Kill Bill: Vol. 1 - The 2nd Best Film of 2003

Rating: 10/10 (8 March 2004)

Quentin Tarantino. You know the name and you know the movies. When some of the classic directors began to decline, such as Scorsese, Spielberg, Kubrick, and Coppola, he arrived on the spot with a little film known as Reservoir Dogs. While it was not a smash with the critics, it was with the people, making it a small hit and putting his name on the map. Then, he did Pulp Fiction, which has been hailed as one of the greatest movies of all time, resurrected John Travolta's career, made big stars of Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, and scored Tarantino various awards, mainly an Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay. Then, there was Jackie Brown, which wasn't as hot, but did become a cult hit. And now, after five years, he's come back with the 1st half of a simple film: a woman getting back at the person who stole four years from her.
From the very beginning of the film, it is very obvious of Tarantino's love of samurai and grindhouse films. Some of the best examples include the beginning (featuring the Shaw Brothers' and the `Feature Presentation' logos, the usage of Sonny Chiba portraying Hattori Hanzo once more, Gordon Liu as the head of the Crazy 88 (and make sure to look out for him as Pai Mei in Vol. 2), and Chiaki Kuriyama as Go Go, the cute girl in the Japanese schoolgirl outfit who could get a little mace crazy, and the way whenever someone gets a limb severed, the wound just sprays and sprays and sprays.
Uma Thurman. What can I say about Uma Thurman? She is the woman of the year (sorry, Charlize Theron. You were great in Monster (and you have all those awards to prove it), but you didn't have to spend three months learning about the art of combat or learn how to speak Japanese). The Bride is a character you sympathize with, even though her character was once a cold-blooded assassin. The performance has everything; coldness, humor, tragedy, and all those other things you love to see women do (Charlie's Angels, eat your heart out).
And speaking of Charlie's Angels, who would've thought that Lucy Liu could actually act in something? I love her in the Charlie's Angels films, but her character in those films is actually pretty one-dimensional. With O-Ren Ishii, she really expands out of the good girl look and into a REALLY bad girl look that's pretty mean with her samurai sword.
The rest of the actors playing the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad are really good at their jobs as well. Vivica A. Fox does an really good job with her 20 minutes, Daryl Hannah and Michael Madsen rule (and I can't wait to see their characters develop some more in Vol. 2), and David Carradine. What can be said about David Carradine? Yeah, they never show Bill in Vol. 1 or give Bill's motives for trying to off the Bride, but that's the greatest thing about Bill and the Bride. It's the mystery about these two characters and what they once shared that gets the story moving forward (although I wonder if Bill would still have been an interesting character if it was Warren Beatty or Kevin Costner playing the role).
The fight scenes in these films are something The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions wished they could be, yet never could. Why? Because Quentin put heart into the battle scenes here, not a few million bucks worth of CGI. The Matrix fights failed, in my opinion, because it is very obvious to tell where it was the actors and where it was some CGI trick. With the fights in Kill Bill, especially the House of Blue Leaves battle, it is always the actors themselves, sometimes with a little help by traditional special effects that will shoot out blood like a water fountain. And while I loved the House of Blue Leaves battle, the best battle would have to be the battle between the Bride and O-Ren Ishii. And that's because of three things: the beauty of the scene, the excellent cinematography/editing, and the perfect use of Santa Esmerelda's `Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.'
And speaking of the cinematography and editing, I found it to be criminal that Robert Richardson's breathtaking cinematography and Sally Menke's award winning editing were not nominated for Oscars this past year. But it was a pretty big year last year and if Vol. 2 ends up getting nominated next year, it would be kind of pointless for the same film to win the same awards twice in a row.
I loved Kill Bill: Vol. 1, but it's just so hard to have it as the #1 best film of the year when it's going up against The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. They're both completely different, but also so completely entertaining.
Well, here's hoping that Kill Bill: Vol. 2 is just as great as Vol. 1. Should be great to see how the battle between the Bride and Bill will play out.
A+