 KILL BILL Volume 1
MPAA Rating:
 for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual contentReviewed by: Doug Alcorn
Starring: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Sonny Chiba | Directed by: Quentin Tarantino | Produced by: Quentin Tarantino, Lawrence Bender, E. Bennett Walsh | Distributor: Miramax
Uma Thurman plays "The Bride" (aka Black Mamba) who was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (or DiVAS). The film begins at The Bride's wedding where Bill (David Carradine), the leader of the DiVAS, shoots her in the head after the DiVAS have viciously murdered everyone at the wedding. The Bride survives the attack and hunts down the other members of DiVAS killing them one by one. While the original script was shot as one three hour film, it has been split into two shorter movies (thus the "Vol. 1"). In this part the Bride escapes from the hospital, kills one of the one of the DiVAS (Cobra, played by Vivica A. Fox), and travels to Japan where she kills another of the DiVAS (O-Ren Ishii, AKA Cottonmouth played by Lucy Liu). It ends fairly abruptly after that. Prior to the Bride's attack on O-Ren quite a bit of background information is given on how O-Ren rose to be the head crime boss of the Japanese underworld. The first murder O-Ren ever sees is as a little girl from under her parents bed. One of the other crime bosses has her parents murdered. O-Ren then takes advantage (at age 11) of her parent's murderer's pedophile tendencies to murder him. O-Ren continues to assassinate other people until she's recruited by the DiVAS. At some point she wins a bloody contest to become the head boss. It seems impossible to count how many people die in this film. The fighting is absurdly comic and macabre. Limbs and heads are severed continuously and blood spurts from their wounds like a fire hydrant. While no attempt is made at realism, the constant flow of blood is overwhelming. Even still, some scenes depict realistic violence. This may very well be the most gory film to date. Keep in mind that this was directed by Quinten Tarantino who also directed "Pulp Fiction". There is no displayed nudity. However, most of the main characters are women portrayed as highly sexual beings. The Bride pretty much only wears extremely tight clothes and the camera shows this often. During the opening scene, the Bride is already noticeably pregnant and claims the baby belongs to Bill (who is clearly not the groom). While in the hospital one of the nurses prostitutes the Bride while she is in a coma. I don't have any counts of how many times which offensive words are used. The "F" word is used many times, as is the Lord's name taken in vain. Obviously, there is so much objectionable material in this movie that how many times what disagreeable words are said becomes almost immaterial. The main theme of the film is revenge. Every scene is built upon that and serves to justify it. Towards the end of the movie one of the assassins comments that the Bride's going to kill them all and they deserve to die. The Bride is a self-described as cold, un-forgiving, and merciless. When fighting Cobra she claims that nothing Cobra could have done during the last four years could absolve her of her guilt. The Bride convinces an ex-swordmaker to come out of retirement even though he had taken a vow "to create nothing that kills". She reasons that the ex-swordmaker should equip her because he is guilty for having trained Bill. The ex-swordmaker's sadness at giving up his vow is emphasized, but demonstrated to be subservient to revenge. There are several things that will attract audiences to this film. First, much media hype has been given to Tarantino's return after a six year hiatus. Second, Tarantino's skill as a director keeps the story (such as it is) engaging throughout the film. Under his direction all of the characters give convincing performances. In summary, I should have left this film. I was totally caught off guard. I didn't realize Tarantino had directed it and thus didn't have the associations of other films such as "Pulp Fiction". I hadn't seen more than a couple of commercials for it. The only thing I really knew was that it was a martial arts film with dry humor choreographed by Yuen Woo Ping staring Uma Thurman. All of those things are true. What I didn't realize was how gruesome and cruel it is. Year of Release—2003See our review of Kill Bill 2 
Negative - I have to agree with every comment listed in the above quotes from the critics. This is one of the most morally offensive movies I have ever seen. I have seen all of Tarantino's movies and I must say I've never been a fan of anything he has to say (which usually isn't much), but he is quite skilled in the technical aspects of filmmaking. That said, the bad definitely outweighs the good here. No kidding, there is no good. I was anticipating this movie because I am a martial artist and have always been fascinated with good martial arts choreography. This has none of that here. Let me list some of the offensive aspects of this film: almost every available limb on the human body hacked off, fountains of blood sprayed out of every hacked off limb, horribly foul language, pedophilia, sex with a comatose woman, and a disembowling. Neutral - ...one of the most extremely bloody and violent films I have ever seen. Actually it is the most bloody LIVE ACTION film I have ever seen. Japanese anime, which Director Tarantino says this film pays homage to, often has times very similar scenes to those found in Kill Bill. As a fan of Anime, I was quite prepared for the violence in the film. But as stated by others reviewing Kill Bill, do not go see this movie if you cannot handle large amounts of blood and violence. Positive - The film is rated R for strong, bloody violence (this cannot be stressed enough, the violence is stylistically over-the-top, extreme, and constant), language (though not as frequent as Tarantino's other films due to less dialogue, extremely strong), and sexual content (some very crude and vulgar sexual references and dialogue). The film is a simple revenge tale light on plot and heavy on bloody action. It is an homage to the cheap martial arts films of old and not to be taken seriously, but many people will still be offended. We can not stress enough that many audiences will not want to see this film. I recommend the film for adults only, and even then please use discretion. If you'll be offended or bothered by the extreme violence or offensive content, don't go see the film. Neutral - Not for children or any with a weak stomach. I cannot recall seeing a movie with so much blood. All characters are motivated by an evil nature, except perhaps the swordmaker. The heroine seeks revenge and at no time displays mercy. I understand her need for revenge - to even the score - but it is outside any biblical authorization. God says "Vengeance belongs to Me." but the heroine takes full possession of it. This is worse because she recognized her brutal attackers and could and should have relied on the civil authorities to exact justice. I guess that would not have made an interesting movie. Ironically, the evil Bill, the main object of the heroine's revenge, allows the heroine to live when she is comatose in the hospital. To do this he has to stop one of his assassins who is in the process of administering a lethal injection. One thing the movie does show is the reality and horror of death. It also accurately displays the depravity of man. These folks have just sunk a little lower than most of us. Again, if violent and gory images disturb you, stay away. Positive - ...I too found the movie's violence more than over the top, and felt it violated my own personal view regarding movies: That no matter what the behavior, or language, if it's appropriate at that time for the character to commit to those actions, and it's not done gratuitously, or for the sake of shock, then it's permissible. Even though the violence was at a surreal, and in some instances, cartoonish level, I found myself looking away. As for as what type of Christian world view this movie espouses... I really can't say that it does espouse one! There are moments when you feel sorry for the "Bride", whose name incidentally, they bleep out, which is Beatrix, as the assassins try to kill her, I remember that she is a cold blooded killer, just like the rest of the "Diva" squad, and that she deserves no better treatment, she is a sinner like the rest of them. In the final analysis, if you simply cannot watch movie violence on any level, especially at the level as in "Kill Bill", I would simply recommend you not watch it, for your own good. Negative - I blithely attended the film not knowing what I was getting into. Afterwards, I truly felt like I needed a good bath. But I also happened to view this movie with a gentleman who is an unbeliever, and I learned something very important that night. One of his comments during our discussion afterward was, "If the story wasn't fictional, how do you know it wasn't God using an unbeliever (The Bride) to work His justice upon a band of killers who were unreachable by the standard arm of authority?" Comments from young people
Neutral - Well, first of all, you probably already know that this is a violent film. The media has reiterated this fact over and over, and led me to believe that it was in fact worse than it was. I attended the viewing and although many people were dismembered with fountains of blood, it was VERY fake. Of course it was meant to look fake as a parody. And the most gruesome parts were shown in black and white or in the anime sequence. I can get past the violence, because I know it's not real, and I do not believe in solving a problem this way. All I know is that action movies can be entertaining. There are hardly any special effects (the only one being a slow-motion shot of a bullet leaving its barrel) which is very welcomed. It uses wires to perform its very well-choreographed stunts. The only other major offenses in the movie are a scene in which a male nurse receives money from another man to be allowed to have sex with a comatose women (the Bride played by Uma Thurman), and the very much excessive use of every swear word there is along with sexual slang words (some portrayed on a vehicle). Neutral — I thought this movie was entertaining, it made fun of foreign film by having terrible anime, loads of blood, drawn-out sequences, and lots of chinese people. It did get boring a lot, but the action was entertaining. They literally bleed like fire hydrants. It was all so over the top I don't see how anyone could take it seriously or be offended. Positive - To be frank I'm going to first of all say, I loved this movie. The kung-fu fighting rivals that of the Matrix trilogy. However, there are some scenes that parents might want to watch before before letting their kids see this film. Younger audiences might find some disturbing images, like that of the Bride in the beginning film, or namely the intense amount of blood depicted during the fight scenes. Also, parents might not like the revenge based plot. However, if your over 17, likes cool fighting scenes, enjoyed the movie Pulp Fiction, and if your ready to enjoy the coolest soundtrack ever. Kill Bill vol. 1 just might be a movie you ought to check out. Positive - Kill Bill is the most ridiculous, over the top movie since "From
Dusk Till Dawn" (also written by Tarantino). Provided you can stomach the
rivers of blood, this makes for a very entertaining couple of hours of
viewing. However, the film's content was extremely offensive. There were
several references to sex (described in detail), quite a considerable
amount of bad language (although not nearly as much as Tarantino's other
movies) and, as I have already mentioned, a ridiculous amount of blood and
violence (which is mostly done for laughs). I advise anyone who may be
offended by the content I have listed to think carefully before they see
Kill Bill. Violence and language aside, this is a very entertaining
movie. Neutral - Overall, this film is just odd. I saw it when it came out on DVD.
After I saw all the great reviews on the film I was really looking forward
to the martial arts thrill ride. First of all, there was a huge freak out
over the "strong, ridiculously graphic, brutal violence!" This actually
got me interested. What was all the raving about? It was about a bunch of
unnecessary, cheap, somewhat funny, red-dyed water hosing out of dead bodies. Uma Thurman would touch a guy with a sword, and he would split completely in half. The blood in the animated part of the film was more realistic. Movie Critics
"…Blood/Gore: Extreme | Profanity: Extreme | Sex/Nudity: Heavy…" "…Extreme acts of violence and otherwise horrific decapitations are made to seem commonplace and comical…" "..Pulp Fiction has been widely regarded as commercial filmdom's most stylistically-senselessly-violent movie (possibly vying for top honors with Natural Born Killers). It set the standard for brutality and blood lust. ...Kill Bill: Vol. 1 makes Pulp Fiction look like a Disney flick…" "…Abhorrent ...Buddhist and other eastern religions espoused ...hate-driven revenge ...violence is extremely excessive with ...heads and limbs flying, numerous shots of violently spurting blood, eyeballs exploding, hatchets in heads, ...rape…" "…nonstop action and a river of carnage…" "…This is, without question, the bloodiest, goriest, most violent film I've ever forced myself to watch." |
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