Friday, April 16, 2004
Kill Bill
Spring's friend Chris invited us over to watch Kill Bill volume 1 on DVD at her house, then afterwards see Kill Bill volume 2 (the second half of the film) at the movie theater.
I've generally like Quentin Taratino's work so of course I had to watch his latest work. But his work is not for the squeemish. To say that Kill Bill volume 1 is a bit bloody is like saying that Machiavelli is a bit crafty. Starts out with Uma Thurman lying on the floor, bloody, talking to someone who shoots her in the head. Roll starting credits, leaving the audience (well, at least me) going “What the XXXX? Guess the film is about how she ended up being shot.”
First scene. Door bell rings. Woman answers. Uma, on the other side, slams her fist into the woman and it continues from there in a great fight scene.
And yes, it pretty much starts up and doesn't relent at all.
But unlike Reservoir Dogs there are no ear slicing scenes, nor are there faces being blown off like in Pulp Fiction. But there are arms, legs and heads being sliced off with geyser of blood errupting from the body. Blood spraying everywhere. But it's so over the top that it's not as disturbing as it could be.
And the fight sequences. Incredible choreography.
And you learn that she did in fact survive the gun shot to the head and is after the people who attempted to kill her. One after the other. She only gets halfway through the list when volume 1 ends.
Film two opens up with the clip of her getting shot in the head, then her driving towards the final confrontation with Bill. The second film is more sedate then the first; no rivers of blood nor crazed fight orgies; no, you get more of the great Tarantino dialog and a great homage to martial art films of the 70s (including the crazy camera work and music). Not to say that there aren't any fight sequences, but they're more personal, mano a mano as it were.
While lacking the depth of Pulp Fiction or Jackie Brown and the intensity of Reservoir Dogs, they're still fun to watch, and are worth seeing if you are a Tarantino fan, or a fan of martial art films.
