Summary
The Bride was murdered by Bill on her wedding day, or so he thought. Now, the former assassin has woken from her coma and is out for revenge against the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who ruined her life and then, finally, she is going to kill Bill.
My Viewing
This is the first Tarantino film I ever saw. It came out during one of the two summers in my early twenties when I saw every single movie that came out in the theater (almost) so of course I saw it. However, I didn’t know who Tarantino was, hadn’t even heard his name before, and thus, had no idea what I was in for.
The pre-roll screens saying “Feature Presentation” came up and had that old 70s era sound and feel which reminded me of, hmmm, I don’t know what. I never saw films from that era but it felt like something unearthed by a huge fan of old movies and then the opening title card came up and read, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” I sat up in my seat. As a Star Trek fan I knew that this was an old Klingon proverb spoken by General Chang in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.” I thought for a moment maybe the person who used these titles didn’t realize where he had heard the quote, somewhere along the way but then the credit for the quote faded in below it reading: “Old Klingon Proverb.”
I knew then that this was going to be a special film.
The Film
There are a lot of reasons to love a Tarantino film but “Kill Bill vol 1” might be the most perfectly distilled version of what most people think of when they hear his name. It is violent, crass, funny, full of pop culture deep pulls that escape most people, and expertly crafted.
The violence in the film is simply over the top but the great thing about it is that it is also nothing new. I can almost imagine a world where people are complaining to Tarantino that his film is too violent and he simply pulls out frame references from other films for all of his violent moments and says. “But it was ok twenty years ago?” Kills abound in this movie from the decapitation at Yakuza headquarters that seems pulled straight from the movie “Ran” with it’s blood spray streams, to the I-just-got-the-top-of-my-head-cut-off-but-can-still-make-a-final-statement moment for O-ren Ishii (Lucy Liu, “Charlie’s Angels), or the Zorro like quality to the duel with Johnny Mo.
The special thing about Tarantino’s violence is that it isn’t haphazard or just for the sake of making the film violent. When you get to “Kill Bill vol 2” or a movie like “Jackie Brown” you realize that he does have restraint in him. He only uses violence as a tool in his films, normally. This film however revels in it. It still is making points about the characters, chief amongst which is the rage that a man like Bill inspires in those he has wronged, but there is a gratuitous quality to the fight with the Crazy 88 that seems to be about more than just having a big martial arts battle. There seems to be a genuine enjoyment, which Bill references in “Vol 2”.
The film is also one of the funniest that Tarantino has made. In many ways this is because of how not serious the majority of the film is. There really isn’t a lot of subtext that needs to be communicated so the speech craft that is being employed can focus on the funny more than the dramatic. On top of that, the visuals themselves are funny. Most comedies these days are simply jokes being told with a camera which happens to be turned on filming the funny delivery. In this film, the camera is a jokester, the editing is a humorist, and even the costuming is poking fun.
Tarantino is nothing if not a well of film knowledge so all of his films have references to movies but “Kill Bill vol 1” takes the cake. Unlike other films which use references as jokes, “Kill Bill” uses them as tributes. With humor, it seems the current trend is toward being broad and readily accessible so more people will be in on the joke. “Scott Pilgrim vs The World,” is a great example of this. The references are not really deep cuts. Even people with no video game knowledge will get many of the visual gags. Tarantino, on the other hand, doesn’t care if you notice that Sonny Chiba (“Battle Royale 2”) is the sushi bar owner or not, or if you know that he was one of the first martial arts movie stars. Tarantino knows and honors him, respects him, and so puts him in his movie. If you know your film history, you see it. If you don’t, you don’t. But it isn’t there for you. It’s there for Quentin Tarantino.
That’s what makes him such an auteur. He’s making the films he wants to make whether anyone else wants to see them or not. Luckily we do but part of the reason we do is because he isn’t making it for us. His joy at seeing his own creations come to life and be celebrated is palpable and infectious.
It’s like watching a kid playing with all his favorite action figures and squeal with glee to show us all how fun it is to play.
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