Tarantino's best

Rating: 10/10 (31 March 2008)

KILL BILL VOL1 is the crowning film in Quentin Tarantino's career. I almost hate to put the VOL1, because alone, this first film is a great accomplishment without having VOL2, although I can appreciate what part 2 was trying to do: add depth and character backstory to the plot. In VOL1, plot is unnecessary! I'll just refer to VOL1 as KILL BILL hereafter. The genius of KILL BILL is that you don't need plot or character development to appreciate its brilliance. It's not about these things. KILL BILL is purely stylistic, an homage to all those kick-ass-and-take-names martial arts grindhouse movies of the 70s with stars like Bruce Lee to led you through the carnage. What was the real substance or motivation in those movies? Not much substance and the motivation was revenge, just like in this one. And you don't need any backstory or extra dialogue (very little here) to know from the start that it is all about revenge.
The person perpetrating the revenge, our protagonist, is The Bride (played to absolute stunning, convincing, athletic perfection by Uma Thurman). This is Thurman's greatest accomplishment as an actress. She had to be believable as a martial artist (she is), to show agility and athleticism (she does), and make us believe that she is a total, 100%, lethal, bad-ass, killing machine (she does all that in spades!). This role could NOT have been easy! Thurman should have been nominated for Best Actress.
The Bride's singular goal is to eliminate those who have wronged her. The main perpetrator is 'Bill', who shoots this pregnant woman in the head before the film's credits even roll. (BIG TIME SPOILER ALERT!) The 'start' of the film is really the end of the film, when The Bride goes to a suburban home to see 'Jeannie Bell', aka Vernita Green (played wonderfully by Viveca Fox). We know Vernita is an old foe of The Bride's (we just don't know why, but there is a brief hint during this opening scene) b/c The Bride immediately attacks Vernita and they get into an all-out super-fight, complete with martial artistry, acrobatics, and knifeplay. It still is one of my favorite scenes in the film.
Now, flashback 4 years and 6 months earlier to the time occurring right after the pre-credits scene. A group of Texas Rangers, led by Earl McGraw (played by the well cast veteran actor Michael Parks) are at the church where the shooting of The Bride and her wedding party took place. They soon realize that she's alive and she is hospitalized. During hospitalization, she is briefly visited by a mysterious woman named Elle (played by Darryl Hannah in her only scene in this film, but she leaves a lasting impression) who wants to kill her, but she is stopped by 'Bill' (who we only hear on the phone, but don't see).
The Bride remains in coma for 4 years and upon learning that she has lost her baby, immediately wants revenge on the perpetrators, who are former colleagues of hers (including Elle and Vernita). Called the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, we are introduced to a third member of the team name O'Ren Ishii (played by Lucy Liu) via a cartoon that backstory's her life. Ironically, this cartoon is the only set of scenes with real emotion and character development, and I'm sure this was Tarantino's intention. It totally works.
The Bride travels to Okinawa, Japan to meet the world-famous swordsman/maker Hattori Hanzo (played by legendary martial arts actor Sonny Chiba in a beautiful performance). Hanzo, upon learning that The Bride is a wronged student of his former student Bill, who he now despises, agrees to make her his best sword so that she can exact her revenge. She travels to Tokyo to claim her first victim O'Ren.
The Tokyo scenes, in a popular nightclub, are the climax of the film and these sequences are jaw-droppingly suspenseful and exciting to watch. It begins with a long, uncut, tracking shot of The Bride waiting for O'Ren and her lackeys, then it finally cuts to O'Ren and her crew having a jovial time until they hear The Bride call O'Ren out, and the fight (and fun) begins! The Bride has to battle not only O'Ren's posse, but also her fighting force The Crazy 88s. In between these 2 fights, she battles the teenaged, psychopathic, slick Gogo Yubari (played by Chiaki Yurikama in an impressive film debut). This scene is another fave of mine. Thurman and Yurikama really show some impressive weapons play and acrobatics in this scene. Then there's the scene with the Crazy 88s, an all-out, take-no-prisoners bloodfest where The Bride stands tall in the end. Tarantino outdid himself with this scene b/c I can't ever remember an action scene thrilling and exciting me this much. EVER!
The Bride has her final battle with O'Ren. Lucy Liu is perfectly cast as O'Ren. Even though O'Ren is a young woman, she is very worldly and experienced b/c she was forced into it from a very young age, as we learned in the cartoon. This final battle scene is more elegant and classy (and much less bloody) than the earlier fight scenes. Just good old-fashioned swordplay.
KILL BILL is my favorite work of Tarantino's b/c I never get tired of it, like I eventually did of PULP FICTION, which has a few clunky characters and scenes upon further viewing. Tarantino's frenetic "love-of-movies" style really shines brightest in KILL BILL VOL. 1 with vignettes that separately are unique and memorable, but strung together form a singularly brilliant movie-watching experience. Tarantino's choice of music is also pitch perfect, with each scene having a different tune to match it's tone and mood. The diversity of music in the action-packed finale is an incredible integration of music in film! There's something to be said for 100% pure, unapologetic entertainment, and KILL BILL delivers! A must see for real MOVIE fans.