Kill Bill, Vol. I
April 26, 2004Grade: B-
Just saw Kill Bill, Vol. I this past weekend at the cheap theater, and while it was a bit gory I thought it was decent overall.
It’s your basic revenge film–for reasons not fully explained in the first movie, a bunch of assassins tries to kill Uma Thurman’s character but only succeed in leaving her comatose. Four years later she wakes up and goes on a single-minded mission to kill the assassins. In very bloody fashion she succeeds in wiping out the first two people on her list, as well as a large number of the Yakuza along the way.
There were definitely parts of this flick that could have been left on the cutting room floor, particularly a long anime vignette that explains the involvement of the Yakuza in this whole soap opera. And some of the fighting is so over-the-top and stylized in its violence that it becomes distracting. You’re not so much offended by the gore as offended by the fact that it’s so unrealistic. Blood splashes in a way that only a pressure hose could achieve, not any realistic spraying that a human body could actually generate.
Still, it ends up being quite entertaining, especially the relentless way Uma’s character pursues her revenge. I’m looking forward the seeing Volume II when it arrives at the cheap seats. In fact I may not wait–I may try to catch Volume II in a matinee at the regular theaters.
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