Kill Bill: Volume I
Starring: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, David Carradine
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Playing at: Esquire
Grade: A-
So Quentin Tarantino is back. That was quite the six year hiatus. If a list had to be produced of filmmakers who should take a leave of absence, moviegoers would have no problem summoning a few names. Yes, this includes you, John Woo, Steven Seagal (he has actually directed some of his own films), and Brian de Palma (with the exception of “Casualties of War”). But for most people, Quentin Tarantino’s name would definitely not make the cut.
The viewer’s relationship with Tarantino is not ambivalent; it is purely a love or hate situation. Viewers either see a brilliant artist or a no-talent hack. He has unquestionable accomplishments, which are exemplified in his direction of movies like “Pulp Fiction” (easily one of the best movies of the ’90s) and “Jackie Brown.” Then again, he was also involved with “From Dusk till Dawn” (which is thankfully starting to seep into oblivion) and the overrated “Reservoir Dogs.” After this weekend’s release of “Kill Bill: Volume I,” however, Tarantino boosts his track record by adding another stunning success.
The plot is fairly straightforward. The Bride, or Black Mamba (Thurman), is a pregnant assassin who is shot by her boss, Bill (Carradine), on her wedding day and left for dead along with the rest of the wedding guests. Remarkably, she survives, and after being in a coma for five years, she wakes to seek revenge on Bill and her fellow hired guns, known as the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad.
One of the movie’s opening scenes features the Bride and Vernita Green (Fox), the first on the Bride’s revenge list, engaging in a knife fight. Immediately the viewer is thrown into a fighting sequence which predicates the tone for the remainder of the movie. The primary focus is action based on revenge. There is no need for character development, plot intricacies, or underlying dramatic substance. As the story progresses, we become engrossed by the action and by the Bride’s primary objective of achieving her retribution.
The next person to die on the Bride’s list of vengeance is O-Ren Ishii (Liu), whose tormented childhood is vividly depicted in a long and very gory anime cartoon. Like it or not, Tarantino’s use of excessive gore and blood is a constant throughout the movie, and it is definitely a component of the confrontation between the Bride and Ishii. After the Bride defeats Ishii’s closest henchmen, Ishii calls upon the Crazy 88 Fighters to kill her. The scene bears resemblance to “The Matrix: Reloaded,” when Neo is subjected to an entourage of multiplying Agent Smiths. Here, however, the Bride cannot fly from the situation. As the fighting begins, the film becomes black and white, and then turns back to color to show the bloody aftermath when the Bride is victorious. This is trademark Tarantino humor, where the use of blood is so gratuitous, so over-the-top, that as a viewer you cannot help but laugh.
In terms of the story, the Bride has more victims on her list, including Bill, who has not yet been revealed; this creates anticipation for “Volume II,” set for 2004. Unfortunately, I do not have enough room to delve into the beautiful set pieces and some of the other great facets of this movie, which, oddly enough, do not come to mind until after the show. As I sat in the theater I found myself becoming absorbed in Tarantino’s frame of mind. Here we have a director in his prime, his talents on full display. For those Tarantino fans out there, I can assure you that this is the movie you have been waiting for. For those who are glad he took some time off, I am sorry to say he is certainly back and better than ever.
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