“Kill Bill: Volume 1” (2003)
“This woman deserves her revenge. And we, deserve to die”
Anyone fancy going on a roaring rampage of revenge with a beautiful bride? If so, you’ve come to the right place! Now strictly speaking the bride doesn’t kill Bill here or for that matter state she’s embarking on a “roaring rampage of revenge”. She actually confirms this mission in Volume 2 of a once near 4 hour film that was ostensibly cut in half and even though this is a magnificent film, a truly magnificent film, it’s still shaded by its second volume released a year later in 2004. Contentious? Perhaps. But Volume 2 has a pleasing catharsis after the roaring and the rampaging and the sweet taste of revenge, and it’s arguably the first of Quentin Tarantino’s trilogy of western films.
Following the re-release of my near decade old musings on Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and Django Unchained, here are my stand alone thoughts of love and appreciation for the first of his two Kill Bill films (a third has long been mooted but yet to go into production) and at the bottom of this opening paragraph you’ll discover my original opus blog articles on the entire career of the great man. So here’s my mainly spoiler free take on Tarantino’s fourth film of nine, and I hope this whets your appetite for more and you’ll delve into my hour long dive into the controversial career of Hollywood’s enfant terrible!
“This Woman deserves her revenge — and we, deserve to die”.
Originally planned as a single film but after a final cut was over 4 hours long, together with producers The Weinstein Brothers, it was decided that “The Bride” deserved two outings, and two chances to Kill Bill. With characters developed jointly by “Q & U” (Quentin and Uma for those unfamiliar with Tarantino films) and a mix of live action, Japanese anime’, iconic actors with further parts written specifically for them and a fractured non linear time line, this fourth Tarantino film seemingly has everything and by the time you’ve watched Chapter Five, you’ll see what I mean!
My appraisal of Kill Bill Volume 1 will be to very briefly outline the opening prologue and four of the five distinct Chapters. For any Tarantino purists out there, yes I have deliberately left out certain scenes of the brief outlines for each of the four chapters.
In the remaining Chapter I aim to dissect this, scene by scene with as few spoilers as possible, but with as much texture and Tarantino love as I can muster.
Opening Prologue:
Opening with a distinctive nod to his inspirations of Japanese and Hong Kong Cinema and martial arts films, “Shaw Scope” is quickly replaced by a 1970’s style “Our Feature Presentation” slide, amid crackling and sound distortion.
Black and White opening shot of a bride, bloodied, beaten and near death. The camera focuses on footsteps as they approach the bride and with a monologue aimed at her predicament, he wipes away some blood with a handkerchief with “Bill” clearly visible. A gunshot takes us into the opening credits with the terrific “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” by Nancy Sinatra. Key to note throughout the credits that “The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad” are each given numbers.
Chapter One: (2)
A vicious and brutal knife fight at a suburban house is interrupted by a returning child from school and an unnamed character (her name is bleeped from the audio) who then narrates her reason for being there. This is the residence of “Vernita Green” aka “Copperhead” from the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and previous member “Black Mamba” has paid her a visit to settle an old score. A brief scene that is soaked in Tarantino Hong Kong homages, from the ear blistering sound effects to a crunching and violent knife fight that is manically edited and brilliantly choreographed.
Chapter Two: The Blood Spattered Bride
A flashback sequence to local sheriffs surveying the scene of the bride’s massacre and light relief from both the music “That Certain Female” by Charlie Feathers and the Sheriff’s son immortal line “Hell, they even shot the coloured fella who played the organ”. As The Bride recovers at the hospital, we are introduced to another member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad “Elle Driver” aka “California Mountain Snake”
Chapter Three: The Origin of O-Ren
Japanese Anime’ style account of a violent, graphic and bloody path taken by Deadly Viper Assassination member “O-Ren Ishii” aka “Cottonmouth” from childhood to Leader of the Yakuza Crime Family. The violent anime is juxtaposed with the hauntingly beautiful “The Grand Duel” by Luis Bacalov and another example of the Tarantino trademark of juxtaposing violence with great beauty.
Chapter Four: The Man From Okinawa
The film’s heartbeat Chapter, so quiet, so beautiful and so typically Tarantino. One of his quietest, melancholic segments in any of his films, it is also another full of juxtaposition. The character of “Hattori Hanzo” was written specifically for Sonny Chiba as an homage to his previous roles in Japanese films and he plays the character brilliantly, as well as playing along well in this almost slapstick interlude at times. Rotating from Japanese to English throughout, the first part takes place in the bar and huge smiles, awkward conversation and jokes abound. It’s a particularly sweet and affecting scene. This is juxtaposed with part two of the scene, now above the bar and a room full of Hattori Hanzo samurai swords. A request is made, an acceptance received and as “Bill” is wiped from a window pane, cue the beautiful “Battle Without Honour or Humanity” which despite it’s title, is heart breaking as it is beautiful.
Chapter Five: Showdown at House of Blue Leaves
Here Tarantino comes into his own. The Chapter itself is split into three distinct segments. Firstly, with a narration from The Bride, we flashback to discover how O-Ren Ishii became the Yakuza Boss. We are also introduced to her loyal staff, “Sofie Fatale” (Julie Dreyfus), “Gogo” (Chiaki Kuriyama) and “Johnny Mo” (Chia Hui Liu), Boss of the “Crazy 88's”.
Secondly, the showdown with the Crazy 88’s that has gone down in bloody movie folklore. Starting with a pulsing excerpt from Ennio Morricone’s “Death Rides a Horse” and holding Sofie Fatale hostage through to it’s bloody, limb strewn conclusion, is pure Tarantino. “The Bride”, now dressed in a full yellow jumpsuit in a clear homage to Bruce Lee takes on all comers with her trusty Hattori Hanzo samurai sword. With flat out brilliance from both the Director and his leading lady, the showdown is also edited quickly, a constantly moving camera and camera angles, slow motion shots, several Mexican standoffs and tellingly, yet more Hong Kong cinema tinged sound effects. This segment alone needs to be seen to be believed, however, only part way through her destruction of the Crazy 88’s, Tarantino switches the colour to Black and White (primarily to camouflage the extreme bloody exchanges) but this works to perfection, as does the homage colour change to blue towards the end of the scene. The intense nature of the scene is broken typically by Tarantino with a hilarious short sequence before we enter the final showdown.
Entering a snow covered, picture book style rooftop garden, the assassins approach each other, step by step, covered by one long, lingering shot. Mixing Japanese and English again, the tension is raised still further as the shots are now of extreme close ups on both protagonists. Mixing beauty with violence yet again, the rooftop garden is beautifully decorated and with slow motion snow falling in the background (plus a cut away to a water fountain) the metaphor is heightened further by the assassins themselves. O-Ren Ishii, in immaculate white, The Bride, blood splattered and weary. As they come together, another masterful choice of music begins “Don’t Let me be misunderstood” by Santa Esmeralda, and with yet more homage shots of slow motion and close ups on the eyes, the final showdown commences. At the end of a breath taking 3 segment Chapter, we fade to the strains of the beautiful “The Flower of Carnage”.
How very apt.
With notable cameos from Michael Bowen (returning from a cameo in Jackie Brown) as “Buck” and Father and Son Michael Parks and James Parks as “Earl McGraw” and “Edgar McGraw” respectively. Both reprise their roles in a future Tarantino film, and Michael Parks provides a career best cameo in Kill Bill Volume 2.
Unsurprisingly, it is Uma Thurman who deserves the plaudits and it is a truly masterful performance. The role of The Bride required everything, from composure to anger, to regret to fulfilment, triumph and sorrow. All is evident, as is a skilled use of a samurai sword, which is pulled off magnificently. Interspersed throughout with Hattori Hanzo’s edicts for life as a narration, a fractured time line that suggests The Bride has only just got started and an auteur at the very top of his game. A soundtrack that is utterly fantastic and highly recommended as a stand alone CD. Oh, and someone called Bill (you may remember him?) doesn’t really feature in his own film at all.
Appetite whetted? Good. On with Volume 2!
Thanks for reading. Just for larks as always, and always a human reaction rather than spoilers galore. My three most recently published film and television articles are linked below or there’s well over 100 blog articles (with 300+ individual film reviews) within my archives from which to choose:
