'Kill Bill vol. 1' review

Originally written the week of Oct. 6th/03

Rating: **** out of ****

I’m going to cut right to the chase. “Kill Bill Vol. 1” blew my freakin’ mind! I have seen few films of this magnitude. I don’t care how you say it, 2 thumbs up, 4 stars – the film is perfect. I mean, it is perfect in every sense: the script, the acting, the cinematography, the direction, the choreography, the animation – all were flawless.

Let’s break this down one element at a time, shall we? I’ll start with my favorite aspect, the direction. Quentin Tarantino is by far one of the most innovative, explosive, and over-all ballsy directors going right now. Who else would start there movie with a beautiful woman getting her head blown off? And then to top it off, he emblazons the phrase, “The 4^th Film by Quentin Tarantino” across the screen. Few directors would have the moxie, or the ego to do that after only making three previous films and be able to get away with it. However, his films are not just films that you watch. They’re films that you strap in and enjoy the ride! Let’s look at his roster. The films that he’s directed: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2. Those are just the films that he’s directed himself. Others that he has been involved in are: True Romance, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Natural Born Killers. All of these films have adrenaline written all over them.

Next, we have the oh-so-brilliantly written script. Aspects of all the classic Japanese action films are present in Tarantino’s work here. We see pieces of Kurosawa’s films, the exaggeration of violence as in many Japanese anime features such as “Akira” or “X” - especially during the 10 minute anime sequence which was fantastic to say the least - and aspects of almost every fighting style in the action scenes from “The Matrix” to those of Bruce Lee. In fact the outfit worn by Uma Thurman is an exact replica of the one that Bruce Lee wore in his last film. Tarantino must absorb these films through his skin through osmosis.

One aspect that was particularly interesting was the vibrant color of the film. It had the potential to be a very dark and violent film, and violent it was! However, for having such dark subject matter, it was as colorful and visually stimulating as a children’s television show. Some of the bloodiest scenes in the film are set against a bright backdrop of yellows and whites. One scene that stands out in my mind in particular is the breathtaking fight scene between The Bride (Thurman) and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) set in a snowy garden sequence.

The cinematography and fight choreography are eye candy to put it simply. Every angle you can imagine - oblique, high, low, mid-shots, even a cool bird’s eye angle inside Vernita Green’s house - were used to make the every second of the film as visually stimulating as possible. Flashy editing, camerawork incorporating some gorgeous black and white cinematography by ace helmsman Bob Richardson, as well as some Grand Guignol* humor, add to the frantic pacing and at times plain hilarious amount of bloodletting. This all makes for an entertaining if not stomach-churning experience in filmmaking.

The shame is that a masterpiece of filmmaking such as Kill Bill Vol. 1 will go well overlooked by the Academy and many other Awards Panels. Sure, ‘Pulp Fiction’ was nominated for seven Academy Awards, but only took home one for Best Original Screenplay. I think even those on the Academy knew that if Tarantino wasn’t given that one at least, then there would be a massive revolt on the Academy members. I’m talking revolution here.

But something tells me that Kill Bill won’t even be given the honor of that disrespect. It will probably be one of many great films such as Gangs of New York, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Memento, and Fargo along with many others that are constantly overlooked by the Academy. They either are overlooked completely or maybe are given one award just so they can say they gave the film one for good measure.

But that’s just my pet peeve.

* A theatre in Paris where some pretty twisted stuff happened for the amusement of others