Kill Bill Vol. 1 Movie Review 2003

Tarantino is back with a vengeance. In the first of two volumes of what originally was supposed to be a single film, Uma Thurman is spectacular as The Bride, a former assassin, betrayed and left for dead at her wedding by her associates and mysterious boss, Bill. When she awakens from a coma four years later she begins a mission of revenge that takes her from suburban L.A. to Okinawa, to Tokyo. Tarantino joyfully and masterfully immerses the audience in the different styles and ultraviolence of the Asian cinema he loves so much, even using anime for one backstory sequence, with some spaghetti western and '70s TV added for spice. His trademark sharp dialogue is not as plentiful as in the past, but what's here is layered, sometimes moving, and often humorous. Tarantino fave Chiba delivers as a master samurai swordmaker.

Distribution

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-1120, Toll-free: 800-723-4763, URL: http://www.bvhe.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 110 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Martial Arts, Revenge, Hit Men/Women, Wedding Hell, Yakuza, L.A., Tokyo, Femme Fatale, Wonder Women, Samurai, Out of Order, Coma

Screenplay

Quentin Tarantino

Cast

Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Gordon Liu, Sonny Chiba, Michael Parks, Chiaki Kuriyama, Jun Kunimura, Julie Dreyfus, Larry Bishop, Michael Bowen

Cinematography

Robert Richardson

Director

Quentin Tarantino

Music

RZA

Other

David Carradine, Mark Ulano, Sally Menke, Daniel Bradford, Catherine Thomas, Kumiko Ogawa, David Wasco, Yohei Taneda

Producer

Lawrence Bender, Quentin Tarantino, A Band Apart, Miramax