Kill Bill Vol 1.
Summary:
Opening up with the line “Revenge is a dish best served cold”, Kill Bill follows the life of a woman nicknamed “The Bride” who was betrayed by her boss Bill and her former team, the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who not only try to kill her but her soon to be husband and unborn daughter. The movie opens up with the Bride lying on the floor near death as Bill walks over, says a few lines before unloading a bullet into her head. She survives of course or else the movie wouldn’t really have much to go from there. Waking up from a coma four years later, she begins her quest to hunt down each member of the deadly viper assassination squad, which consists of five members, and their leader Bill. The first to die, as seen by us, is Vernita Green. Now a suburban house wife, she has long put the past behind her. The actual fight is a bit comedic in nature, as during the middle of the fight her young daughter walks in and they both have to pretend that they were just talking despite the huge mess around them; not to mention the blood spilling out their faces. Needless to say, Green ends up dying and the movie transitions into a flashback where we learn about what happened at the wedding.
From there, she goes after O-Ren Ishii who went from being a member of the squad to ruling all of the Tokyo Underground through her ruthless methods such as chopping off the head of anyone who questioned her Japanese/Chinese background. The fight with O-ren’s bodyguards takes up most of the time and after killing around 50+ people she finally meets O-ren herself and ends up taking off the top of her head. She then goes O-ren’s best friend, Sofie Fatale, whose arm was previously chopped off before the fighting began. Sending her to a hospital, after interrogating her about Bill’s whereabouts, Sofie is rescued by Bill who reveals that the Bride’s daughter is actually alive before the ending credits roll, hyping up major suspense for Vol2.
Main Characters(Actors/Actresses)/Director:
Uma Thurman “The Bride”
Growing up in Boston Massachusetts, she long had dreams of becoming an actress and ddidnt make much success till landing a role in Quentin Tarantion’s Pulp Fiction as Mia Wallace along with John Travolta who played Vincent Vega. She gained an Oscan nomination for Best Supporting Actress that year and but that would be her only success till Kill Bill. (Imdb)
Lucy Liu “O-ren Ishii”
“Lucy Alexis Liu (born December 2, 1968) is an American actress. She became known for her role in the television series Ally McBeal (1998–2002) as the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo, and has also appeared in several notable film roles, including Charlie's Angels, Kill Bill and Kung Fu Panda.” (Wikipedia)
David Carradine “Bill”
“David Carradine (December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009),[4][5][6] born John Arthur Carradine, was an American character actor, best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu[7] and its 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. He was a member of a productive acting dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine. His acting career, which included major and minor roles on stage, television and cinema, spanned over four decades. A prolific "B" movie actor,[6] he appeared in more than 100 feature films[8] and was nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award.[9] The latest nomination was for his part in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.” (Wikipedia)
Major Themes:
Action
Revenge
Thriller
Cold Comedy
Western
Interesting Points:
I found the blend of action and comedy really interesting in this film. The fight scenes were done well enough that it wasn’t just some parody type movie, but the over exaggerated bleeding during the fights in Japan as well as the little daughter walking in during the Vernita Green fight put just enough comedy in the movie to lighten it from a hardcore killing movie to a fun entertaining movie that follows a Bride on her revenge for her daughter. By having those small moments, it lifted the mood and relaxed the crowd so that even those that don’t enjoy watching bloody movies could have a good time.
Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000235/bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Carradine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Liu
It's a great movie, but the storyline is not as good as it's actions. Everything is predictable. After the fightings went on for a while, it gets kind boring. I thought that O-ren could do a lot better, it was like a 10 seconds KO. It's kind like a long journey getting to the match, but the match is a piece of cake.
ReplyDeleteI felt that when Boss Tanaka questioned O-ren Ishii's nationality of Chinese and American as "perversion" to the organization I felt it was quite interesting. When O-ren killed him and expressed her anger, I felt that the theme of western came into play, and the director wanted to express that people in the west are now assimilating into different cultures and people in the in-groups of that culture should accept them rather than discriminate against them.
ReplyDeleteI thought the action made up for the lack of good storyline.. Everything's predictable and there's no real twist (except maybe Bill's question about the daughter at the end, but that draws in the audience for the sequel, not really Vol.1), meaning this movie could very easily become just 'one of those Hollywood action movies'. But Tarantino did a great job making a film that shows violence as pure spectacle, with no real meaning behind it. It was enjoyable and not boring (well, for me at least) because of the witty lines and scenes here and there (again, could be just me but I laughed quite a bit because of the characters' lines.. I don't know why but they were just funny!).. On my list of 'Movies Watched' Kill Bill's definitely in a different group from all the other action movies.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis movie has amazing editing and soundtracks!!!
ReplyDeleteIt was just like animation(cutting some part of body and bleeding like fountain was impossibly funny -_ -lll or 'bridge' was taking her sword to flight) as they mixed during the movie(telling the Oren's history)and that could make less sense of revulsion at the violence.
I think I heard one of the soundtraks ('Battle Without Honour or Humanity) of this movie have been using in a popular Korean TV Show Program called 'Mooreuppakdosa'.
The ridiculous fountain of blood can only be pulled off by Tarantino in Kill Bill. I saw another film where they tried to imitate the level of blood and it was eye cringing...
ReplyDelete300 may be another that has pulled off the level of over excessive blood, although it wasn't the same level as Kill Bill.
did anyone else notice that she is always wearing yellow when she is fighting?
ReplyDeletewhen she kills the 1st guy she gets in a yellow truck and when shes fighting in japan shes wearing a yellow jump suite outfit
I felt that the ridiculous amount of blood used in this film effectively played and morphed what we consider the genre of action and violent films. Even though violence of this sort is usually hard to watch, it was pretty hard to turn away. I almost felt that this film successfully combined the genres of comedy with violence.
ReplyDeleteThey say that the yellow suit is an homage to one of Bruce Lee's costumes
ReplyDeleteThe yellow jump suit is a parody to the film, "Game of Death" where Bruce Lee fights numerous people towards the top, very similar to Uma Thurman's character fighting towards the final boss Oren Ishii.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say this is my favorite film. After viewing it in detail (having to take notes) I notice the beautiful imagery and play with colors the film has. If you notice a lot of the scenes between Oren and Black Mamba have opposing colors. For instance in the restaurant scene: when there is a close up of Black Mamba the background is blue, but when it moves to Oren it is red.
ReplyDeleteOverall I thought this film was AMAZING. Too bad the sequel was doo doo :(
Quentin Tarantino has been a favorite of mine along with Tim Burton for the same reasons: eye candy. The way Tarantino plays with colors and light is something that you don't see very often in movies. His plots to me are random, interesting, but very random. I think he gets away with this though being that you just can't stop watching regardless if the story line makes sense.
ReplyDeleteKill Bill V.1 was the third film I have seen of his, before that was Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. All these films have played with dramatic camera angles, incredible soundtracks which won him awards, and of course the color schemes ! One of my favorite scenes in the movie was the last fight with Lucy Liu in the (yes random) garden in the snow. The scene was so quiet all that could be heard through the white snow was the drain that was flipping when full. This created a importance to this part coming from a loud fight scene from before to a eerie opposition of enemies. Also the effect of blood shed landing on the snow was very powerful for me since it shown so brightly on the white backdrop.
Another great movie!
This was the first time i have watched kill bill, as well as the first Quentin Teritino movie i have seen. I must say that it was very action packed, and i enjoyed many of the fight scenes, especially those that were portrayed so vividly. I thought that even though it was mostly a fighting the movie, the plot was done well mainly because it really got you into the "bride's" struggle, and the way it was presented in a chapter format, kept people excited about how she would move her way up to Bill.
ReplyDelete