Review
KILL BILL
Starring Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu and Vivica A. Fox
Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino
Opens Friday, October 10
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Midway through Kill Bill, the hotly anticipated fourth film from Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman’s nameless Bride walks into nightclub in Tokyo, Japan. On stage The 5,6,7,8’s rip through a set of their Japanese-styled American rock ’n’ roll, as the bride kicks ass in an American-styled Japanese samurai film. It seems, as is usually the case in films by Tarantino, that genre appropriation is the order of the day.
In Kill Bill, Thurman stars as a deadly assassin who is tortured and left for dead (with a John Woo-inspired bullet in the head) on her wedding day. In fact she’s only comatose and when she awakes, to find her life in ruins she makes it her mission to exact revenge on the four killers and their boss – Bill.
Much like Tarantino’s other films, Kill Bill, no matter how beautifully stylized, is exploitation pure and simple. Taking the revenge premise from Abel Ferrera’s Ms. 45 and relocating to a setting inspired by ’70s kung fu epics, this film, more than any other Tarantino has made, plays like an homage to the cinema he loves. Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai was made into The Magnificent Seven for American audiences, and with Kill Bill, Tarantino gives it back. Fully aware of the relationship between the samurai and the cowboy, Thurman moves through the film like a cross between "the bride with white hair" and "the man with no name." Though a good portion of the film is set in Japan, the score that dominates the soundtrack is more reminiscent of Ennio Morricone’s music in classic spaghetti westerns.
Tarantino’s genre breakdown doesn’t end there. David Carradine and Sonny Chiba both turn up in the film, which further illustrates Tarantino’s love of the ’70s martial arts. He swipes camera angles from Alfred Hitchcock, split-screen from Brian DePalma, quotes from Star Trek, music from blaxsplotation films and sight gags from Monty Python. When the story breaks to give the back-story to Lucy Liu’s character, audiences are treated to a 10-minute anime interlude. Even when the Bride arrives in Japan, the Tokyo skyline looks more like the set from a Godzilla film than a practical location. In the hands of Tarantino, all of this somehow seems to work. It is not despite the film’s references, but because of them that Kill Bill is successful
The much ballyhooed non-linear storytelling from Pulp Fiction is back in full force as is his darkly comic tone. Violently bloody, the film is really just an excuse for several elaborate showdowns, yet Tarantino makes it so much more. With the help of Robert Richardson’s brilliant cinematography, the film has crisp and vibrant look that suits every appropriated genre.
The script is certainly flawed – the fact that the film was so long that it had to be split into two parts indicates that Tarantino may not be one for self-editing. That said, Kill Bill is considerably less indulgent than Pulp Fiction and for all its meandering the story never gets bogged down. It’s the detail work that makes the film so engaging.
The cast does their best with some clunky dialogue and the script switches between English and Japanese, but in the end the film relies on Thurman as much as it does on Tarantino. In almost every scene, Tarantino has given Thurman the opportunity to do something she often doesn’t get to do in films – act. Sure, she looks cool and sexy, but Thurman also strikes an amazing balance between self-assured ass-kicking and nerve-wracking self-doubt. While the Bride will no doubt survive both films and ultimately kill Bill, Thurman’s performance is such that you can invest in her character, despite knowing almost nothing about her (including her name).
Thurman’s performance aside, the success of Kill Bill is derived from Tarantino’s comfort as a filmmaker. He has always had a keen eye for framing, but this time out he proves that he can photograph a fight sequence as well as a conversation. The fact he was able to mash all of the elements together and make it cohesive is proof that the hype that surrounded Tarantino in the early years was warranted. The fact that Kill Bill is a thoughtful and entertaining film on top of that is a bonus. |
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