A step below Vol. 2 but still an excellent film

Rating: 8/10 (27 February 2007)

The Kill Bill saga will go down in history as two of the bloodiest films ever made. Kill Bill Vol. 1 takes about 90% of the violence for both films. The film holds nothing back in story telling or action sequences, all filmed with masterful sword play. The film is full of fun and quite impressive for an action film.
Uma Thurman is the Bride. A seemingly nameless woman put into a coma for 4 years after her ex-boss (who happens to be the leader of a group of assassins) has her shot for desertion, the Bride awakes to seek revenge on the 5 people who caused her life to become a living hell. The first film is more of a flash back to the Bride chasing the first person she is after, O-Ren and her second person, Vernita.
The actors do a wonderful job with the story line and the characters they portray. Uma Thuman is slowly becoming one of my favorite actresses to watch. She is smart, she is cool, and she is hot. She has that air of power on the screen when watching her with the sword and the dialogue she speaks. She has proved herself to be more than just a no-talent actress in it for the looks.
Lucy Lui delivers a strong supporting role as the Japanese gang leader O-Ren. She is silent and powerful. Lucy Lui was able to show the audience real quickly that O-Ren is not someone to mess around with in the film. Lucy Lui isn't well known to me. She was in the failure that was Charlie's Angels so I never knew she could actually act. She changed my mind in this. Her casual demeanor and quick sword play makes her one of the best characters of the two volumes.
The movie makes many homages to past film genres, such as the kung-fu genre of the late 70's. The film is filled with the fighting music from those kind of films and I actually like the little homage made by Tarantine to the late genre. Tarantino is a master of making things work on screen and one of his best achievements is the combination of the corny music with the incredible fight sequences.
Now the film is not entirely believable, that is evidence by some of the things the Bride and a few of the other characters are able to believe, However, the film is not meant to be believable but instead a story being told. The fight sequences are elegantly crafted and filled with spectacular stunts. The last sequence in the film has gone down as one of my favorite pieces of action in film history, right up there with D-Day from Saving Private Ryan and the Battle of Sterling from Braveheart.
Tarantino is a master of dialogue and there is not one dull moment of speech. Te conversations make sense, they're well crafted, and they are easy to follow unlike some films. What Tarantino does is that he does not fill the conversations with big words few understand, but instead makes the sentences short and easy to understand for anyone. The film is very violent, one of the bloodiest I've seen. No one under 16 should see this.
4/5 Stars