Kill Bill Vol. 1

        Never in a while did I ever think of talking about Quentin Tarantino. I think in one way its intentional to hold off on him when I started off this initiative. Reason being that any cinephile is going to wax poetic on his movies, I wanted to at least avoid that level of snobbery. Ultimately, I picked his fourth film to nearly wrap up my look into action films. Kill Bill Volume. 1 is up there with his small filmography. 

1. The Bride

        It’s a recurring thing for Tarantino to be as unconventional with his movies. He was part of the new crop of filmmakers that came out during the 90s, mostly referred to as the American Independent Movement. Out of all of the directors, he’s the most celebrated due to his movies being a tribute of what came before. 

        This would be the second movie that he did with Uma Thurman, the first being Pulp Fiction. Both conceived the movie as a love letter to kung-fu movies and making matters better when Thurman had her newborn child. With that, we follow The Bride who survived an impromptu betrayal at her wedding at the hands of her former gang The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. 

        Looking for revenge and to get back her child, The Bride finds the individual members, or at least the ones we see, and what follows is nonstop action. You probably noticed that I refer to the main character as The Bride. The movie does mention her name, but at the unorthodox usage of the censor sound. In fact, you can even momentarily see it when she gets a plane ticket. And when Bill uses her name as a term of endearment. 

        What makes her character work even when her name isn’t mentioned is that we see the personal stakes. The betrayal spurns her to go on the revenge tour and to find out where her fiancé is. It’s one thing where we see everything playout in nonchronological order. That way of storytelling fleshes out everything and is completely different from its contemporaries. 

        As far as her doing the fight scenes, it’s hard to pick which ones are the best ones. As I’ll mention later, most of the fight scenes are derived from different genres in the past. What I will say is that what makes it more engaging is that she gets hurt. She earned her kills since the women she faces are some of the best killers. For as much as she holds her own in the duels, the moments when she’s holding her ground are the best. Particularly when she faces off against the psychotic Gogo. Her chain mace manages to put up a fight against The Bride. 

        Just to get this particular moment out of the way, since almost every Tarantino film has it is the camera shot of the main character’s feet. It’s been debated as to if the director has a particular fetish or he’s just a voyeur with a camera. To me, it’s perhaps just showing the action then having her start on her journey. Some articles that I’ve read couldn’t make head or tales on that motif in Tarantino’s other movies.

2. Animation Sequence

        In between seeing The Bride regain her control to her legs, we get a stylized moment when discussing the secondary antagonist. You would think that all of this would be acted to establish O-Ren Ishii’s background and how much of a threat she is. Well, we see that but animated. I think seeing it the first time weirded me out, like I didn’t expect a great sequence that could’ve won the Academy Award for Best Short Feature. 

        The sequence was animated by Production I.G., I haven’t watched most of their stuff but know that they animated the beloved Anime film Ghost in the Shell. I just love the level of attention the violence has going for it. Like when the gangsters killed O-Ren’s mom by driving a sword through the mattress, the blood spills and seeps through. And how it further elaborates on O-Ren’s character without falling into the villain tropes of explaining a plan or how they were evil. 

        Overall, the animated sequence further highlights the ingenuity of Quentin Tarantino. Had anyone else did this in their action movie would be derided and questioned as to why have it in their movies. In my opinion, it fits with where the story is going since The Bride is heading to Japan to confront O-Ren. The point is that it has to make sense in the context of the story, having it be there without any reason would be out of place and just look like eye candy. 

3. Bit of Everything 

        So, when watching the movie and the action sequence that came with it, you’re probably weirded out how it’s all presented. All of it is intentional and tribute to Grindhouse, exploitation, samurai films, kung fu, and spaghetti westerns to name a few. None of it all feels like a mish mash of action whatsoever, like it’s not discombobulated in the least bit. I think with each fight sequence is dedicated with the old genre to boot. 

        Not to go over all of them since that be pushing it. I decided that I’ll be talking about the first fight and when The Bride fights O-Ren’s gang. Seeing the first fight is like seeing the old kung-fu movies in the past. Both Thurman and Vivica A. Fox just tear the living room up. They fight and the cussing is also tribute to the variant of exploitation called Blaxploitation. One minute they fight, then there’s calm. But just when things seem calm, the action is dialed up and succinctly ends. 

        Now as I mentioned before, picking which fight sequence is tough. To me, the fight against the Crazy 88 is something to behold. Words that I’m typing can’t summarize the level of fun and gruesome way the fight is handled. It’s continuous since it goes from main foyer to the upstairs. I love it when the music kicks in and the whole thing goes in black and white. Apparently, that’s what American broadcasts did when they were showing those films in the past. Since they couldn’t censor all the movie for the audiences. 

4. Legacy

    The movie was well received, and it had a sequel that was followed up the next year. I’ve seen Volume 2 and to me it felt inferior to this one. Mind you, while this one felt like a nonstop action movie, the sequel had more development into The Bride’s fight skill, and we see more of Bill’s character. It retains the elements of this movie, but I felt it was toned down. The sequel is great don’t get me wrong, but I felt that if they were to rearrange the scenes from both movies, they could be equal. 

        Unrelated, the distinct yellow suit that The Bride wears is a tribute to Bruce Lee's final film The Game of Death. Never in my lifetime would I ever see it in any other media property. Well, except that it popped up in the beloved comedy show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In the episode "A Very Sunny Christmas", Frank arrives and greets the gang with the suit, it's a sight to see since he looks like an inebriated Pikachu.  

5. Overall 

        Kill Bill Volume 1 is one Tarantino’s best film. His tribute to obscure cinema is second to none when showing a bride getting revenge.