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I missed "Kill Bill, Volume 1" when it was in the theaters (you have to move quickly up here in the Northland because we have only two movie theaters with a limited number of screens and films can disappear before you know it), but this turned out to be to my advantage. Quentin Tarantino did not plan on "Kill Bill" being told in two "volumes" but Miramax decided that a four hour revenge film would be a bit much and consequently we end up with "Volume 1" coming out on DVD the same week "Volume 2" opens up in the theaters. So having seen the Bride (Uma Thurman) take care of the first two names on her "to do" list I can treat tonight as an intermission and go see "Volume 2" tomorrow. This is good because if I had to wait four months to see the second half of the film I would be pretty ticked off.
Once upon a time in El Paso, Texas a wedding party is slaughtered execution style. However, it turns out that the Bride, who is pregnant, is not dead but in a coma. Four years later she wakes up in time to save herself from insult being added to her ingury. After dealing with a few annoying details, such as somebody trying to rape her comatose body and being unable to get her legs to move, the Bride puts together her list of people to kill: (1) Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), (2) O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), (3) Budd (Michael Madsen), (4) Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), and (5) Bill (David Carradine). There is more that happens in this film than eliminating the first two list (and since there is a Volume 2 telling you that the Bride survives Volume 1 does not constitute a spoiler), such as an anime telling us how O-Ren Ishii became the Queen of the Tokyo underworld. But Tarrantino is all about how the Bride takes out her first two victims and the triumph of style as substance, especially when style means fountains of blood gushing from human beings that would make Akira Kurosawa proud.
You have to keep in mind that Tarantino has seen and committed to memory more movies than any other human being on the face of the planet. The following is a list of movies and television series that are supposedly referenced in "Kill Bill, Volume 1":
"The Lodger," "Scaramouche," "The Wings of Eagles," "The Magnificent Seven," "Yojimbo," "Tsubaki Sanjûrô," "The Manchurian Candidate," "Marnie," "Honey West," "Tôkyô nagaremono," "I Lunghi giorni della vendetta," "Da zui xia," "Modesty Blaise," "The Green Hornet," "I Giorni dell'ira," "Le Scandale," "Ironside," "Kyuketsuki Gokemidoro," "Kurotokage," "Da uomo a uom," "La Mariée était en noir," "Twisted Nerve," "C'era una volta il West," "The Wild Bunch," "Siu kuen wong," "A Clockwork Orange," "Hannie Caulder," "Black Mama, White Mama," "The Last House on the Left," "La Novia ensangrentada," "Il Grande duello," "Joshuu sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bô, "Shurayukihime," "The Doll Squad," "Tian xia di yi quan," "High Plains Drifter," "White Lightning," "Shura-yuki-hime: Urami Renga," "Truck Turner," "Uomini duri," "Crash che botte!," "Onna hissatsu ken," "Gone in 60 Seconds," "Thriller - en grym film," "Du bi quan wang da po xue di zi," "Profondo rosso," "Switchblade Sisters," "Black Sunday," "Eaten Alive," "7 note in nero," "Hao xia," "Yagyû ichizoku no inbô," "Game of Death ," "Grease," "Wu du," "Patrick," "Day of the Woman," "Hattori Hanzô: Kage no Gundan." "Paura nella città dei morti viventi," "Resurrection," "Shogun Assassin," "Si wang ta," "Makai tenshô," "Escape from New York," "Xian si jue," "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan," "Tenebre," "The Professional: Golgo 13," "Scarface," "Gai shi ji hua," "Year of the Dragon," "Wong ga jin si," "Hard to Kill," "3-4x jugatsu," "Miller's Crossing," "Hong fen zhi zun," "Unforgiven," "Reservoir Dogs," "Fong Shi Yu II: Wan fu mo di," "Tai ji zhang san feng," "True Romance," "Pulp Fiction." "Jûbei ninpûchô," "From Dusk Till Dawn," "Full Tilt Boogie," "Kite," "Weißkreuz," "SF:Episode One," "From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money," "Proboscis," "Wo hu cang long," "Batoru rowaiaru," and "Koroshiya 1."
I was happy I recognized over two dozen of the films on that list, and that is not even close to a passing score percentage-wise. For all I know every single scene and shot in the film is lifted from something else, but the onslaught of references is apparently so relentless that everything old becomes new again, especially without a commentary track when QT can tell us the origin of each and every homage. At this point what is most memorable to me is watching O-Ren Ishii and her posse walk glide into the House of Blue Leaves with the soundtrack giving them energy and the final showdown in an exquisite garden at night with gently falling snow where O-Ren in her white kimono and the Bride in her yellow biker suit do their dance of death with Japanese steel.
With "Pulp Fiction" Tarantino made his impression upon our ears with scene after scene of great dialogue. No wonder the soundtrack for that film had clips of some of what came rolling off the tongues of the actors (usually Samuel L. Jackson, who plays a corpse in this film). But with "Kill Bill, Volume 1" Tarantino's blood feast is mostly for the eyes. Imagine what he can do if he every puts those two together in a single film. Until then, we can see how the Bride deals with the rest of the people on her list. This film is not for everybody, but then what Quentin Tarantino film ever was?
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| Additional Blu-ray options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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September 9, 2008 "Please retry" | Blu ray | 1 | $18.20 | $10.59 |
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April 26, 2011 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $19.80 | $3.37 |
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