Kill Bill

As I said in my review of Gone With The Wind, I'm getting sentimental about the movies I love most so I'm taking the time to at least grind out some reviews for the few I consider to be my favorites. Unless I'm interrupted between now and when I finish, there will probably by six reviews, in a row, that all have an (A+) as the grade. Don't be alarmed, I haven't become even MORE lenient with my judgments, I'm just taking a second to once and for all identify my most beloved movies. Kill Bill is technically the fourth film by Quentin Tarantino, though it was split into two volumes so it's really films 4 and 5. For each volume there are five chapters, I could name them all in order but I really don't want to do so right now. I'll name one later, my favorite. Anyway, the story is pretty straight forward, but of course it's also not straight forward at all, what with the chronology mixed all around. Uma Thurman, Tarantino's muse if you will, plays The Bride, a woman shot in the head and left for dead along with the rest of her wedding party. They all died, she goes into a comma for four years and upon waking up she vows revenge on those responsible, namely her four ex-coworkers and their boss Bill. The Bride, her real name is bleeped out when ever characters speak it for the majority of the movie, was once an assassin but, pregnant with Bill's baby, she decided to get out. She makes a list (my kind of woman) of names that she crosses off after each is killed. She is armed with a katana sword (REALLY my kind of woman) forged for her by mythic sword maker Hattori Hanzo. The story is really nothing new, and when you see the movie you realize that the entire thing is quite blatantly nothing new, in fact it's opposite. Tarantino, a self proclaimed cinephile, assembles the movie out of everything he's ever loved in the movies. It's kind of like his cinematic response to anyone wondering why he adores them so much. I read an article in which someone compared Kill Bill to a mix tape. That sounds about right. I don't think that anyone but Tarantino himself could watch this movie and recognize every single homage and references, but that's ok, it's just as enjoyable even if all you recognize is is The Bride's warrior clothing pulled from Bruce Lee's Game of Death. It's surprising, when you watch it, to think that it was ever meant to be shown as one movie. First of all, there is simply nothing in the 4+ hours total running time with which I could have possible done without, and second of all, the two halves are totally different. They're not different in a bad way, they compliment each other, like two side of a coin, if you'll pardon my terrificly awful cliché. Volume one is all action, there are a lot of great lines, but it's more or less one long build up to Chapter 5 "Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves." This is my favorite scene in the whole Kill Bill saga, and has a good bid for my favorite scene of all time in any movie (though I don't think I'll ever officially tell anyone what that is). It's pretty much one long sequence of fights during which The Bride dispatches a handful of guards, personal body guard/school girl Gogo Yubari, the army of ninja hoodlums "The Crazy 88," their leader Johnny Mo, and finally O-ren Ishii, number one on her death list. It's brilliant, a word I don't often use to describe movies. It's not shy about being old school style, complete with spurting blood after every hacked limb and delicious little sound effects to accompany the unsheathing of a particularly good weapon. The point is, that scene is the climax of Volume 1, and really of the whole Kill Bill story. Volume 2 has exciting parts, but it is much more like Pulp Fiction in that its main strength is its conversations, a blend of everyday commonality and profound cinematic dialogue. By the end of Volume 2, as The Bride finally comes face to face with Bill, there is almost no violence, just graceful conclusion to the whole bloody affair. I'll end my descriptions there, because I would hate to do anymore injustice to one of the greatest movies, I think, of all time. It is not a movie for everyone, but let's be honest, if it were it would have to skimp on something or another, and that is something that can't always be done. It is, however, a great movie. It's like nothing we've ever seen before, or rather it's like everything we've ever seen before, but by mimicking without mocking it becomes a celebration of the movies, of all the best things in movies. Quentin Tarantino is kind of full of himself, if you've ever seen an interview you know what I mean. He's cocky and every other sentence coming out of his mouth seems to be some sort of proclamation of his brilliance and perfection. I'd love to hate him and say he was a terribly narcissistic braggart, but as my film professor says, "It aint bragging if you can do it." This movie IS brilliant, and it IS perfect, Tarantino is a master of his art, and this is his masterpiece.

A+