The Bottom Line
- Visually dazzling film that I found enormously entertaining
- High energy and funny in a campy way
- Soundtrack music well-matched to visuals
- Violent and bloody in a comic-book way
- Unsatisfying narrative (part one of a two-part series)
- Characters lack psychological depth
Description
- DVD containing martial-arts action movie "Kill Bill Vol. 1" (2003)
- Film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino
- Movie stars Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, and Vivica A. Fox
- DVD contains a making-of feature (22 minutes)
- DVD has 2 numbers performed by Japanese female rock band The 5, 6, 7, 8’s (5 min. 50 sec.)
- MPAA rating: R for strong bloody violence, language, and some sexual content
- Excellent picture and sound quality
- Feature run time: 1 hour 51 minutes
- DVD release date: April 13, 2004
Guide Review - "Kill Bill Vol. 1" DVD Review
I have never been much of a fan of grindhouse movies, but I found "Kill Bill Vol. 1" enormously entertaining. Although I was aware of Quentin Tarantino’s quirky genius from seeing his other movies, his "Kill Bill Vol. 1" managed to amaze me with its sheer cinematic virtuosity.
"Kill Bill Vol. 1" is the first half of a revenge story, and it unfolds in the style of an Asian action movie. The name of the main character (Uma Thurman) is bleeped, but she is known as The Bride. A squad of assassins, led by a man named Bill, put her in a coma on her wedding day. Four years later, she recovered consciousness and set out to get revenge.
The Bride tracks down one of the assassins, played by Lucy Liu, in Tokyo, and another, portrayed by Vivica A. Fox, in Southern California. Along the way, The Bride obtains a special sword from a guy played by Sonny Chiba. But the pulpy story isn’t nearly so important as the dazzling, kinetic visual sequences (including one section in anime), the campy dialogue, and the lively music on the soundtrack.
I found "Kill Bill Vol. 1" short on character development, but long on style and worth seeing just for the entertainment value alone. The DVD skimps on extras, but I speculate that another version will come out in the future that will include more.
