REVIEW: ‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1′ (2003)

An assassin named The Bride (Uma Thurman) has her wedding literally shot to pieces by her employer, Bill (David Carradine). Although left in a coma for four years, The Bride survives and begins a violent assault on her former organization, leading up to Bill.

In making Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino set himself up with a daunting task, to not only revive his film career but also to make the exploitation film genre popular again and even mainstream, while holding true to its roots. Delving into a broad range of bold and stylish tricks including split-screen and anime sequences, Tarantino splatters his canvas with violent martial arts action, gratuitous gore, and references to everything from Chinese kung fu and Japanese chambara classics to yakuza, sexploitation, and spaghetti western films, all synchronized to a playfully eclectic soundtrack featuring the likes of Nancy Sinatra, The 5.6.7.8.’s, and RZA. While these elements individually are not exactly innovative, Tarantino’s polished and gutsy blending makes for an eye-opening experience for the neophyte and a cheer-inducing thrill for longtime genre fans with visions of excesses gone by dancing in their heads.

Originally shot as one very long film, Miramax agreed to split Kill Bill in half rather than make cuts. A noble gesture in favor of the artist unless you wish to recall the frequent editing Miramax has applied to shorter foreign martial arts films deemed not quite ready for prime time audiences. But there’s no need to spoil the mood here. Kill Bill: Volume 1 is a martial arts film fan’s dream come true. No, it doesn’t have Jackie Chan versus Jet Li, but it does star three genre legends including Sonny Chiba (The Street Fighter), Gordon Liu (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin), and David Carradine (Kung Fu). It also gives Uma Thurman a chance to prove that with Yuen Wo-ping’s choreography you don’t want to mess with a woman on a mission, even when she’s in her first martial arts role.

Tarantino creates a magical world of violence and catchy names far removed from reality. Uma Thurman plays “The Bride,” a pregnant woman whose wedding is cut short by the arrival of her former lover and boss. Bill (Carradine) is leader of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DiVAS) who wipes out the entire wedding party. After taking a bullet to the head, The Bride wakes up four years later with the single-minded goal of exacting revenge on her former associates. Volume 1 sees The Bride take on Vernita Green (Vivica Fox) in a wicked knife fight in her suburban home. Then in flashback, we see how The Bride escapes what turned out to be a hideously compromising situation at the hospital courtesy of nurse Buck. Next, the film’s most graphic violence plays out in an animated sequence depicting the origin of The Bride’s first target, O-Ren Ishi (Lucy Liu). After picking up a custom made samurai sword in Okinawa from master craftsman Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba), The Bride arrives in Tokyo to face O-Ren who has become the top dog of the underworld. Of course, The Bride will first have to contend with O-Ren’s Crazy 88 fighters and her personal bodyguard, a 17-year old nutcase in a schoolgirl uniform named Go Go Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama).

Kill Bill may not have been meant to be in two parts originally, but it works out fairly well. Thurman’s final battle against Lui and her associates has a higher body count, more dismemberment and unrelenting action than most Hollywood action films in their entirety. This is definitely the showpiece of the first half and its great to see veteran kung fu star Gordon Liu front and center through much of it. Liu plays the masked leader of the Crazy 88’s, a band of 88 fighters working for O-Ren. He doesn’t say a word, but his actions speak for him. Tarantino scores big time on shooting the action scenes. Tired arguments over the rapid editing of modern martial arts films that replace skill is moot. This film is not so much about skill as it is about bloody extravagance in the tradition of Lone Wolf and Cub and Chang Cheh’s heroic bloodshed tradition at Shaw Brothers studios. The action is most inspired by Japanese swordplay or chambara films and borrows the air-compressed geysers of blood and plentiful decapitations that defined the bloodiest of them. Yet kung fu fans cannot help but recall the shear volume of bodies cut down in such Chinese classics from Shaw Brothers as The Golden Swallow or Secret Service of the Imperial Court.

Before the film even begins, longtime genre fans will be treated to an opening meant just for them as Shaw’s famous studio theme plays and their distinctive logo appears. Tarantino is rightly giving props to the greatest Chinese filmmaking body that ever existed and one that heavily influenced his filmmaking. In the first half there isn’t much trading of Chinese kung fu blows in the traditional sense. The focus is on bladed weapons, particularly the Japanese samurai sword which almost takes on a personality of its own. Sonny Chiba appears in the film’s funniest scene as a retired sword maker turned sushi bar server. This is about the only time we get to see Thurman relaxed. Anyone who is familiar with Chiba’s films, knows the man to be of great presence and intensity. Tarantino does what I least expected and gives the man known for his steeled screen persona the most humanity. There isn’t much room for humor in this film, unless you can recognize the over-the-top violence for what it is, wonderful nonsense inspired by films that once induced audiences to cheer wildly at the screen whenever a head popped off. Tarantino works some blatant humor in, most notably as punctuation to cap off Thurman’s killing of the 88. Tied for first place is Thurman’s “go home and cry to mama” scene or the image of a blood-splattered hall filled with the dead and dying that induces Thurman to instruct the living to leave their severed limbs behind.

With few appearances from the male contingent of the main cast, Volume 1 definitely belongs to the women. Uma Thurman as action star is hot. She may be a walking death distributor, dressed down and applied with more blood than make-up, but you never forget she’s a woman. She also has the presence and ballsy attitude to make her actions convincing. Vivica Fox is another attractive woman with a strong personality who plays wonderfully opposite Thurman. But the success of their violent confrontation hinges on the unexpected appearance of Fox’s young daughter in the film. Tarantino starts playing with the audience at this point and turns an otherwise mundane fight into a struggle with morality. Don’t worry, Quentin doesn’t go soft. A wickedly deviant Daryl Hannah is clearly being set up as Thurman’s main rival, but viewers will have to wait for Volume 2 to see the conflict resolution. As the first film’s main foil, Lucy Liu is hell in a kimono. She’s been typecast as the Asian action star for some time, but hasn’t been this much fun to watch since she gave Mel Gibson a run for his money in Payback. Again, Tarantino saves another confrontation from being standard by having character development occur during the fight. An exchange of cuts actually brings the two closer just as they redouble their efforts to kill each other. The film’s guilty pleasure comes in the form of Chiaki Kuriyama (Battle Royale) as the ball and chain wielding and school girl uniformed Go Go Yubari. After dispatching the 88’s, Uma begs her to leave without incident. Then Go Go declares her begging to be weak and you know a good fight is about to begin. This is where Tarantino throws in his oddball weapon reference, to brilliant effect. The very old school resolution to this struggle is one of the film’s most gruesome and effective.

Of the film references Quentin uses that I’ve neglected to mention thus far, none is more apparent than the Bruce Lee motifs beginning with Uma’s striking apparel towards the end. Her yellow track suit is of course taken directly from Bruce Lee’s Game of Death, while music from The Green Hornet starring Lee is also used. Lastly, the masks worn by the Crazy 88’s are modeled after the mask worn by Lee as Kato in The Green Hornet.

As much as I would like to discuss this film further in review, Kill Bill: Volume 1 is simply best experienced in the theater. It’s a visceral montage of vein-bursting destruction featuring near perfect set-ups and satisfying pay-offs. My hat goes off to Tarantino for creating the bloodiest martial arts movie in American film history, rivaled only by the films that inspired it. Beyond reveling in bygone classics, Tarantino takes the best of exploitive martial arts filmmaking to the next level in three crucial, but oft-neglected ways. First is the set up. The film establishes colorful characters with deadly potential in a world not bound by reality. Secondly, the action is non-stop and brutal with tremendous onscreen impact, but exaggerated in a way that is entertaining rather than simply offensive. Lastly, the film is relentlessly creative. Every camera angle, sword stroke, and scene appears different. It is Tarantino’s attention to detail, his loving recreation of the best hack ‘n’ slash martial arts classics of old and his ability to sneak it all past the censors that audiences should appreciate most.

Related Topics: grindhouse, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman, Yuen Woo-ping, Zoe Bell