KILL BILL: VOLUME 1
Released: October 10, 2003
In the year 2003, Uma Thurman will kill Bill. Well... That technically isn't true, anymore. Now that Miramax has asked director Quentin Tarantino to split his epic fourth film into his segmented fourth and fifth films, Uma won't actually get around to killing kill until 2004. I get the sense Miramax saw Warner's have their "Matrix" and "Harry Potter" multiple chapters along with New Line and their "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy then wondering "why can't we have a multiple part series too?". But to cut "Kill Bill" in half, does it really serve it well? Yes and no... Unlike Tarantino's first three films, "Kill Bill" doesn't rely on quirky, fast dialogue from colorful characters in a quirky story. The colorful characters are still there but gone are the quirky dialogue and story. Not that it's a bad thing though! Replacing the layers of story in his other movies is action - and brutally gorey voilent action at that! This is a simple revenge story. Uma's character is among a church of wedding-goers that are slaughtered by a bunch of baddies. But Uma is tough and doesn't die. Instead, she recovers and vows revenge. And revenge she gets! One by one, Uma tracks down each bad guy and bloodies up the screen on her path to gang leader Bill. I missed the quirky dialogue and dense story I know Tarantino is capable of but I did enjoy what he offered instead. There are some gaps inbetween the action that I felt could have been tightened somewhat, but otherwise this was a really fun ride. The acting/action is great and Uma Thurman is fantastic as Black Mamba, hellbent on vengeance. Also starring are Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. Fox. Even if Tarantino says he's cool with the two part presentation, I still feel this would have worked as one long 3 hour bloodbath rather than a four month gap between chapters. At least it's less of a wait than the other aforementioned multi-parters which make you wait up to a year for the rest of the story to reveal itself...
111 Minutes
Miramax/Buena Vista