4.5 out of 5 stars
Family appropriateness rating: 0.5 out of 5 stars
Rated R
-Graphic, bloody violence throughout.
-Strong language throughout including f-words and several c-words
-Moderate amount of sexual content including a brief, animated depiction of statutory rape about to happen (it does not actually happen though)
The introduction to Quentin Tarantino month mentioned that I would lump both "Kill Bill" movies together. My reasoning was they are one story. While this is true, I changed my mind. They do make up the same story, but they are completely different films that can easily be discussed individually.
"Kill Bill: Vol. 1" is a stylized revenge film about a woman (Uma Thurman) who seeks revenge on a man named Bill (David Carradine) for nearly killing her.
There is no mention of the woman's name in the first installment. She is either referred to as "The Bride" -- having been found unconscious at a small wedding, wearing a white dress -- or her secret assassin name "Black Mamba." In some scenes, her real name is uttered, but a distinct <bleep> sound covers it.
The Bill character is also an enigma. His voice is heard in several scenes, but all that is shown are his hands. His face is never revealed until the second movie. All we know is he is the leader of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, which The Bride was once a part of. Details about his relationship with the protagonist are unknown.
All that is given to the audience is just enough to know why Black Mamba would want to seek revenge on Bill. The film opens to him shooting her in the head. When detectives find her, they think she is dead, but upon realizing she is not, she is taken to a hospital where she spends four years in a vegetative state.
When she wakes up, she is angry: not just for having been shot, but because she was pregnant during the attempted murder. She finds that she is no longer carrying the baby and assumes the unborn child was killed.
Bill is actually the last person on her list to kill. There are several other people from Bill's assassination squad who were present during the assassination attempt, and she intends to save the most important for last. Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox) is one of these people, and the Bride confronts her at the beginning.
This bulk of this film focuses on Black Mamba going after O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), the brutal leader of a criminal underground in Tokyo. While there is not a lot explained about where the Bride came from, there is a lot of description about O-Ren. A big chunk of her background is explained in a beautifully-drawn anime that does a great job creating a relatable character who the audience can sympathize with. She is later developed as a murdering psychopath, but at least she has reason to be.
Tarantino knows exactly what to do in every shot to create an atmosphere that is wildly entertaining. This is especially true as the Bride goes to the house of O-Ren to confront her. The way the set is colored combined with the background music and the way the camera follows the main character makes it perfect. Not only are these shots visually stimulating, they create sufficient buildup for the action-packed climax.
This film came out just five days before I turned 14, and the only thing I had heard was how violent it is. It has been said that over 450 gallons of fake blood were used to make it. After actually watching it, I do not doubt this fact. There is a lot of blood! However, it is different than I imagined. It is not realistic like in war movies. It is comical. Whenever limbs get chopped off, blood spews out sporadically. It is even weirder when people are stabbed: a volcano of blood explodes out of their stomaches.
This aspect is both visually appealing and disturbing. It is disturbing because of how entertaining it is. This is why I would not recommend it to anyone who does not understand the basics of both biology and human ethics. Only well-adjusted adults should watch it with a critical eye that it is purely for entertainment. Young people or someone who does not know right from wrong may think the blood looks cool and try it out.
That is something Tarantino and I may not see eye-to-eye on, but I believe it to be possible both because of my religious background and my background in psychology. There is a well-known study by a man named Alfred Bandura in which children were shown an adult behave aggressively towards a doll. The kids were then able to play, and those who had observed the aggressive behavior were aggressive towards it as well. This is called "modeling," and it has been tested many other times and shown to be a real phenomenon. We learn by watching other people and that is why we need to be careful when watching a violent film like this. This film gets a strong recommendation from me, but those who watch it should be cautious about the violence.
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Quentin Tarantino Month:
Introduction
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Pulp Fiction
Django Unchained
Inglourious Basterds
Jackie Brown
Reservoir Dogs
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