Quentin Tarantino has definitely become one of my favorite directors over the years. I really enjoyed Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained, and I love the cinematic throwback to spaghetti westerns and grind-house style. At least most of time, when it’s complemented by something else.
Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained both were gleefully entertaining but had immersing characters and story as well.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 is a 2003 American action film acting as the fourth film in Quentin Tarantino’s directing career.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics and did particularly well for at the box-office, making more than six-times its budget.
The film stars Uma Thurman in the lead role. Most notably known for her role as Poison Ivy in the critically acclaimed Batman & Robin. (Oh, and as Mia Wallace in the panned film Pulp Fiction.)
This is definitely one of the films that details Quentin Tarantino’s dark sense of humor heavily as the movie deals with matters such as rape with a happy go-lucky smile. I don’t think it’s offensive, but I don’t think most things are offensive, but he definitely handles certain matters by trying to keep a smile on the viewer more often than not. I like that.
His directing definitely plays a role in Kill Bill. One of the things that I always liked about the director is that he makes it perfectly clear how much he adores films. This is showcased through all of the homages, references, and musical scoring. If there is one problem that this plays a part in more adamantly than some of his other works, it’s the fact that it’s a lot more abundant. There’s a lot more stylization and flash and it feels like one of the last things that I think about is the story, the characters, and the emotion that was brought with it.
The story follows The Bride, a female that was once a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. After being shot at her wedding by Bill, who she was evidently pregnant with the child of, four years later, she wakes up in a coma. The film focuses on the first steps to her pursuit to revenge, tackling past members of the Squad as she inches closer to her main-target.
Honestly, the story is nothing more than a revenge film that has been elongated and contorted through over-the-top fight-scenes and frivolous cinematography. As you might expect, this doesn’t keep the film together for very long. Uma Thurman has an excellent performance in the leading role. While her portrayal definitely isn’t allowed the moments to really shine, she does very well as a bad-ass character that is easy to rally for.
The rest of the characters are a little generic. A lot of that seems to be the novelty of the film, but at the end of the day, I feel like the characters should still be able to stand on their own beyond them being there to pay respect to some colorful characters from several decades before.
I found that I wasn’t actually very immersed with the characters or anything that happened in the story. Everything felt like it induced an “I don’t care” feeling to me because I wasn’t really given much reason to care. Thankfully, I think the last hour of the film really saved it. They cranked up the mindless violence a lot, and while it definitely doesn’t stand as the stepping stones to making a tremendous movie, it did stand for Kill Bill to become very entertaining.
A lot have told me that Kill Bill: Volume Two has more emphasis on the premise of the characters, and I’ll be looking forward to that.
In conclusion, Volume One isn’t amongst my favorites from Quentin Tarantino. I don’t believe that it offers much in-terms of storyline or depth when it comes to the characters. However, it does offer riveting action-sequences and stylish, albeit overdone, cinematography and directing.
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