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Laramie Movie Scope:

Kill Bill, Volume One

Yo ho ho and buckets of blood

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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October 12, 2003 -- “Kill Bill, Volume One” is director Quentin Tarantino's homage to 1970's martial arts films. A mish mash of styles from Hong Kong action films to Japanese samurai films to Italian westerns, it is a gory, but enjoyable exercise in style and black humor. It also fails to transcend the narrow limits of the genre films it imitates. Rather than reinventing martial arts genre films, it chews them up and regurgitates them. It is not as good a film as Tarantino's previous two films, “Pulp Fiction” and “Jackie Brown.” It is not the best film so far this year, as some have claimed. It is no “Seabiscuit.”

Tarantino quickly identifies his sources of inspiration early in the film with his use of the “Shawscope” logo, a reference to prolific Hong Kong filmmakers Shaw Run Run and Shaw Run Me. The Shaw Brothers cranked out a vast quantity of mostly low-budget martial arts films. Tarantino was a big fan of those films. He was also a great admirer of action star Sonny Chiba (“The Street Fighter”), who appears in “Kill Bill.” As you may recall, Sonny Chiba's name came up often and reverently in Tarantino's screenplay, “True Romance.” Gordon Liu, a regular in Shaw Brothers films, also appears in “Kill Bill.”

The early part of the film also features a Nancy Sinatra cover of the old Cher song “Bang Bang (My baby shot me down).” This retro song (dates to 1966) goes well with the theme of the early part of the movie. Songs selected for the soundtrack are generally emotional, along the lines of Ennio Morricone scores in classic spaghetti westerns and some Hong Kong action films. The soundtrack is diverse and inventive, including “The Lonely Shepherd” by Zamfir, Isaac Hayes' “Run Fay Run,” (from the movie “Three Tough Guys”) Japanese film star Meiko Kaji's “The Flower of Carnage” from the film “Shurayukihime” and an energetic number from the Japanese surf guitar trio, the 5.6.7.8's, who appear on screen near the beginning of the film's biggest fight scene.

The movie also has some Star Trek references, including an opening title line, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” It is identified as a “Klingon proverb.” This is a line from “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” spoken by the character Khan Noonian Singh (Ricardo Montalban). Some sources indicate this was originally an old Chinese or Arab saying. Whether Klingon, Chinese or Arabian, this idea of revenge is at the center of “Kill Bill.” Revenge as motive is a common theme in martial arts films, and this one is no exception. Uma Thurman (“Tape”) stars as Black Mamba, a skilled assassin who is attacked during her wedding and left for dead by the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, of which she was once a member. The squad kills her groom, and seven other members of her wedding party. She alone survives to seek vengeance.

The deadly viper squad is commanded by Bill (played by David Carradine), who ordered the assassination. Black Mamba seeks revenge against Bill and the members of the squad. She pursues this revenge with the ruthlessness of Sonny Chiba's character in “The Street Fighter.” The other members of the viper squad are California Mountain Snake, a.k.a. Elle Driver (played by model/actress Daryl Hannah, whose character's name seems to be a combination of the names of supermodel Elle McPhereson and actress Minnie Driver), Cottonmouth, a.k.a., O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), Copperhead, a.k.a. Vernita Green, (Vivica A. Fox of “Boat Trip”) and Sidewinder, a.k.a., Budd, (Michael Madsen). Madsen starred in Tarantino's film “Reservoir Dogs” and Thurman starred in Tarantino's “Pulp Fiction.” Michael Parks plays a role in this film that is virtually identical to one he played in another Tarantino-scripted film, “From Dusk 'Til Dawn.”

As you can see, the basic plot is pretty simple, woman wronged, woman gets revenge. There are, however, some interesting interrelationships between the characters, and the characters do exhibit some emotional depth and complexity. Again, this is not uncommon in Hong Kong martial arts films. Copperhead has settled down to raise a family and Black Mamba does not want to kill the mother in front of her child. O-Ren Ishii has led a very tough life, getting vengeance of her own for the murder of her parents (shown as a cartoon flashback in the bloody, violent Japanese animation style). Black Mamba has a complex relationship with Bill. This relationship is touched upon in Volume One. Perhaps it will be explored in greater depth in Volume Two, coming out in about six months. Black Mamba's real name is concealed in the film (it is bleeped out on the soundtrack whenever her name is spoken). I suspect her name reveals yet another connection in the film to be revealed in Volume Two. The use of animation, along with the use of frequent “chapter heading” titles to introduce characters and episodes in the film gives the film a comic book feel. Tarantino also uses black and white film in places. This is not the first time that Tarantino has used literary themes in his movies. “Pulp Fiction” was another example of this. Tarantino also makes effective use of flashbacks and other non-chronological forms of storytelling, as he did in “Pulp Fiction.”

Despite all the cinematic tricks employed in this film, it ends up being a just another Hong Kong or Japanese action film at heart, with a lot of sparkling rhinestones glued on. As such, it is not among the best of the genre, such as “Iron Monkey” John Woo's “The Killer,” or Akira Kurosawa's “Yojimbo.” One problem is casting. Uma Thurman is a fine actress, but she's not athletic enough for this role. The key to this movie is the fighting and Thurman is just too slow to be believable in those scenes. She's moving at about half the speed of Jet Li or Jackie Chan. Somebody with serious skills like Michele Yeoh (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), or Lucy Liu was needed to make this character believable. Thurman battles against skilled fighters like Chia Hui Liu (plays head of security for O-Ren Ishii), and they are way too quick for her. There's just no way I could even begin to suspend my disbelief that Thurman could last more than 10 seconds in a fight against dozens of skilled swordsmen. She's good, but not that good. This is not a role that requires much acting ability, but it does require some serious athleticism. The film is extremely bloody (arms, legs and heads are sliced off), but it is largely comic book violence. I didn't really find the violence offensive, but it was a bit repetitive and numbing after a time. Three hours of this would have been too much. I'm glad the film got cut in half.

Another weakness in the film is that it is more about movies than it is about people. The constant use of genre clichés, like the blood spouting out of wounded people (typical in Japanese samurai movies), keeps reminding us that this is just a movie. Those reminders kept snapping me out of the immersive moviegoing experience. At the same time, these references are also entertaining. Some of the funniest bits in the film are the movie in-jokes, like Michael Parks reprising his “From Dusk to Dawn” character, and all the references to other movies and TV shows like Star Trek. I also liked the reference to Jackie Chan in one fight scene featuring a battle between a person with a knife and another with a frying pan. Chan has built a reputation by inventively using whatever is handy for a weapon.

The movie does have one exceptional fight scene in which Thurman fights Go Go Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama), who is armed with an interesting mace-like device attached to a chain. Such odd types of weaponry are common in Hong Kong action films. I also liked Sonny Chiba's performance as a retired swordmaster, Hattori Hanzo (this name came from a character Chiba played in a TV show called “Shadow Warriors”). Chiba's performance reminded me a lot of the incomparable Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. Chiba also helped to choreograph some of the sword fighting scenes in the film. Tarantino's editing and his use of the camera is also top-notch. He uses some really interesting camera angles in the film. This movie rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2003 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)