Instead, the chief antagonist of VOLUME 1 is O-Ren Ishii, played by Lucy Liu in the role she was born to play. However, his seasoned growl of a voice does the heavy lifting for us, telling us everything we need to know about the chief target of The Bride’s obsessive quest. I’ll elaborate more on Carradine’s portrayal of Bill in my analysis of VOLUME 2, as he is only heard, and never seen during the entirety of VOLUME 1. It’s one of Thurman’s most high-profile performances, and easily one of her best. She courageously stares down every challenge and continually summons up vast wells of strength to overcome them. Fortunately, Thurman imbues The Bride character with unfathomable complexity and grit. With revenge tales, it’s easy for the protagonist to become so focused in their vendetta that they become one-note and cease being multi-dimensional. This is Thurman’s show, through and through, and she soaks up every ounce of energy in the scene, channeling it into an aggressive performance. Tarantino’s cast is first-rate, turning in performances that are at once both over-the-top and sincere. Along the way, she coaxes the legendary Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba) into constructing a new samurai sword for her, and encounters a masked Yakuza gang called the Crazy 88’s. Fox) and Yakuza boss O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu). KILL BILL: VOLUME 1 sets up the Bride’s quest, travelling as far as Japan as she pursues the first two ex-Viper Squad names on her Death List: Pasadena homemaker Vernita Green (Vivica A. When she comes out of her coma, she immediately sets to work planning the execution of each and every person involved. The KILL BILL saga tells the blood-soaked tale of The Bride (Thurman), who lost her baby and four years of her life when she was attacked and left for dead on her wedding day by her old boss and lover, Bill (David Carradine) and his gang of elite killers, the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. His producing partners-Lawrence Bender, Bob Weinstein, and Harvey Weinstein-successfully argued for the film to get released in two parts. Rather indulgently, Tarantino added new scenes to the script as he shot-a testament to the unfettered, unadulterated giddiness with which he approached the project-only to find himself in the editing room with a film that ran a (bladder-annihilating) four hours. KILL BILL: VOLUME 2 (2004) was released only six months later, but Tarantino had initially conceived the idea as one epic revenge tale spanning vast swaths of time and space. What began as excited chattering and brainstorming between Tarantino and actress Uma Thurman during the production of PULP FICTIONslowly grew over the years to become a gargantuan celebration of cinema’s various forms and a legitimate pop cultural phenomenon unto itself. Tarantino’s grand return to cinema after 1997’s JACKIE BROWN, KILL BILL: VOLUME 1 was almost ten years in the making. I hadn’t yet gone to film school, so I had yet to learn about Andrew Sarris’ auteur theory, but I intuitively understood the sentiment because of Tarantino. After leaving the theatre, I immediately (okay, maybe it was a week or two later) went out and bought PULP FICTION (1994) and RESERVOIR DOGS(1992) on DVD so I could check out his other work-the first time I had ever done so as for a given director. However, KILL BILL: VOLUME 1 was the first Tarantino film I ever saw, and I was riveted for its duration. I had heard of Tarantino prior to this, by virtue of being a casual participant in cinematic pop culture. Read Quentin’s Screenplay for This Film Here The year was 2003, and I had just entered my senior year of high school.īy that time, I was of age to see R-rated films in theatres without any kind of hassle or sneaky spy shit-but my friends were not. And that is how on a cold winter night in Portland, my younger brother and best friend were stuck in another auditorium watching a stale biopic on the religious reformer Martin Luther, while I was alone in another auditorium gleefully taking in the literal bloodbath that was KILL BILL: VOLUME 1. The 4 th film by Quentin Tarantino (as it reads in the film’s advertising copy), KILL BILL: VOLUME 1, was released during an odd time in my cinematic development.
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