Better with each viewing

Rating: 9/10 (13 April 2004)

Every once and while I hear a critic or film-goer utter the words `The movie just gets better and better with every viewing'. Really? What so magically transformed it into becoming a much better film? Was the screen at the theatre too big for you and the movie played better on your 19-inch television? Maybe you have bladder problems and the DVD version allows you to pause for all bathroom breaks? Or maybe you were too busy smooching with a blind date that you missed most of the good parts and had to watch the film several times over before you really knew what the whole thing was about.
Whichever way, I have always raised an eyebrow when someone blurts out that phrase. That is, until I caught myself doing the same thing this week.
The movie was Kill Bill Vol. 1 and I had seen it in the theatre upon its 2003 release. At that midnight showing I marveled at how Quentin Tarantino weaved yet another masterful story onto the big screen with humor, violence and imagery so unforgettable that you left the multiplex salivating like a Pavlovian dog after shock therapy. So, when it came out on DVD, of course, I immediately ran to the front of the line for my copy. I knew that the wife wouldn't be interested, so I waited for the proper moment, put it in the player and sat back to be wowed once more. What I didn't expect was that my second experience was even better than the first, and the third was better than the second.
You see, Tarantino films have always been like a multi-layered onion. There is so much going on at any given time, that you could watch a film over and over and get something new out of it. Take Pulp Fiction for example. There were so many plot developments that jump from present to future in their timelines that second viewings allowed you to focus on a specific character or an event. Kill Bill Vol. 1 is no different.
Uma Thurman is `the Bride', codename Black Mamba. She was a member of the "Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DIVAS)", but on her wedding day, she is brutally gunned down by the other members of the team and their leader, Bill. Four years later, she awakes from her coma and quickly sets out to avenge the massacre of her wedding party and unborn child. There are five names on the Bride's list, O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Lui), Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), Elle Driver (Darryl Hannah), Budd (Michael Madsen) and the ringleader, Bill (David Carradine). One by one, the Bride intends to visit and extract revenge, and unfortunately, a two hour movie just isn't enough time for payback.
First on the list is O-Ren Ishii (not first in the movie however). The Bride travels to Japan where she attempts to use her newly crafted sword to engage Ishii. All that stands in her way are countless bodyguards in Kato masks with swords and chains. When she was done, 57 people were on the floor bleeding profusely where limbs used to be.
Next on the list was Vernita Green (who is known by three separate names in the film). A homemaker who has since given up the life of the DIVAS and settled down with her 4-year old child, the Bride confronts her and again comes out victorious.
That just leaves three to go and Volume 2 to extract revenge.

Tarantino seems to be having the time of his life with Kill Bill. He switches formats in a blink of an eye and has elongated scenes in black and white or animated violent cartoons. He spills life with gallons of blood being poured onto our screen just like in the martial arts movies of yesteryear. Tarantino's sick sense of humor is also rampant and borderline out of control in Vol. 1. Whether it was the Pussy Wagon that the Bride drives around town or the intermission both her and Vernita need to take from trying to kill each other once the school bus drops off her child, I can visualize Quentin behind the camera with a grin on his face like that of a five year old at Christmas. Even the first thing you read before the film begins, `Death is a dish best served cold..Old Klingon proverb' sets the tone.
But aside from all the violence and format changes, there is so much to explore and enjoy in Kill Bill Vol. 1, that I don't know when I will be done watch it and adding to my praise. The third viewing, I focused simply on the music (Tarantino has a real knack for soundtracks - Stealer's Wheel, anyone?), and was amazed at all the adrenaline flowing sound bytes he incorporated. Even Darryl Hannah's whistling in the hospital had me tapping my finger on the arm rest.
The fourth viewing, I focused on all the comparison references that Tarantino made towards other films he has directed. Vernita hates her code name (Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs), the Bride makes a hand gesture to represent square (Uma again in Pulp Fiction), Michael Parks plays a sheriff as he did in the Tarantino writ From Dusk 'Til Dawn. A film lover could have a field day just amassing all the small details that Tarantino has thrown our way without explanation.
If there was but one complaint about Vol. 1 is that it leaves us hanging like no film has done since Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. I yearn to a point of giving up my children for the second installment to becoming viewing available. And you may note that I didn't put Kill Bill at the top of my list for 2003, but give me three or four more showings and I would expect nothing less.