Kill Bill: Volume 1
 | It has been suggested that Beatrix Kiddo be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since January 2007. |
 | It has been suggested that this article should be split into articles titled Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2. (discuss) |
| Kill Bill: Vol. 1 | |
|---|---|
| File:Kill Bill Volume 1 movie.jpg Kill Bill: Vol. 1 film poster | |
| Directed by | Quentin Tarantino |
| Written by | Character of The Bride: Uma Thurman Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino |
| Produced by | Lawrence Bender |
| Starring | Uma Thurman Lucy Liu Daryl Hannah Vivica A. Fox Julie Dreyfus Chiaki Kuriyama David Carradine |
| Cinematography | Robert Richardson |
| Edited by | Sally Menke |
| Music by | RZA |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release dates | October 10, 2003 |
Running time | 111 min. |
| Languages | English Japanese Cantonese French |
| Budget | $55 million USD(for both volumes) |
Kill Bill is the fourth film by writer-director Quentin Tarantino. Originally conceived as one film, it was released in two separate volumes (in Fall 2003 and Spring 2004) due to its running time of approximately four hours.[citation needed] The movie is a patently ridiculous epic-length revenge drama, with homages to earlier film genres, such as Hong Kong martial arts movies and Italian Westerns; an excessive use of popular music and pop culture references; and deliberately over-the-top bloodletting. Stars of the films include Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Michael Parks, Sonny Chiba, Gordon Liu and Ken Howard.
Plot
Describing the narrative flow of the movie is complicated; Kill Bill is divided into two volumes with five "chapters" each, which are not presented in chronological order (see the Structure section below). Unlike Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, in which he included three separate but interrelated stories, Kill Bill tells one story, told with extensive use of flashbacks and flash-forwards, and a few asides relating the backgrounds of secondary characters.
Template:Spoiler Kill Bill is the story of 'the Bride' a professional assassin in the employ of her lover, Bill. She discovers that she is pregnant with Bill's child and, despairing of the life her child will lead if raised by her father, Beatrix arranges her own disappearance. On the day before she is to be married to an El Paso record-store owner, Bill hunts her down and directs the massacre of the entire wedding party. He shoots Beatrix in the head, placing her in a coma for four years. Upon waking and fueled by a lust for revenge, she sets out to kill the five wedding-party assassins.
Beatrix slays the first two assassins in a straightforward, if spectacular, manner. The third, Bill's brother Budd, defeats her by relying on firepower rather than swordsmanship and buries her alive in a Barstow cemetery; she is forced to rely on what she learned during her intense tutelage in order to survive. Beatrix escapes from the grave and defeats Elle, the fourth assasin, just after Elle kills Budd; Beatrix leaves her blind and helpless but does not directly kill her. She finally tracks down the titular Bill, but she is shocked to discover that her daughter-- whom she assumed had died in utero during the wedding massacre-- is alive and under Bill's care. After an emotional and tense family evening together, they fight; Beatrix kills Bill, and finally achieves her revenge. She takes her daughter away, and they begin their new life together.
Structure
Kill Bill is divided into ten chapters, with five chapters per volume. As is common in Tarantino films, they are not arranged in chronological order.
|
Cinematic order:
|
Chronological order:
|
Volume 1 synopsis
- Chapter One: "2" (7)
- Chapter Two: The blood-splattered BRIDE (4)
- Chapter Three: The Origin of O-Ren (1)
- Chapter Four: The MAN From OKINAWA (5)
- Chapter Five: Showdown at House of Blue Leaves (6)
Template:Spoiler Note: In Volume One, the main character is refered to only as "The Bride." Her real name is edited out when spoken. Therefore, the character is refered to as "The Bride" in this volume's synopsis.
The Bride is introduced to the audience in a blood-spattered wedding gown immediately after a violent showdown at a Texas wedding chapel. She attempts to tell her would-be killer, Bill, that she is pregnant with his baby, but he shoots her in the side of the head.
Chapter One: "(2)" Four years later, The Bride arrives at the suburban California home of Vernita Green (Fox), codenamed "Copperhead", to exact revenge on one of the assassins who attacked her and her friends at the wedding chapel. The Bride engages in a brutal fight with the assassin, but is stymied in her efforts when Vernita's four year old daughter, Nikki, arrives at the house. The Bride does not want to slay Vernita in front of her daughter; she reveals that she lost her own daughter during the wedding chapel attack. When Vernita attacks her again, the Bride is forced to kill her, but she quickly realizes that Nikki witnessed the murder. It is be the first time in her journey that she seems to feel at least some regret over a murder, since her killings are, in part, motivated by the death of her daughter.
Chapter Two: "The Blood-Splattered Bride" A flashback to the day after the wedding chapel murders reveals more about the true extent of the massacre. A local lawman, Earl McGraw (Parks), discovers that the comatose Bride is the only survivor of the massacre carried out by a group of trained assassins. He brings her to the hospital, where her unconscious body is repeatedly raped through the services of an unscrupulous hospital orderly, Buck. Elle Driver, the member of the assassination squad that has replaced the Bride as Bill's lover, is sent to kill the Bride, but is stopped at the last second by Bill, who believes the Bride deserves a more honorable death.
When the Bride wakes up from her coma four years later, she is intensely disoriented and filled with rage at the memory of the wedding massacre. She severely injures a trucker who has come to rape her, and crushes the skull of the orderly that she identifies as the person who facilitated the rapes during her coma and whom she assumes is working for Bill. She is not in good shape: four years of sleep has ravaged her body; she steals the orderly's truck and hides in the back seat as she slowly works her limbs out of atrophy.
Chapter Three: "The Origin of O-Ren" From the back of the truck, the Bride recounts the early life of one of the wedding-chapel assassins,O-Ren Ishii (Liu). As she narrates, the events are shown in anime form to the audience. She reveals that O-Ren rose to the top of the Japanese crime world through her signature calm, intense violence, motivated by the murder of her family at the hands of Boss Tanaka and Bill. Though O-Ren was working with Bill when she played her part in the wedding-chapel massacre, she is currently presiding over the Yakuza in Tokyo, Japan.
Chapter Four: "The Man from Okinawa" The Bride boards a plane to Okinawa to get a katana, which she will use to achieve her revenge on the assassins. She discovers Hattori Hanzo (Chiba), a renouned sword-smith, who has retired from the business of death to work as a sushi chef. Though Hanzo has taken an oath to never make another sword, the Bride is able to convince him of the merit of her mission, and he forges for her the best sword he has ever created. Satisfied, she takes her katana and begins her search for O-Ren.
Chapter Five: "Showdown at House of Blue Leaves" The Bride tracks O-Ren down at her Tokyo hangout, a restaurant called the House of Blue Leaves. She takes Sofie Fatale, O-Ren’s best friend, lawyer and another former protege of Bill, hostage to lure O-Ren from her dinner. O-Ren dispatches her bodyguards to deal with the Bride, who procedes to wage a veritable war on dozens of Yakuza Henchmen (the "Crazy 88.") and Go Go Yubari, O-Ren's personal bodyguard. This scene, one of the bloodiest in cinematic history, reveals the true extent of The Bride's lust for vengeance.
The Bride at last has a chance to kill one of the people who destroyed her new life when she reaches O-Ren. After a dramatic swordfight, during which O-Ren's contempt for the Bride's skills rapidly changes to quiet respect, the Bride succeeds in scalping O-Ren with her Hanzo blade, killing her. She deposits the dismembered Sophie Fatale at a hospital after extracting information the Bride will use to track down the other assassins, starting with Vernita Green.
In the last scene of this volume, Bill reveals to the audience but not the Bride that her daughter is alive, calling into question how justified the Bride is in her revenge. Template:Endspoiler
Volume 2 synopsis
- Chapter Six: Massacre at Two Pines (3)
- Chapter Seven: The lonely grave of Paula Schultz (8)
- Chapter Eight: The Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mei (2)
- Chapter Nine: ELLE and I (9)
- Last Chapter: Face to Face (10)
| Kill Bill: Vol. 2 | |
|---|---|
| File:Kill Bill Vol 2 The Bride.jpg Kill Bill: Vol. 2 Theatrical Poster | |
| Directed by | Quentin Tarantino |
| Written by | Character of The Bride: Quentin Tarantino Uma Thurman Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino |
| Produced by | Lawrence Bender |
| Starring | Uma Thurman David Carradine Daryl Hannah Michael Madsen Michael Parks |
| Cinematography | Robert Richardson |
| Edited by | Sally Menke |
| Music by | Robert Rodríguez |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release dates | April 16, 2004 |
Running time | 136 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $55 million USD(for two volumes) |
Template:Spoiler Note: It is revealed in Volume 2 that The Bride's real name is Beatrix Kiddo. Therefore, "The Bride" is refered to as "Beatrix" in this Volume's synopsis.
Chapter Six: "Massacre at Two Pines" Four years before the events that end Volume One, and a few minutes before the events that open the volume, Beatrix and her friends are gathered for her wedding rehearsal. She discovers that Bill (Caradine) has tracked her down; the scene is given particular gravity because it is the first time the audience sees his face. She is nervous that he will react violently to the news that she is marrying someone else, but he is, for the moment, polite and mild-mannered, and he even consents to being introduced to the groom as Beatrix's father. Beatrix believes she has convinced Bill not to cause any trouble-- though she is aware that having him "give her away" at the wedding would be asking far too much of a scorned lover. She takes her place at the altar as the other four Deadly Vipers arrive at the chapel, weapons in tow, to kill everyone at the rehearsal.
Chapter Seven: "The Lonely Grave of Paula Shultz" After Bill meets with Sofie Fatale at the end of Chapter Five, Bill ventures to the desert to talk to his brother, Budd (aka "Sidewinder", (Madsen), another former Deadly Viper. Bill warns him that Beatrix will come for him next, but Budd, now overweight and alcoholic, has put his assassin days behind him.
As Bill had predicted, Beatrix arrives at Bud's trailer to take his life. Beatrix is shot in the chest the moment she opens his door, and for the first time in her quest for revenge, she fails. Bud calls Elle Driver, who demands that Beatrix "suffer to her last breath;" Beatrix is thus saved from immediate death, but she is bound and buried alive in the grave of Paula Schultz.
Chapter Eight: "The Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mei"
As Beatrix lays in her grave, she remembers her early training in China. Her lover, leader, and would-be killer Bill took Beatrix to the temple of legendary martial arts master Pai Mei (an intentionally classic example of the elderly martial arts master stock character). Her training was extremely rigorous, and she endured many hardships, but she becomes a formidable warrior under his tutelage.
Beatrix calls on this training to smash her way out of the coffin and claw her way up to freedom.
Chapter Nine: "ELLE and I" Free of her earthly prison, Beatrix hikes back to Budd's isolated desert trailer in time to see Elle pulling up in her Trans Am, and Budd standing in his doorway. While Beatrix plans her next attack, Elle hands Budd a suitcase containing a black mamba, the deadly snake that gives rise to Beatrix's codename. The snake kills Budd, preventing Beatrix from exacting direct revenge on every assassin who wronged her. Elle informs Bill that his brother and his former lover are both dead, and prepares to leave; as she opens the door, Beatrix attacks her, kicking her back inside. The two fight ferociously in the enclosed space, with neither gaining a clear advantage until Elle manages to unsheathe Beatrix's Hanzo sword. Beatrix, however, discovers and uses Budd's Hanzo sword.
As they fight, Elle reveals that it was Pai Mei who snatched out her right eye as punishment for her insolence, and that Elle killed him for it. Just as her former master had done, Beatrix snatches out Elle's remaining eye. Beatrix calmly collects her Hanzo sword and departs, leaving Elle blind and alone (except for the still-hissing mamba) in the secluded trailer.
Last Chapter: "Face to Face" Beatrix travels to Mexico to track down the final member of the assassins, and the only one she believes to be directly responsible for the death of her baby. To find Bill, Beatrix visits an old pimp named Esteban Vihaio (Parks), who raised Bill from childhood. He forthrightly tells her Bill's whereabouts, despite knowing her intentions, explaining to an incredulous Beatrix that Bill would have wanted him to.
When she finally finds Bill, she is shocked to find that Bill is not alone: B.B., their four-year-old daughter and the catalyst for Beatrix's bloody revenge, is alive and apparently expecting her mother's return. For the first time in her entire quest, Beatrix is overcome with emotion. The family spends the evening together peacefully, and B.B. falls asleep watching the chambara film Shogun Assassin in her mother's arms.
With B.B. safely in bed, Beatrix confronts Bill, who explains he has some unanswered questions for her. Bill immobilizes her and shoots her with a dart filled with self-made truth serum. Beatrix is forced to reveal why she abandoned her life with Bill as an assassin; Bill and the audience finally learn learn that she decided upon becoming pregnant that she must put her unborn daughter's future above Bill. Bill deprecates her attempts to find a "normal" life, calling into question if she will truly save her daughter's future by taking her away from and killing Bill. For the first time, Beatrix and Bill's motives are clear, and it seems that the two had equal reason for their killings-- the loss that came with their assumed loss of a loved one.
The tension between their lingering feelings for one another and their desire to kill one another finally comes to a head when Bill draws his sword and attacks Beatrix. She disables Bill using the fatal Five-Point-Palm Exploding Heart Technique, taught to her without Bill's or the audience's knowledge by Pai Mei. Bil, defeated, says a tender goodbye, and walks unsteadily away, collapses, and dies in silence. Beatrix sheds a few tears at the death of her lover, and returns to the house to collect her daughter. The final scene shows Beatrix on the floor of a hotel bathroom, overcome with conflicting emotions, alternately laughing, crying, and repeatedly whispering, "Thank you." As the movie ends, the two ride off to start their new life together.
Budget and box office
The production budget for Kill Bill (volumes I and II combined) was US$60 million.[1][2] This does not include marketing and distribution costs.
Kill Bill: Volume I was released in the United States on October 10, 2003. Its US gross box office receipts were US$70,099,000; its box office receipts for the rest of the world came to US$110,850,000, for a total of US$180,949,000.[3]
Kill Bill: Volume II was released in the United States on April 16, 2004. Its US gross box office receipts were US$66,208,000; its box office receipts for the rest of the world came to US$85,951,000, for a total of US$152,159,000.[4]
Acclaim and criticism
Much-anticipated by fans and critics (it appeared after a six-year hiatus of Tarantino movies), Kill Bill generated a tremendous amount of discussion. Reaction by film critics was largely positive, though by no means unanimous. Both volumes did well at the box office.
A movie in two volumes
Though released as two movies, the film differs from multi-part "franchise" series like Star Wars. The short duration between the releases of the two volumes, as well as the film’s development and internal structure, strongly imply that it be regarded as one movie. The cast of Vol. 1 are even credited at the end of Vol. 2. The dual-release strategy, ostensibly due to the film’s length, has been criticized as an attempt by Miramax to sell two tickets to one movie.[5]
Some criticism of the movie arose from its two volume format, leaving some critics enamored of one volume but disappointed by the other. Of Volume 2, Sean O’Connell of Filmcritic.com writes, "The drop-off in energy, style, and coherence from...Volume 1 to its bloated, disinteresting counterpart is so drastic and extreme that you can hardly believe they come from the same director, let alone conclude the same storyline." [6] Other critics preferred Volume 2: "...Characters actually talk to one another here rather than the stilted samurai movie-speak of the first film," wrote Jeffery M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid.[7]
Violence
Much criticism concerned the amount and presentation of bloodshed and general mayhem, especially found in the first volume. One critic referred to the first volume as a “cocktail party in an abattoir” [8]. The violence is not just incidental to the film’s narrative; hyperbolic violence is a conscious part of the story's aesthetic.
Style and substance
Much of the controversy over the film reflects the differing expectations of those who admire a movie for its style and craftsmanship against those who look primarily at story and substance; as a tribute film and revenge saga, the movie is at a disadvantage with the latter group. “You never forget that Kill Bill is an exercise in genre-sampling,” writes the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Caro.[9] However, the opinion that the movie appeals mainly to film buffs looking to spot obscure pop culture references is a minority view.[10] [11] Most critics found it well-constructed, with tightly-edited action scenes, strong performances, often-clever dialogue, and an effectively exciting soundtrack which draws on an astonishing selection of (mostly post-1960) music.[12]
Awards
Each film was nominated at the Golden Globe Awards. Uma Thurman received a Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama nomination in 2004 and 2005 for her work in both Volumes 1 and 2. David Carridine received a Best Supporting Actor nomination in 2005 for his work in Kill Bill: Volume Two.
Releases
DVD release
In the United States Kill Bill: Volume 1 was released as a DVD on April 13, 2004 while Volume 2 was released August 10, 2004. As of January 2007, only the basic DVDs have been released, with almost no special features. No further DVD releases have been announced.
In a December 2005 interview, Tarantino addressed the lack of a special edition DVD for Kill Bill by stating "I've been holding off because I've been working on it for so long that I just wanted a year off from Kill Bill and then I'll do the big supplementary DVD package."[13]
The United States does not have a DVD boxed set of Kill Bill, though box sets of the two separate volumes are available in other countries, such as France and Japan. Upon the DVD release of Volume 2 in the US, however, Best Buy did offer an exclusive boxset slipcase to house the two individual releases together.[citation needed]
There has been a planned release of a Blu-Ray version of Kill Bill set for later in 2007. [citation needed]
Sequels
Tarantino told Entertainment Weekly in April 2004 that he is planning a sequel:
Oh yeah, initially I was thinking this would be my Dollars Trilogy. I was going to do a new one every ten years. But I need at least fifteen years before I do this again. I've already got the whole mythology: Sofie Fatale will get all of Bill's money. She'll raise Nikki, who'll take on The Bride. Nikki deserves her revenge every bit as much as The Bride deserved hers. I might even shoot a couple of scenes for it now so I can get the actresses while they're this age.
Prequels
Quentin Tarantino said at the 2006 Comic Con that, after the completion of Grind House, he wants to make two anime Kill Bill films. One will be an origin story about Bill and his mentors, and the other will be an original tale starring The Bride. The latter is most likely to be a prequel, but could also follow the rumored (sequel) plot reported in Entertainment Weekly in April 2004.[14][15]
Influences
Music
As with Tarantino's previous films, Kill Bill features an eclectic soundtrack comprising many musical genres, ranging from Country music to quotations from the Spaghetti Western film scores of Ennio Morricone. Original music for volumes one and two was provided by RZA and Tarantino's friend and collaborator Robert Rodriguez respectively. Volume 1 prominently features a performance by The 5.6.7.8's.
Cast
| Actor | Role | Deadly Viper Assassination Squad name |
|---|---|---|
| Uma Thurman | The Bride (Beatrix Kiddo, Arlene Machiavelli) | Black Mamba |
| David Carradine | Bill | Snake Charmer |
| Vivica A. Fox | Vernita Green (Jeanie Bell) | Copperhead |
| Lucy Liu | O-Ren Ishii | Cottonmouth |
| Michael Madsen | Budd | Sidewinder |
| Daryl Hannah | Elle Driver | California Mountain Snake |
| Sonny Chiba | Hattori Hanzō | N/A |
| Chiaki Kuriyama | Gogo Yubari | |
| Julie Dreyfus | Sofie Fatale | |
| Gordon Liu | Pai Mei and Johnny Mo | |
| Michael Parks | Earl McGraw and Esteban Vihaio | |
| Perla Haney-Jardine | B.B. Kiddo | |
| Helen Kim | Karen Kim |
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ (2003), "Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Domestic Total Gross", Box Office Mojo, accessed 2006-09-13
- ^ (2004), "Kill Bill Vol. 2 - Domestic Total Gross", Box Office Mojo, Accessed Sep 13, 2006
- ^ O'Connell, Sean & Kipp, Jeremiah, (2003), "Kill Bill: Volume 1, A Film Review", Filmcritic.com, Accessed August 7, 2006
- ^ O'Connell, Sean & Kipp, Jeremiah, (2004), "Kill Bill: Volume 2, A Film Review", Filmcritic.com, Accessed August 7, 2006
- ^ [3]
- ^ Arendt, Paul, (2003), "Kill Bill Volume I Reviews", Rotten Tomatoes, Accessed August 7, 2006
- ^ Caro, Mark, (2003), "Movie review: 'Kill Bill, Vol. 1'", Chicago Tribune, Accessed Sep 13, 2006
- ^ [4]
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ 1 ContactMusic.com Tarantino Brings Kill Bills Together ContactMusic.com, December 21, 2005, accessed August 7.006
- ^ Rodriguez and Tarantino Present Grindhouse!, Blake Wright on ComingSoon.net, July 22, 2006, accessed August 7, 2006
- ^ SDCC '06: Tarantino Confirms More Kill Bill!, Bloody-Disgusting.com, July 22, 2006, accessed August 7, 2006
External links
- Kill Bill: Vol. 1 at IMDb
- Kill Bill: Vol. 2 at IMDb
- Kill Bill: Vol. 1 at Rotten Tomatoes
- Kill Bill: Vol. 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
- Production I.G on the Kill Bill Anime Sequences Article from CGSociety.org
- The Kill Bill References Guide
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being Cool: Appropriation and Prospects of Subversion in the Works of Quentin Tarantino
- Articles to be merged from January 2007
- 2003 films
- 2004 films
- Color and black and white films
- American films
- American films shot in Japan
- English-language films
- Action films
- Crime films
- Drama films
- Thriller films
- Yakuza films
- Sequel films
- Films shot in Super 35
- Films directed by Quentin Tarantino
- Miramax films
- Kill Bill
- Production I.G.