Review of Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) by Kenneth B — 19 Mar 2013

This is the first time I have seen Kill Bill: Volume 1 since it was in the cinema. I remember quite vividly disliking it, it was overblown, ludicrous, hollow and self-indulgent. So ten years later I pick it up on DVD and give it another go.

I had a feeling I was going to warm to it slightly more because in the intervening years I had managed to catch Volume 2 and to my surprise I enjoyed it. It turns out that my feelings on Volume 1 weren't completely inaccurate, the thing that I failed to grasp ten years ago was the intention of the film.

It is a knowing pastiche, that is to say knowingly over the top, a homage to martial arts films and westerns and probably anything else that Tarantino loved when he was younger. Frankly what, up to this point in his career from Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, hadn't been overblown and excessive when it came to Tarantino? Kill Bill is to Japanese cinema what Pulp Fiction was to the crime genre.

The thing is that although I still consider Pulp Fiction to be Tarantinos magnum opus, that film isn't all easy viewing. Kill Bill: Volume 1 may just be the most downright enjoyable film that Tarantino has made so far.

It is frequently funny, stylistically it is dynamic. The palette ranges from bold use of colour in some scenes to black and white in others, also the anime sequence is superbly realised. Oh and Uma Thurman puts in the performance of her career as the bride.

In short, I was wrong, Quentin was right and I apologise.