A Film for Martial Arts Fans

Rating: 10/10 (14 October 2003)

None of the reviews I read mention that the film opens with the old Shaw Brothers logo, and that is the key to what this movie is all about. It's a tribute/update of the great martial arts movies like "36th Chamber of Shaolin" and "Street Fighter." The stars of both of those films feature prominently in "Kill Bill" as gangster general Johnny Mo and swordmaker Hattori Hanzo, respectively.
Those who grew up on Saturday afternoon martial arts movies should appreciate not just the appearance of these two stars but also the ways in which Tarantino has learned what made those classics great. He films fight scenes so that we can see all the action, as opposed to the close-ups and quick cuts we get from Hollywood action films. Watching the fights is satisfying, not frustrating.
There's not much of a plot, and that may be another cue from classic martial arts movies. Not that it matters--this movie is a series of vignettes tied together by one event: The murder of former (?) assassin Black Mamba (aka The Bride) by her former colleagues of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DiVAs).
Uma Thurman does a surprisingly convincing job as the unbeatable fighter, as do all her opponents. The stunts are handled excellently and there weren't too many shots where it was easy to tell that it wasn't Uma.
Sonny Chiba is excellent in the film's mellow interlude as he creates the ultimate weapon for Black Mamba to exact her revenge. And while I would have liked to have seen a lot more of Liu Chia Hui, the few minutes of him fighting Uma were worth the price of admission.
Those who were not raised on Shaw Brothers and samurai films will either love this movie (for the sylized violence) or hate this movie (for the stylized violence). I loved it and can't wait for volume 2.