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Kill Bill Vol. 1 - 10/10/03 - R - 111m
Uma
Thurman - The Bride
Lucy Liu - O-Ren Ishii
Vivica A. Fox - Vernita Green
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay by: Quentin Tarantino
Studio: Miramax
Official
Website
LYN
Hmmm…where to begin? I really don't know, because there
were just so many things that I didn't like about the film that if I were
to just start anywhere then my review might not make much sense. But then
again the movie didn't…so why should I?
So let the blood bath begin…so to speak. The movie paid homage to
so many other martial arts films and assorted genre, and then I need to
ask…where does the originality in this one begin? It seemed to be
more of a Saturday afternoon "Kung Fu Theatre" gone wrong, and
I mean terribly wrong. The action was comical and cartoonish, and come
to think of it there is a cartoon about half way through, so… Not
too mention the film switches from color to black and white, then back
to color. Huh? Did I miss something? I heard tell that this was done to
avoid an NC-17 rating, and I guess this would explain the cartoon also…but,
uh not really. I guess the color change and cartoon would hide the effect
of real blood being spilt during the overly excessive amount of sword
fights, which took on more of the character of the fight scene between
King Arthur and the Black Knight in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail",
which in and of itself was hysterical. But in this film, I mean people
spewed out blood colored water like a broken fire hydrant, it was so over
the top, you'd think it was meant to be funny, but unfortunately I don't
think this was intended to be. If anything this was a poorer attempt at
reviving those Saturday afternoon matinee spaghetti western type martial
arts flicks I used to watch in my youth. But if you feel that's not enough
nostalgia, some of the members of the "Crazy 88" gang in the
movie wear masks styled after Kato's from "The Green Hornet"
, and bonus… Uma Thurman dons a similar tracksuit as wore by (the
late great) 'Bruce Lee' in "Game of Death". But wait there's
more…brush the dust off David Carradine, and throw him into the
mix to play the title character.
If not setting the Way-Back Machine™ wasn't bad enough, let us just
pay homage to "Pulp Fiction" and borrow a few things from it.
"Fox Force Five" (Mia Wallace's pilot) is now the "Deadly
Viper Assassination Squad (DIVAS)" for this flick. Oh and remember
the line "Zed is dead"? Well now we have Buck, and can anyone
guess what Buck likes to do?
All in all my biggest problem with the film was it doesn't make any sense
no matter whichever film or genre it is trying to pay tribute. Collectively
its just a series of bad ideas strung together, and in all honesty I couldn't
possibly give a (insert what you think Buck might like to do here) whether
or not Bill actually does get killed in the next film, and trust me I
won't be there to see it.
And as always…have a nice day. 
Lyn
