Kill Bill (contains tagged spoilers)

[Choop]

I can't really review Kill Bill in a literary sense, as it would resemble a doctoral thesis on a glossy magazine; at the same time, it's not just a big music video. Tarantino's return to the big screen made me remember how much I enjoy his films, and why: they're ridiculously fun.

This is as much a comedy as an action film, though it of course contains occasional melodrama - a plot device that works for every medium and every genre - and is probably more influenced by old Hong Kong Kung Fu flicks than you have been led to believe. I don't care what anybody says (and I have heard this ridiculous claim), but The Matrix had very little influence on this film: other than the requisite horizontal-spinning death falls of countless goons, there really are only two tough-to-buy wire-fu stunts in the whole flick.

Some standout scenes: [Vernita's daughter walks into the house; the animated history of O-Ran Ichii, the great twist at the end]

Tarantino's used a couple of his old tools here, most obviously non-chronological storytelling and loads of violence, to retain his trademark style; he also interjects some new tricks: middle-of-scene switching between color and black & white film (used sparingly and beautifully), an absurd to the point of being comedic amount of blood is spilled from nearly every body which [loses a limb or two], and for once a realistic pacing in the scenes which, though perhaps due to the editing necessary to take this from a three-hour-plus movie to two nearly-two-hour movies, improves his storytelling quite a lot. His choice of music is, as always, impeccable, and really helps break down the fourth wall. The rest of my viewing's audience was hooting and hollering, cheering, laughing, and dead quiet at all the right parts. Wonderful writing and the terrific soundtrack tie this whole disjointed journey together just right.

I'm really looking forward to Volume 2!

An aside: My favorite touch, and something that is becoming more frequent in films today thank Pete, is that the characters, when speaking in non-English languages, don't adopt English to get what they say across to the audience: they're subtitled. Don't hire Sean Connery to play a Soviet submarine commander unless you expect him to speak only Russian throughout the movie. But anyway.

****1/2

[slink]

I'm kind of avoiding reading that yet, for the spoilers. But I just had to say that I am rather excited about this. I keep seeing the trailers for it, and it just looks like so much fun.
I'm a huge Hong Kong martial arts movie fan (Iron Monkey, Once upon a Time in China, Shaolin Temple/Soccer &c.) and have loved QT since Res dogs.
But anyhow, really looking forward to seeing this.

[jough]

I saw it last night.  My review is forthcoming.

Let me just say that I wasn't expecting anything more than a cheesy genre kung fu revenge movie, and that Kill Bill is so much more than that.  It *is* a kung fu revenge movie, but it's like the best parts, best camera work, best fight scenes, of every kung fu revenge movie ever made.

Uma would kick Bronson's ASS.

And let me be the first to say that Uma Thurman has some nasty ugly feet.

[FeeReep]

I enjoyed the film for what it was. Here's something to chew on, Choop. A lot of the "new" conventions that were used in the film were used primarilly to get the film an R rather than NC-17 rating: the anime sequence because animated violence always gets more of a pass, the "blood-geysers" for a similar reason, and the black & white because red blood is a red flag (apparently if everyone bled mauve fountains, the movie could get a PG-13). To play devil's advocate here, many critics are calling QT a one-trick pony. He's taken the best parts of every kung fu movie ever made and combined them with his own style of filmmaking and conventions he was forced to make to get the film released (including splitting a four hour movie in half). Discuss.

For what it's worth, any movie that opens musically with Nancy Sinatra and ends on Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute is all right with me. What truly sucks are Tarantino's plans for the DVD release.
http://www.empireonline.co.uk/news/news.asp?story=5063
Now that's just greedy.

[V-Adore]

What truly sucks are Tarantino's plans for the DVD release.
http://www.empireonline.co.uk/news/news.asp?story=5063
Now that's just greedy.

"Special edition" DVDs are swiftly becoming the equivalent of those comic books that hit the stands in four different covers -- "Super Chromium Editions" and the like. Sigh.

I do like how QT is just so bald-faced about the "I want to make people 'collect' as many DVDs as possible" thing. At least he's honest.

[jough]

Every company is into double-dipping these days, it seems, with DVD.

The Matrix Reloaded comes out today - but even though it's a 2-disc set it's *not* a special edition - that'll come later, after all three films have been released on DVD at least once.

I don't mind so much.  If QT does do something special, like edit the mess together and tighten up on the editing (someone needs to tell Sally it's OKAY to cut and trim - it ain't all gold up there) then I'd probably double-dip.

It's true that there's little original in Kill Bill - that it's a pastiche of past glory - OTHER people's past glory - but was there anything truly original in Pulp Fiction?  Or Jackie Brown?

QT is a master at combining other influences in a way that everything is completely familiar and yet still fresh.  He takes what's trite and tired and makes it new again.

If Kill Bill is anything, it's a tour-de-force show-off piece by a master who's still obviously on his game.

[FeeReep]

:up:

[Mite]

I loved Kill Bill. I'm not sure if I buy the feminist interpretation that I keep finding online, but I won't be able to make a decision until part 2.
The thing that kept running through my mind at the theatre was: If you make a bad movie ironically, is it still a bad movie? Is it automatically good?

Damn PoMo.

[side_show]

While I haven't seen this movie, Kill Bill caused me trauma - I skipped the open of the thread because I've only seen the first 20 min. of the movie.  We went to see it on Friday, and around 15 mins in my boyfriend lost conciousness and was totally delerious.  He wasn't sick at all going in.    After coming to he very loudly asked "why is it so cold?" several times in the over heated theatre while sweat poured off of him in buckets.  I lead him out of the theatre and he told me he couldn't feel his arm.  I then spent 6 hours in the emergency room with him.  While they checked is heart, his blood and urine.  And the final result?  Doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him.

[Choop]

Uma had that effect on QT, too.

Watch out, side_show, your SO might just become a rank-and-file auteur.

[side_show]

Ummm....Hunh?

[CortJstr]

I finally saw this. First I was amazed at how few theaters it's playing in. I either had to fight for parking in Georgetown or go way into the suburbs to even find it. Then the theater was maybe a quarter full. I don't get it, the movie's been getting terrific reviews and it's only been out for a week. I couldn't see Matrix: Rel a month after release because it was still selling out.

Based on the Regal Countryside 20's customers I'm guessing this week's #1 movie was Good Boy ::shudder::

I also find it interesting that The Rundown already has fewer showings than the open-caption re-release of Finding Nemo. I blame it on the fact that they have him to a Rock Bottom. A freakin' Rock Bottom! I can't wait for Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty, so we can see him perform a People's Elbow on the big screen in all its glory.

Edit: He got Production I.G.? Impressive.