Kill Bill: Vol.1 [R]

Four years ago, a massacre took place breaking up a wedding with the groom and celebrants being mercilessly slaughtered whilst the Bride was shot point blank in the head and her unborn child stolen from her womb. Now, the Bride has woken up and wants revenge, so she plots a great vendetta against those who wronged her: former co-workers in what was known as the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and, in particular, her former boss, Bill. 

The fourth movie from writer/actor/director Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 assuaged the fears that, after a six-year hiatus, he had lost his inspiration and magic filmmaking touch. Hells not the case! Kill Bill is a delightfully gruesome and slightly sadistic movie that used everything at its disposal. The simple plot, the film references and samples, and the brilliant soundtrack make this movie a real must-see, promising an even better and deliciously thrilling sequel with its cliffhanger finale. 

Four years ago, a massacre took place breaking up a wedding with the groom and celebrants being mercilessly slaughtered whilst the Bride was shot point blank in the head and her unborn child stolen from her womb. Now, the Bride has woken up and wants revenge, so she plots a great vendetta against those who wronged her: former co-workers in what was known as the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and, in particular, her former boss, Bill. 

There are a lot of elements from timeless genres at work here to make this movie the hit that it was. We see Tarantino really indulging his weakness for Asian action and cinema with the movie’s sparring and astonishing fight scenes; all with the most beautiful of samurai swords, the stealthiest of grace and tension, and there is even some violent anime that creeps in to play. 

Quite a few of the movie’s scenes were actually filmed at the legendary Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong. We also see a bit of the classic Spaghetti Western steal into the mix, with Uma Thurman’s character, known only as the Bride or by her assassin codename Black Mamba, being an obvious inspiration from Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name. 

Uma’s performance was staggering, combining the stoics of Eastwood’s Man with No Name, Bruce Lee’s kung fu and martial art prowess, and Charlie’s Angels-style seduction and feminism. 

The film’s editing achievement is also something that deserves an accolade because it really does grab the attention. With a simple story of a merciless vendetta, the film is made up of flashbacks, frames within frames, and contains great, jagged, chunks that occasionally cut from colour to black and white; a technique that confused me at first but then made me appreciate the film all the more, probably because the sudden cut to black and white occurred through a particularly brutal and bloody battle, through all of which I was cringing. 

On that note, the sound editing was just genius and everyone who worked on that should be given free drinks. The marriage of the stunning fight scenes and the disgusting but compelling squelching and hissing sounds of blood splattering and limbs being hacked off was just juicy… there really is no other word for it. 

Starring Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Chiaki Kuriyama, and Gordon Liu, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is a great movie packed with violence, gore, blood, revenge, stunning action, and a soundtrack that provides most of the comic relief. Although very brutal and bloody and not for the weak-stomached, it’s a film that I enjoyed greatly.