The Films of Quentin Tarantino: Kill Bill Volume I (2003)

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) 

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino.

Written by: Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman (Character)

Starring: Uma Thurman (The Bride), Lucy Liu (O-Ren Ishii), David Carradine (Bill) Vivica A. Fox (Vernita), Michael Madsen (Budd), Daryl Hannah (Elle Driver), Julie Dreyfus (Sofie Fatale), Sonny Chiba (Hattori Hanzo), Chiaki Kuriyama (Gogo Yubari), Gordon Liu (Johnny Mo), Michael Parks (Earl McGraw), Michael Bowen (Buck), Jun Kunimura (Boss Tanaka), Kenji Ohba (Shiro), James Parks (Edgar McGraw), Sakichi Sato (Charlie Brown), Ambrosia Kelley (Nikki Bell).

 

When Kill Bill: Volume 1 opened in 2003, it marked the end of Tarantino’s longest period of inactivity in his career. It had been six years since Jackie Brown (which I don’t think had quite experienced its critical re-considering yet) – and it was fair to wonder if Tarantino was simply out of ideas – that he was a one trick pony, who had been copied so many times, by so many different indie directors trying (and mostly failing) to do what Tarantino had done – and that perhaps Tarantino would join the ranks of directors who left a massive impact on film culture, but not a massive body-of-work. But those concerns were put to rest by Kill Bill Volume 1 – which in many ways is the simplest film Tarantino has ever made, and in others is the most ambitious.

 

From a plot point-of-view, it’s simple. The Bride (Uma Thurman) was pregnant on her wedding day, when her former employer/lover Bill (David Carradine, unseen, but certainly heard in the film) and his four best assassins – O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), Vernita (Vivica A. Fox), Budd (Michael Madsen) and Elle Driver (Darryl Hannah) burst into the wedding chapel, and killed everyone there – with the exception of the Bride, who was put into a coma. Five years later, she wakes up, and begins a path of revenge. In this first Volume, she tracks down Vernita and O-Ren, to exact her revenge.

 

For what it, admittedly, such a simple revenge film, it is kind of ridiculous that Tarantino felt the need to make a four hour, two-part film. The film is undeniably self-indulgent in the extreme – and as my wife likes to say, you can practically see Tarantino jerking off during every scene. She’s right, of course, but she also says that Volume 1 is still one of her very favorite films of all time. Because what would be masturbatory extreme and annoying in most directors, somehow isn’t with Tarantino. He is clearly lovingly recreating the revenge film he has loved in the past – the grindhouse films of the 1970s, his favorite kung fu and samurai films – and mixed them all up in his head, and come up with something truly original and unique.

 

He is undeniably helped a great deal by the great performance at its core by Uma Thurman. This is a film built on extremes, and you could certainly argue built on stereotypes in other characters. But Thurman’s The Bride gives the film a relatable, emotional core to the film. She wakes up with these memories of what happened to her, realizes that everything and everyone she loved has been killed, and she has nothing left. She also has to deal with orderly Buck – who she has to remember raped her for years – and pimped her out to others during that time as well. And although she is killing machine – dozens upon dozens will die in this film at her sword – she is not heartless. She won’t kill Vernita’s four-year daughter, and even does everything she can to not killed Vernita in front of her either. This is humorously mirrored late in the film when he literally spanks the youngest member of the Crazy 88 and tells her to go home to her mother.

 

From a filmmaking perspective, this is easily the most ambitious film that Tarantino had made up until this point. His first three films as a director all contained violence, but for the most part relied on quick, brutal, bloody moments to shock – violence came quickly and suddenly, and was over just as quickly. His most elaborate set pieces in those films were conversations – or the dance of the scam being pulled off in Jackie Brown. Here though, Tarantino crafts actual sustained action sequences – and does so brilliantly. The one early in the film – which is smart, even if it’s not in chronological order – is the fight sequence between The Bride and Vernita. It is small scale – at least compared to what would come later in the film – but is expertly crafted. It’s essentially a knife fight in a typical suburban home, with the two women crashing into each other, and everything else in sight. It also raises the emotional stakes a little – with Vernita talking about her daughter – and has some hilarious moments (“I shoulda been Black Mamba”).

 

It is the duel at the House of Blue Leaves that everyone remembers – and with good reason. It takes up about half of the 110 runtime of the film. Thurman walks into the crowded restaurant, looking great in her yellow jumpsuit, chops off O-Ren’s lieutenant’s arm, and declares war. From there, there is about three waves of attack until she can get to O-Ren – the first, some of the Crazy 88 – probably the lesser – come at her in small groups, and she handles them. Then there is a sustained fight sequence with teenage Gogo – wielding some sort of mace like weapon – which is brilliantly staged one-to-one combat. Then the legendary black and white sequence (because apparently the amount of blood would have required a NC-17 rating had it been in color) – where she takes on the rest of the Crazy 88 – including the great Gordon Liu. And finally, a one-on-one samurai sword battle that rivals the best of Japanese cinema – and is also mind-boggling gorgeous.

 

But even before we get, there are great sequences. Those who has recently accused Tarantino of not caring about female characters (a ridiculous claim – you can claim he writes bad female characters, or sexist ones, or caricatures, or writes them all as men – all valid criticisms, I just don’t happen to agree with, but saying he doesn’t care about them is demonstrably false) – should take note of the anime sequence in the film. Yes, it is more self-indulgence on the part of Tarantino – more masturbatory excess if you want to call it that – but it is brilliantly animated in the most extreme bloody way imaginable, as well as really diving into what made O-Ren into the woman we see. And Tarantino takes time there as well – a wonderfully comic Yakuza meeting, that ends with an over-the-top decapitation. O-Ren really gets more time than any other of the assassins – and Lucy Liu makes the most of it.

 

There is also the incredibly fun sequence at the sushi restaurant where The Bride tracks down Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba – clearly a Tarantino favorite) – to get her to make her a samurai sword, even though he’s retired. This is the type of scene that Tarantino does better than anyone. In most films, you’d point to this sequence as something to cut for plot expediency reasons. But in Tarantino it becomes essential – entertaining, informative and wonderfully acted. It’s one of the reasons why having a four-hour, two-part revenge film works in his hands, and wouldn’t work in almost anyone else’s.

 

As a film unto itself, of course, Volume I is incomplete – sheathed down the middle because no one would want to see a four-hour film, and yet it needed to be that long. And yet, of course, it still works miraculously well by itself – and it gets you excited for what’s next. I’m not saying it’s a forerunner to the Marvel films – which does this type of thing all the time – but I’m also not not saying that. It’s a brilliant standalone film – and even better when combined with Volume II – which is a much different film.