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DVD Corner: ‘Kill Bill’ is a stylized blood fest
Mac Olsen
for Spotlight
Rated 18A by Canadian Home Video Rating: 1 hour, 51 minutes: ‘Kill Bill Volume 1’ is $8.99 for single-disc edition (reviewed) and $21.49 for Blu-ray edition at www.amazon.ca
If there’s one thing to say about Quentin Tarantino, he’s a controversial director in promoting stylized violence, including the ‘Kill Bill’ movies.
Reviewed here is “Volume 1,” in which The Bride (Uma Thurman), who is pregnant, is left for dead with eight others in a Texas church, courtesy of the Viper Assassination Squad. The Bride was a member at one time, but she parted from them, much to the wrath of Bill (David Carradine). O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and Vernita Green (Vivica Fox) were in on the murder attempt, too.
From the moment she awakes four years later and discovers her baby is gone, the Bride has only revenge on her mind. She goes to Green’s home and they engage in a no-holds-barred, violent battle with fists, feet and knives among other weapons.
However, the Bride’s bigger battle is with O-Ren Ishii and her masked Crazy 88 henchmen. The Bride travels to Japan to acquire a very special Samurai sword from Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba). Then she goes to O-Ren Ishii’s lair in Tokyo and uses ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ style jumps and moves to take down her adversaries. It’s a hacking, slicing, blood-spurting affair, but the tension is broken with a moment of humour where she spanks a young man with her sword and tells him to run home to his mother.
With the Crazy 88 dead and mutilated survivors out of the way, the Bride goes after O-Ren Ishii. She doesn’t think much of the Bride’s sword initially, but will have a newfound respect for it near the end of the battle.
These events mark the end of the first “volume” of the story.
This movie is very stylized not only in terms of graphic violence, but also the story elements. For instance, Japanese anime is used to show the back story of O-Ren Ishii’s rise in the Japanese underworld. Also, the musical cue from the 1970’s ‘Ironside’ TV series is used to heighten the tension between Green and the Bride when they meet.
The most positive thing about this movie is exploring the Bride’s quest for revenge. She is an anti-hero, not somebody whom young girls should be a role model for, but her desire for revenge is understandable and Thurman plays the part very well.
The major criticism of this movie is, it pretends to be an adult graphic comic book movie, but has only some elements like the anime. In contrast, Frank Miller’s ‘Sin City’ is a true comic book that was turned into a movie with all the comic book elements incorporated.
The other criticism is the over-the-top graphic violence. It gets to be almost too much by the middle of the movie and by the battle scenes with the Crazy 88, it becomes nothing more than a body count.
Overall, the first ‘Kill Bill’ movie deserves only 2 ˝ stars out of five for a mishmash of live action and comic book story elements and graphic violence.
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