead.
Buck: My name is Buck, and I'm here to fuck...
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brian [ 8.0 ]
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First off let me start off by saying that this is no Charlies angels movie, so any parents with kids that happen to see the preview with Lucy liu and uma, and think oh hey maybe its like charlies angels with the martial arts etc. ITS NOT!! its one of the most bloodiest movies i've seen, almost every fight scene includes at least 2 gallons of blood lost. Definitly a Quentin Tarantino movie.. way more blood then Pulp fiction or Resivour dogs. The fighting scenes are awesome, if you can stand to watch them, Uma does a fantastic job, or at least her stunt double does. Amazing what can be done with a Katana.
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jim [ 7.5 ]
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You can't help but admire Quentin Tarantino's audacity, but it's still rather draining to watch so much non-stop gratuitous violence--even if it's cartoonish to the point of being genuinely funny. Perhaps it would have gone down easier if he'd mixed in a little old-fashioned character development, ŕ la Jackie Brown.
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Corto [ 9.5 ]
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This is what we've been waiting for: Quentin goes genre-tripping big time! Kill Bill is about why Tarantino, I and others loved kung fu- and samurai movies when we were young. It is also a work of amazing cinematic skill and a statement of what popular films can be.
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jeff_v [ 8.0 ]
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Surprisingly, I don't think this film was hampered by being split in two. It ends in a good spot, after a long and exhausting battle. The format fits into a revenge serial ala Lone Wolf and Cub (and the showdown at the House of the Blue Leaves reminded me of the scores of samurai dispatched by the Lone Wolf in those movies), and there's really no need to have it all wrapped up in one film.
As long as you take Kill Bill for what it is: the most outlandish, perfectly realized grindhouse action flick ever made by Hollywood, you won't have to fret that it's shallow, glorifies violence, and lacks three-dimensional characters. I mean, duh. That's what those movies do. As such, there's a ceiling on how high I can rate something like Kill Bill, as it's an inherently limited film.
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| Weighted Rating | : 7.3 |
| No. Ratings | : 28 | |
| No. Reviews | : 15 | |
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