Quentin Tarantino (arguably the most talented writer/director of the past ten years) is back with his fourth movie and his first since 1997's Jackie Brown. Kill Bill: Vol. I is a slick, ultra-violent, comic book/martial arts movie. It is great entertainment made with orgasmic flair. Like most of his work this movie is not for all tastes. He does seem to relish violence and gore for its own sake. But what sets K.B. apart from Tarantino's other films is that here - although a certain amount of gritty realism is portrayed - the violence and characters that inhabit this world are far enough removed from reality that they are a bit less unnerving. Don't get me wrong; there is enough bloodshed on display to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool. But the geysers of spurting red-stuff and the literal gallons that gush out from disembowelments are hyperreal and therefore easier to stomach.
The plot is straight out of the pages of a comic. A female assassin awakens from a coma after four years, bent on revenge. Her former squad ('The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad' to be exact), led by the enigmatic Bill, attacked her on her wedding day, reasons unknown. With the exception of the bride the entire wedding party was slaughtered. Oh, and she was pregnant at the time.
This simple storyline is made more complex by the manner that it is shown. As is the director's trademark, the movie jumps around in time, revealing pieces of information here and there. Another Tarantino tradition is the quirky mix of humor and violence. Early on in the movie The Bride - or Black Mamba as she was known in the squad - goes to the suburban home of Vernita Green, AKA Copperhead, to exact revenge. The two women face off with large knives, practically destroying the house. There is a shot of them in the living room, catching their breaths, knives in hand ready to battle. Suddenly we see a school bus pull up in front of the house through a large picture window. Vernita's young daughter gets out and runs up to the house, all girlhood innocence. What follows is one of the most original scenes I have watched in a long time. Very few filmmakers can balance genuine laughs with such visceral and intense action.
The climax of the movie occurs when Black Mamba travels to Japan to kill O-Ren Ishii/Copperhead, as she goes down her Death List, checking off the names one by one. O-Ren is the leader of Japan's 'Crazy 88' a notorious crime organization. Black Mamba shows up to kill her at The House of Blue Leaves nightclub where O-Ren is holding court. In a frenzy of violence, Black Mamba fights dozens of O-Ren's henchmen. There is so much slashing, hacking and stabbing going on, with geysers of gore literally covering the screen, that the movie actually switches to black-and-white for a few minutes. When it is all over the camera pulls back to reveal a room full of bloody corpses, body parts and the wounded, flailing about and screaming in agony. It recalls the famous shot of all the soldiers lying on the ground along the railroad tracks in Gone with the Wind.
Uma Thurman's performance, the way she plays it all so serious, provides the glue that holds it all together. She is all guts and determination, with an occasional glimpse of the woman beneath the obsession of revenge.
Tarantino's affection and respect for the genres he revives is apparent in his choice to cast veteran Japanese stars Sonny Chiba and Chiaki Kuriyama in small parts. The international cast adds authenticity to the movie.
Clearly inspired by seventies martial arts flicks, never before has one - from what has always been considered a B-movie genre - been given such lush cinematography. There is even an ultra-violent, but beautifully rendered animated segment that somehow doesn't throw off the pace.
Kill Bill is bright, original and clever. It is also crude and brutal to the point of being disgusting. One thing it's not is dull.
