Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Quentin Tarantino

Writers:

Quentin Tarantino (character The Bride) &
Uma Thurman (character The Bride) ...

Release Date:

10 October 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

In the year 2003, Uma Thurman will kill Bill

Plot:

The Bride wakes up after a long coma. The baby that she carried before entering the coma is gone. The only thing on her mind is to have revenge on the assassination team that betrayed her - a team she was once part of.

Plot Keywords:

Bride | Assassin | Coma | Assassination | Revenge

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 12 wins & 41 nominations

Cast

Uma Thurman	...	The Bride
Lucy Liu	...	O-Ren Ishii
Vivica A. Fox	...	Vernita Green
Daryl Hannah	...	Elle Driver
David Carradine	...	Bill
Michael Madsen	...	Budd
Julie Dreyfus	...	Sofie Fatale
Chiaki Kuriyama	...	Gogo Yubari
Sonny Chiba	...	Hattori Hanzo
Chia Hui Liu	...	Johnny Mo (as Gordon Liu)
Michael Parks	...	Earl McGraw
Michael Bowen	...	Buck
Jun Kunimura	...	Boss Tanaka
Kenji Ohba	...	Bald Guy (Sushi Shop) (as Kenji Oba)
Yuki Kazamatsuri	...	Proprietor

Also Known As:

Kill Bill (USA) (informal short title)
Kill Bill Part 1 (USA) (informal title)
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (USA) (alternative spelling)
Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume One (USA) (promotional title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content.

Runtime:

111 min | Japan:112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese | French

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Taiwan:R-18 | Malaysia:18SG (re-rating) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Iceland:16 | Germany:18 | Hungary:18 | USA:NC-17 (Special Edition DVD) | South Korea:18 (re-rating) (cut) (DVD rating) (uncut) | Singapore:R(A) | New Zealand:R18 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Brazil:18 | Canada:16+ (Québec) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Israel:16 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Poland:15 | Portugal:M/16 | South Africa:18 | South Korea:Limited (original rating) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #40294)

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

The sequences where an extreme close-up of the Bride's eyes is shown, juxtaposed with footage of the betrayal, whenever she sees a target of her revenge is taken verbatim from Da uomo a uomo (1967).

Goofs:

Continuity: When the bride fights the Crazy 88s. she unmasks a young kid who gives up. she throws him into several others, who land into a pool of bloody water. After the scene where she fights with the lights off, she narrowly avoids killing the same kid. He is fully dry, and his white dress shirt is stain free. She then chops his sword into pieces, he gives up and she spanks him.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Bill: Do you find me sadistic? You know, I bet I could fry an egg on your head right now, if I wanted to. You know, Kiddo, I'd like to believe that you're aware enough even now to know that there's nothing sadistic in my actions. Well, maybe towards those other... jokers, but not you. No Kiddo, at this moment, this is me at my most...
[cocks pistol]
Bill: masochistic.
The Bride: Bill... it's your baby...
[BLAM!]

Movie Connections:

References Year of the Dragon (1985)

Soundtrack:

Police Check Point

This movie was brilliant!

Man, what a film. As a fan of 70's martial arts movies, it was great to see all of the references. I also thought the use of B&W throughout was extremely effective. The cartoon sequences seemed a bit much, but did fit in with the overall feel of the film. I have seen many people posting about the sheer amount of blood and guts, but you have to remember this was Tarantino's homage to Bruce Lee-era action pictures. In those movies, the stories were very similar epics of revenge, and they never had much of a budget for good "gore" effects. It was more or less "throw some fake blood on the guy who just got killed" type of effects, which were duplicated accurately by some of the deaths in this movie. The plot also followed closely the plot of most 70's Kung Fu movies; something despicable happens to the weak hero (whole village razed, family slaughtered, etc..) and the hero goes away for years to learn the secrets of a particular style of Kung Fu. All of these movies contained the "secret move" which the master normally does not teach, except of course, in this rare instance. That move, as depicted in Kill Bill Vol. 2, is always used on the evil leader of the clan whom had brought death and chaos to the hero.

Kill Bill was a terrific modern take on those movies which were always set in ancient China. I was very impressed with Uma Thurman's swordplay, at no point did I feel that it looked scripted or fake. Even when fighting against more than 50 Crazy 8's, it replicated admirably the incredibly one-sided fights from some of the best martial arts movies made 30 years ago.

All in all, a great and original film! R.