Bottom line is: the movie is perfect...absolutely amazing

Rating: Null/10 (11 October 2003)

Ok...I've seen Kill Bill 1 twice now and I want to tell everyone a little about it...no real spoilers...just some thoughts/comments.

So...before I begin...I'd like to say that, yes, I am a huge Tarantino fan. I would like to think, however, that this does not bias my opinion about KILL BILL 1. I try to stay objective in my reviews/comments. For example...I didn't really like Jackie Brown or Four Rooms despite Tarantino making them...so...it's not like im gonna love Kill Bill automatically. Anyway...let me start:
1) Kill Bill is NOTHING like any of Tarantino's other films. It's not all a metaphor and dissection of pop-culture issues like Pulp Fiction...and it's nothing like Reservoir Dogs either in that it simply doesn't feel the same. But...this doesn't mean that Kill Bill isn't in Tarantino's style. Tarantino has shots in his mind that no one else could imagine...certaintly not in these circumstances. He thinks original thoughts that belong so much to him that this film creates a genre unto itself even tho its conceived of both eastern (japanese) and western (westerns) influences.
2) It is VIOLENT. This is not one to take you're wife to. Now...I'm not sexist...but...between the two showings that I saw of it, 26 people left...13 couples. You could hear wives yelling at husbands to give them the keys so they could leave..."why would you even want to watch this!?!?" they'd say. So...yeah...it's violent. And it's not like in Pulp fiction where you don't see the violence. Here you see it in all it's bloody gore. People get killed with a sword in just about every imaginable way. Im trying to think of a way that people dont get killed with a sword in the film...but i cant think of one. The violence is realistic...even though it is totally exaggerated and over-the-top...
3) When people are cut (except for the lead actors), they bleed in geysers. Now...im not talking like geysers of blood that you see in war films like Saving Private Ryan and Platoon...im taking 10 foot high geysers...like when a fire hydrant breaks. Im serious...at one point in the film...there are like 7 guys all fighting with only one arm and the other are is cut off and is replaced by a HUGE stream of blood shooting out horizontally from the body. It is BLOODY. People are tortured. People are raped. People are cut into pieces. We see exposed brains...we see eyes getting cut out of heads. All before your eyes...or at least seemingly. Now...with all those geysers of blood...you may think it's a farce...or a joke...well...i dont blame you...many people in the theatre did...
4) YOU have to understand what Tarantino is TRYING to do and where he got all these ideas FROM. You should know that this film is the child of many japanese films. I would urge you to watch some...because it would help you to appreciate what this film is. Tarantino doesn't want you to love killing...he doesn't want you to go out and copy his portrayed actions. He wants you to REALIZE. Realize what our mentality is...realize what is going on around us...this isnt an entertaining film as much as it is a documentary about how violent the world is today.
5) It is VERY GOOD that it is in two parts...one three hour plus film would get tiring...it would test your endurance...and thats not what this film is about. You would agree if you saw it...and its not like the matrix or Terminator where you feel like your just gonna see more of the same in the next one...i mean...you know that in the next matrix Neo is gonna fight smith again...i mean...you know whats gonna happen.....you may not know the end of the plot.....but you know the route to get there. In this film you're not really dying to see the next one...you almost appreciate the wait so you can absorb this one.
6) There are NO boring parts. Everything hits you the way it should. If you should laugh...then you do...if you should cry...then you do. (I almost did...there is a very sad part in Vol.1)...if you should cringe...then...well...you do over and over again. This is is all about the "Awwwgh!"...that sigh of digust in seeing something you wish you hadn't...like seeing your parents naked...or opening the garbage can and seeing a dead animal inside...what do you say?......"AWWWWWGHGH!"
7) One mistake i found...when O-ren Ishii is being introduced (not in anime) but when she is sitting at the table with all the members of the gang council...(just before she cuts that guys head off)...we are introduced to GO GO...the chick with the ball and chain...she is introduced as "the girl to the right of O ren is..."......but.......Go Go is sitting to O ren's left. It is a mistake......because when we look at the screen...she is on the right side of the screen.......but......not on Oren's right. Maybe theres significance to that....but........i cant figure it out.
So...the movie is basically perfect. Everything about it is awesome. Some people wont be able to take it...but...its violence is an anti-violence statement...just like Pulp Fiction was an anti-crime/underground world/killing/drug film.
So...if you like Tarantino...go see the film...dont take your girlfriend...unless she can really take violence...cause walking out of a Tarantino flick that your so excited about really sucks.
Brandon