Kill Bill was Quentin Tarantino’s eagerly anticipated follow-up to 1997’s Jackie Brown and his first original story since he burst into the mainstream with 1994’s Pulp Fiction. What he delivered was nothing short of expectation. A two-part saga that begins with its protagonist getting shot in the head, the film gives us pure Tarantino: the cinephile, the artist, the auteur.
Kill Bill: Vol I introduces us to The Bride (Uma Thurman), who is shot in the head and left for dead by her former boss and lover, Bill. Only she wasn’t dead. She lay in a coma for four years before awakening and seeking her revenge on those who were responsible for the massacre of her fiancée and friends and of the unborn child she carried. The Bride was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, so she can handle herself. But so can them.
She makes a death list:
1. O-Ren Ishii
2. Vernita Green
3. Elle Driver
4. Budd
5. BILL.
Told in five chapters, Vol. I climaxes with The Bride’s showdown with O-Ren (Lucy Liu) and her bodyguards, The Crazy 88. It is a grand action sequence. The film is largely influenced by Japanese Samurai movies, and it does not disappoint. When the credits roll, all we want is more.
And we get more. Vol. 2 is part Kung-Fu, part Spaghetti Western, with a whole heap of Tarantino. With more dialogue and less action, Vol. 2 is a slower and more nuanced film, and it is the better half. Bill (David Carradine) is now a primary character (we never see his face in Vol. I), and in this one The Bride must go through Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) and Bill’s brother Budd (Michael Madsen) before reaching numero 5. When she does, it’s more satisfying than we could have imagined. That Uma Thurman wasn’t nominated for an Oscar is beyond me. She carries the films, and it is one of the best female roles in the history of American cinema.
Much has been written about Tarantino’s willingness to derive so much material from other films. So be it. When he delivers, he delivers.
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