More about this DVD  •  DVD Info  •  Movie Main Page  •  Message Board

Can this possibly be only the fourth film directed by Quentin Tarantino? Can the writer/director who’s become so visible possibly have had so little output? Let’s see, his previous theatrical releases are Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), and Jackie Brown (1997). How about that? Only three. Perhaps his visibility is enhanced by his appearances in over a dozen films. Or his clever writing of True Romance and From Dusk Till Dawn. Or his film-obsessed chatterbox style on television talk shows. Or maybe it is his involvement in the Rolling Thunder releases for which he appears onscreen to introduce some of his favorite genre B-movies. It’s hard to believe that it was seven years between his previous directorial effort and this one, but here Tarantino has brought forth a delightful homage to Hong Kong Cinema and the Samurai genre.

This is a deceptively simple story of retribution. The Bride (Uma Thurman) lies on her back on a dusty wooden floor, bloodied and gasping for air, her distended abdomen ripe with an unborn child. The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad has invaded her wedding; it systematically slaughters everyone in the little Texas chapel. We hear the voice of man responsible - we’ll learn that his name is simply Bill (David Carradine) - and read the fear in The Bride’s eyes as, after a short preamble, he puts a bullet in her brain. So opens Tarantino’s film and if you’re not immediately hooked, leave the room now.

The Bride survives, spending four years in a coma before waking to discover that she’s no longer pregnant. The shock of that loss compounds the vivid memories of the massacre. She has no idea how long she’s been unconscious, but she quickly recovers her composure and determines to take brutal revenge on those responsible. Anyone who violates her or stands between her and her goal will pay the ultimate price. She travels to Okinawa to seek out Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba), a retired craftsman and legendary fashioner of the finest Samurai swords. Once armed, she begins to hunt down the people on her death list: O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), Budd (Michael Madsen), Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) and, of course, Bill.

The film is virtually devoid of plot and yet it is supremely entertaining. It is a film of style and grace and humor. The hundreds of gallons of artificial blood shed in the name of entertainment smacks of satire. Severed limbs and torsos spray blood as if equipped with showerheads. Stabs to the heart cause explosive red gushers. This is highly stylized uberviolence that greatly surpasses the exaggerated bloodletting in Paul Verhoeven’s unrated cut of Robocop. Tarantino uses the latest practical techniques of wirework and post-processing digital wire removal, but he keeps those potentially noticeably unrealistic sequences to a minimum. He stages remarkable swordplay, requiring his players to be very much involved. Uma Thurman demonstrates an unexpected athleticism, hard and wiry thin to the point of gaunt. Despite the severe physicals demands of the role and the single-mindedness of her character, she manages to project a wonderful emotional range.

Vivica A. Fox is outstanding during a harrowing confrontation with The Bride. Tarantino helps the illusion of vicious hand-to-hand combat with fast paced editing and short takes. Lucy Liu is exceptionally venomous as an assassin turned vice boss. Tarantino seems to embrace the trend started in 1979 as Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley becomes the first significant female action hero. With the exception of Bill, all the major action characters are women. (I refuse to count all the male sword fodder thrown at The Bride, sacrificial lambs to the main action set piece.) Don’t take the film’s action and the plot too seriously; at no time does the simple solution that occurred to Indiana Jones when confronted by a big man with an even bigger sword come to mind to the dozens of victims of The Bride’s blade: shoot her. That The Bride survives the battles is no surprise; as everyone is aware, Kill Bill Vol. 2 completes her story.

I also enjoyed Tarantino’s clever integration of various film techniques. There is a prolonged Anime sequence that traces the history of O-Ren Ishii. And the film’s bloodiest sequence is shown in high contrast black and white, highly stylized. (However, a little research revealed that this sequence was shown in color outside of the United States, implying that the artistic choice may have been made to tone down the bloodletting. Perhaps in its original form, the MPAA wanted to slap an NC-17 rating on the film.) Tarantino’s favored non-linear storytelling, one of the delights of Pulp Fiction, may be found here as well. We had to wait seven long years for Tarantino to direct his latest script; it was worth the wait.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1 is presented in a simply wonderful high definition transfer compressed with the AVC video CODEC. Tarantino seems to enjoy bright splashes of color: garish yellows; vivid reds; and, the neon lights of nighttime Tokyo. I was startled by the vividness in this transfer. Skin tones are very natural and the copious buckets of blood are convincingly crimson. Nighttime scenes, such as the confrontation between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii, feature outstanding shadow detail. Small object detail, like the features of Lucy Liu’s face high above the carnage at the club, is excellent. Finely gained textures, from individual hairs to fabric weaves, are also outstanding. Buena Vista has provided us with another exceptional transfer.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

There is only one track, but it’s a killer: uncompressed PCM 5.1. It offers ingeniously active surround channels, from the splatter of blood on walls to a mosquito in flight. This is a soundtrack with wit. EX decoding will enhance the experience greatly. Exceptionally deep bass may be heard mostly from the musical source elements. The fidelity of the sound effects varies. I suspect that Tarantino may have borrowed a few sounds from the older genre films he admires so much, but the sound effects that were recorded specifically for the film are conveyed with crystal clarity. In fact, it’s the sound of a Samurai sword slowly pulled from its sheath that provides the best evidence of the track’s transparency. The sound can be described as the delicate scraping of a small bell, and it’s remarkably convincing. Dialog remains clear and clean throughout with persuasive timbre, but I do have a complaint about Thurman’s voiceover. The equalization emphasizes the upper bass a bit too much, imparting an unpleasant boominess to her voice that destroys the illusion of in-the-room. I also have a complaint about the musical source tracks; they can be overpowering, sounding too loud when the other elements are at a normal volume.

Optional subtitles are available in English SDH and Spanish.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

These have been lifted directly from a previous DVD release. The full screen, standard defintion featurette titled The Making of Kill Bill Vol. 1 (22:05) traces the film from conception through principal photography. Tarantino, Thurman, and several others chime in. Most interesting is the explanation of how and where the film was photographed, and Tarantino’s feelings that the Asian location is the more comfortable home for the film.

The Japanese musical group featured in the film, “5, 6, 7, 8,” may be seen singing two numbers, “I’m Blue” and “I Walk like Jayne Mansfield,” in a music video (5:51).

And last are Tarantino trailers (all non-anamorphic widescreen or full screen) featuring Reservoir Dogs (1:36), Pulp Fiction (2:40), Jackie Brown (2:18), Kill Bill Vol. 1 Teaser (1:50), Kill Bill Vol. 1 Bootleg Trailer (2:33), and Kill Bill Vol. 2 Teaser (0:58).

The 111-minute film is organized into nineteen chapters.

Final Thoughts

The supplements may be thin but the video and audio qualities are terrific in this deliciously entertaining homage to Asian Cinema and the Samurai genre in particular. It brings with it Quentin Tarantino’s unique sensibilities, which may be an acquired taste. As for me, I really enjoyed the stylish satire, which will continue with Kill Bill Vol. 2. Highly Recommended.