2003-2004 | Dir. Quentin Tarantino | 111 Minutes (Volume 1) & 136 Minutes (Volume 2)
"That woman deserves her revenge, and we deserve to die."
Ambushed by her former comrades and left for dead, a deadly assassin is forced out of retirement to embark on an epic quest for vengeance.
Based on a quirky idea conceived by audacious auteur Quentin Tarantino and versatile leading lady Uma Thurman while filming Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill emulates, deconstructs, and reconstitutes the most sensational elements from a myriad of exploitation film genres to create a singular wildly entertaining cinematic experience. From chapter to chapter, the epic tale of one fierce woman hunting down the stone-cold killers who destroyed her life blends the best aspects of Giallo, Chambara, Spaghetti Western, and Kung Fu films to create a deliberately campy but entirely earnest mixture of varying styles and tones that works remarkably well.
Tarantino imitates the grindhouse movies that inspired Kill Bill with an unmistakable air of reverence, never devolving into hollow parody. The graphic violence is humorously exaggerated but aesthetically exquisite, the dialogue is undeniably corny but spoken with real conviction. Italian horror was a clear inspiration for the hospital sequence lit in sickly hues early in the narrative, and for the claustrophobic terror of the live burial scene. The anime chapter depicting O-Ren Ishii's origin story is a gorgeous and engrossing vignette thanks in no small part to animation studio Production IG's consistently excellent artistry. The snowy sword duel between The Bride and O-Ren perfectly falls in line with those featured in 1970s samurai films, juxtaposing sharply against the gritty knock-down drag-out brawl between The Bride and Elle Driver in Budd's trailer. The fight choreography from industry legend Yuen Wo Ping and his stunt team is uniformly spectacular, particularly impressive during The Bride's battle against the Crazy 88, and their expertise brings invaluable authenticity to Pai Mei's old school kung fu scenes. The soundtrack prominently features curated selections from Spaghetti Western film scores, perfectly complementing the fantastical cinematic world of The Bride's story.
At its core, the saga of The Blood-Spattered Bride is about broken hearts. The Bride's unyielding rampage is motivated by the devastating loss of her new friends, her fiance, and most of all her chance to leave behind a life of violence to start over with her baby, all at the hands of a man she once loved. Similarly, the massacre that sets the story in motion is driven by Bill's grief and jealously over The Bride's decision to leave him. It becomes clear throughout The Bride's journey that sheathing the sword is difficult for killers but revenge does not mend heartbreak. It's telling that veteran figures like legendary sword maker Hattori Hanzo, foul-tempered Taoist Priest Pai Mei, and ruthless geriatric pimp Esteban Vihaio never really retire despite sworn oaths and self-imposed seclusion, and men like Budd become regretful and lethargic. O-Ren's personal quest for vengeance only intensified her bloodlust, a concerning notion if O-Ren were viewed as a foil to The Bride if it were not for the unexpected opportunity to start over that is presented to The Bride at the end of her journey.
Uma Thurman completely commits to the role of The Bride, delivering a physical and deeply emotional tour de force, easily placing the character among the pantheon of all-time greatest action movie heroes. Considerably charming yet appropriately intimidating, Kung Fu television star David Carradine gives a fun and memorable performance as Bill. Lucy Liu is most impressive as supreme crime lord O-Ren Ishii, switching between unbridled fury and poised elegance with frightening ease. In one of her best roles, Daryl Hannah proves to be a delightfully amusing adversary playing with panache the wickedly cruel one-eyed assassin Elle Driver. As the dispirited loser Budd, Michael Madsen brings nuance to the character, even eliciting a certain level of sympathy. Though she only appears briefly, Vivica A. Fox effectively demonstrates a mixture of toughness and vulnerability as killer-turned-suburban-housewife Vernita Green.
The supporting cast features Michael Parks Texas Ranger Earl McGraw and Mexican pimp Esteban Vihaio, his son James Parks as Texas Ranger Edgar McGraw, Michael Bowen as despicable rapist Buck, erstwhile Japanese action star Sonny Chiba as swordsmith-turned-sushi-chef Hattori Hanzo, Julie Dreyfus as smug interpreter Sofie Fatale, Battle Royale star Chiaki Kuriyama as psychotic school girl Gogo Yubari, veteran Hong Kong kung fu star Gordon Liu as Crazy 88 Head General Johnny Mo and as Pai Mei, and Helen Kim as "surgeon with a shotgun" Karen. Samuel L. Jackson makes a cameo appearance as organ player Rufus, and Sid Haig cameos as strip club bartender Jay.
Kill Bill is an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink action extravaganza that proudly flaunts its diverse exploitation cinema roots. Exceptionally ambitious in both length and scope, Quentin Tarantino's smorgasbord of genre chills and thrills is ultimately much more than the sum of its disparate parts, it exemplifies the filmmaker at his most stylistically uninhibited. It is an exhilarating revenge masterpiece and a visceral artistic expression conveying the devastation of the broken-hearted.
POST-CREDITS STINGER
An alternate take of The Bride ripping out a Crazy 88's eye.
OTHER VERSIONS
- The Japanese cut of Kill Bill: Volume 1 opens with a dedication to filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku instead of the "Old Klingon Proverb," features more gore in the anime sequence, the Crazy 88 battle remains in full color throughout with additional shots of violence, and the scene depicting The Bride's interrogation of Sofie Fatale does not cut away when she cuts off the interpreter's other arm
- A one-film version combining the Japanese cut of Volume 1 with Volume 2, excising their respective epilogue and prologue, entitled Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 and received a limited theatrical run at Tarantino's New Beverly movie theater in 2011
QUENTIN TARANTINO AS...
- A wounded Crazy 88
RED APPLE CIGARETTES
- The Bride walks past an advertisement for the brand in the Tokyo airport
FOOT STUFF
- Multiple close-ups of The Bride's toes as she wills her feet out of entropy
NOTABLE NEEDLE DROPS
- Nancy Sinatra's cover of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" makes for a chilling if ridiculously on-the-nose tune to start things off
- The Gheorghe Zamfir pan flute instrumental "The Lonely Shepherd" is both cheesy and perfect as a samurai theme
- Pairing the instrumental section of Santa Esmerelda's disco version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" with The Bride and O-Ren's sword fight in the snow is simply sublime
- Johnny Cash's "Satisfied Mind" sure is depressing listening for the regretful and impoverished Budd as The Bride attempts to ambush him in his trailer
- The two Meiko Kaji theme songs featured are natural fits for the narrative: playing at the end of the fifth chapter "修羅の花 (Shura no Hana; The Flower of Carnage)" from the 1973 samurai film Lady Snowblood, and playing over the end credits "怨み節 (Urami Bushi; Grudge Song)" from the Female Convict Scorpion film series
FRAGMENTS
- The Shaw Brothers studio logo and a vintage movie theater feature presentation clip play after the standard Miramax studio logo
- Kill Bill features original music by The RZA, the first musician to produce original music for a Tarantino film
- Vernita hiding a gun in a box of Kaboom cereal is one of my favorite sight gags ever
- The Bride killing Vernita just moments after making plans to meet her later for a dramatic showdown foreshadows her sudden final battle with Bill
- Michael Parks' Earl McGraw first appeared in Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn, and also appears in Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror and in Death Proof alongside James Parks' Edgar McGraw
- The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad bears a striking resemblance to the team in failed television pilot Fox Force Five as described by Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction
- There were four real life historical figures named Hattori Hanzo, the most famous was a ninja who was a loyal subordinate to Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu
- The Bride's yellow track suit with black stripes on the sides worn in the fifth chapter is a homage to Bruce Lee's attire from Game of Death
- While scouting shooting locations in Japan, Tarantino heard The 5.6.7.8.'s playing over the speakers at a Tokyo urban clothing store, bought the CD from the store, and decided to cast the rock trio as the house band for the House of Blue Leaves
- The switch to black and white during the Bride's battle against the Crazy 88 was primarily to appease the MPAA's demands to tone down the violence, but it is also an homage to how violent scenes were handled in U.S. televised versions of kung fu movies in the 1970s and 1980s
- In a bit of ironic casting, Gordon Liu was famous for playing Shaolin Monks, Pai Mei's sworn enemies, in Shaw Brothers kung fu films
- A few of the Cantonese lines spoken by Pai Mei differ from what the English subtitles display
- The movie that Bride and B.B. watch is Shogun Assassin, the 1980 English-dubbed grindhouse circuit recut of the samurai revenge film Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx with footage from Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance, both originally released in 1972, the first two films of a five-picture series adapted from Kazuo Koike's renowned manga epic centered on a stoic ronin's quest for revenge with his toddler in tow -- hardly an appropriate bedtime movie for a four-year-old
007 CONNECTIONS
- Michael Madsen (Damian Falco in Die Another Day)
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and The Marvels)
