Uma Thurman plays a vengeful Samurai in Quentin's Latest

Rating: Null/10 (2 November 2003)

KILL BILL - Volume One
Uma Thurman teams again with Quentin Tarentino in this ultra violent tale of revenge and survival. Thurman plays an assassin that was betrayed on her wedding day by her cohorts who executed the entire wedding party. Thurman was beaten, shot and left for dead, she survived and began enacting revenge on each of her former partners ( THE DEADLY VIPER ASSASSINS) The Assassins include Vivica Fox, Lucy Liu and Michael Madsen with David Carradine showing up to play their boss BILL. Other notable characters in the film include BUCK a hospital orderly that is well...disgusting and GOGO, a pubescent female bodyguard dressed like a Catholic School girl. Remember this is a Tarentino film, a good one too.
In the hands of almost anyone else on the planet this would be a run of the mill story with run of the mill action sequences and shoot outs. Tarentino however turns this story into a homage to Samurai Assassins, 1970's karate movie and legendary Japanese film maker Akiro Kurosawa. ( It was Kurosawa's "THE HIDDEN FORTRESS" that was the basis for "STAR WARS") With his tongue planted firmly in his cheek Tarentino has created another stylish and daring movie that audiences will either love or hate, not many people will say "oh, its ok..." they will either love it or hate it, no room left for waffling. Tarentino is like that kid you grew up with that was always in fourth gear and over the top, now he has a few million dollars to put those thoughts on the big screen. Again you either love it or hate it. Two people got up and left the theater in disgust during one of the fight scenes and others while the majority of the audience (including me) were laughing...go figure.
As far as the movie itself goes it is hard to describe the effect of seeing it on the screen. It's part black and white, part animation, part subtitled and non apologetic for any of it. It's loud brash and bold with an A+ performance by Thurman, she plays her part with convincing attitude and swagger and doesn't give a hint of vulnerability. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose but the effect is great. The long drawn out final sequence ( with Thurman in a yellow jump suit...sound familiar Bruce Lee fans?) is worth the price of admission and feels like an entire movie in itself and is artfully disturbing to say the least. There are plenty of gross outs in the film and those with weak stomachs might want to stay away, as stylish and intentionally corny as some of it is, if dismemberment isn't your thing you might get grossed out. I have to admit I cant wait to see the next volume due out in February so all the questions that are left at the end can be answered and there are plenty of questions. Some of which will never be answered, like why they beeped out the name of one of the main characters and how each assassin got their nicknames...we can discuss that after you see it, it will make better sense then.
Bottom line...if you like Tarentino OR want to have fun go see it. If you don't like Tarentino and want to have fun anyway check out PIRATE S OF THE CARIBBEAN with everyone else.
Kurt