Review of Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) by Sam R — 14 Sep 2015

This movie is now over 10 years old. Just to see how it holds up in 2015, I re-watched this one and Vol. 2 this week.

Quentin Tarantino directed this movie and he wrote the story together with lead actress Uma Thurman. Thurman plays Beatrice Kiddo, also known as The Bride, who wakes up from a coma after four years to find that her unborn child is gone and that she was betrayed by a team of assassins that she used to be part of.

This movie is visually stunning and I also like the many references to other movies, old and new. From the intro screen through cameos to almost carbon copies of certain scenes, this movie seems to be one big tribute to Tarantino's favorites.

While slow at the start, the second half of this movie is what it's about. Even though most of the action is deliberately over-the-top brutal and gory, it kind of makes sense in this movie's universe. And even though it supercedes 'story' in this film, I don't have a problem with that.

What I do have a problem with, which you will be able to read more about in Vol.2's review, is that this movie was in my humble opinion unnecessarily spread over two installments. And even though this first installment suffers the least from that decision, it is still apparent that this set-up was not conceived from artistic reasons. Don't get me wrong, I really am glad that this movie wasn't released as a single 248-minute endeavour, but I would have liked a little more substance over style. Some of the stuff is clearly too drawn-out.

No complaints here about the acting and production quality of this movie. It's all high-end. From the cinematography to the dialogue. So while I do have some problems with this movie, I will hold back my negativity until Vol. 2 comes along.

Pros: visually stunning, great production value, witty dialogues.

Cons: slow, drawn out, unnecessarily cut into two long films.

Verdict: Still cool.