Film reviews

Kill Bill, vol. 1, Dir: Quentin Tarantino, Cert: 18

From the cheesy 70’s style opening titles through to the closing credits, this is a non-stop roller coaster ride of violence, bloodshed, music and depravity……And it’s superb!

Only Tarantino could get away with blending revenge, samurai ethics, deviant sexual behaviour, manga cartoons, a Sergio Leone tribute, some Tango and a little bit of soul music. OK so you’ve probably heard all the references to Uma Thurman’s yellow jump-suit being an homage to Bruce Lee’s final film and that may have been Tarantino’s major theme, however overall the film is undoubtedly heavily lead by the spaghetti westerns of the 70’s.

Think “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly”, “A Fistful of Dollars”, “For a Few Dollars More” then add in the inspiration for “The Magnificent Seven” – Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo” and you may be getting close, provided you add a little bit of the Blaxploitation genre to the recipe and shoot it as a Supergrass video!

There are gentle, touching moments - “It’s not my intention to kill you here…..When do you want to die?”, generous moments – “..leave, but your limbs belong to me!”, honourable moments – “..cancel the hit...she doesn’t deserve that…”, humorous moments – “…run along home to mummy…” and more slicings & dicings than I could count.

Yes, the film is graphically violent and bloody, but this is done in such a way that it is in no way revolting or stomach turning as the hydrants (that is the only feasible term) of blood from severed limbs are comically impossible. A clever melange of Black & White, Colour and Manga cartoon styles add to the films overall character – which is both simple and complex at the same time.

You will laugh, and you will feel uncomfortable at some of the things you find funny, but that’s Cinema Tarantino for you!

I will be going to see this again at least once and am eagerly awaiting Part 2. 9/10

K Soze

Odeon Online