I enjoyed this movie tremendously, this movie's dialogue is not on par with QT's other movies, the action is good but not great, it really has no plot, the theme is made obvious from the opening frame, and the humor is subtle not grab your belly laughing, but this is one great movie for the simple reason that for 1 hr 45 min I sat down w/ a popcorn I could not eat and a coke that gave me the squirts and forgot about life for a while and had a wonderful time at the movies. I am on vacation this week and it was a great way to spend my first day off, (Lost in Translation, School of Rock, and Intolerable Cruelty are also on the list) I loved Uma's acquired vehicle, the dialogue with Buck and his propesctive client was hilarious, Nikki's suprise appearance, warm saki in the afternoon, and the whole Japanese underworld story all made for a terrific movie. I think one of the biggest reason's I love QT's movies is because QT loves making them.

This would definitely be nice to see all in one piece, but unless Vol. 2 is less than 1 hour 20 mins then this would've run
way over 3 hours.

I didn't realize how far over because I wanted to see it all but I think it's ridiculous that they won't package the dvd's together or let people see a complete version of KILL BILL.

oh wait a minute, of course they will. after everyone has already bought both versions.

oh well. not a great film but a very entertaining and unique film IMO.

Do we even KNOW if Vol.1 will be out on dvd before Vol.2 hits theaters?

I didn't think tags were necessary, since the name was audible to me.

The B&W in the fight scene was just too random and did not fit cinematically - first of all, there are a lot of shots from that fight in the trailer, but they're in color in the trailer, and they look much better there then in the actual film.
Second, the blood in the B&W flashbacks (wedding chaple) looks like blood, because they knew beforehand it'd be in B&W so they used a dark "oily" substance that would look like blood in B&W. But in the fight scene the blood looks like water, because it's NOT supposed to be in B&W and it was only B&W after the fact and not in all markets - Japan gets that scene in color, BTW.

That's what pisses me off.

Well, from a marketing standpoint it makes a whole lotta sense for them to put it out 2-3 weeks before Vol. 2 hits theaters. I'd be dollars for donuts that's what they'll do.

Dude, I answered your questions about 40 posts ago.

Wow, pretty pathetic. The fanboys sure get upset if you say something that goes against how they feel. Do you feel so threatened by a contradictory opinion?

The purpose of the thread was:

1. I felt it lacked a strong story and had very little dialogue.
While I knew it would be violent, I certainly did not know it would be so "lite" on substance, unlike QT's past films.

2. I felt it was overhyped, not worthy of the great reviews it has gotten.

3. I also felt I wanted to say something about society and the disturbing fact that so many seem to find so much humor in violence. Can I not handle seeing the violence? Of course I can handle it. Give me a Clockwork Orange anyday over this. I certainly also get Dark Humor, but laughing hysterically cause someone got gutted seems a curious reaction.

I will say this, I do agree with the posts that cite the spraying blood as simply apeing the style of anime. Didnt make that connection in the theater, but I do now.

One person commented that I probably really liked it, just wanna be one of "those guys"... Not quite sure what that means, but I didnt really care for it, I stand by the C+ I gave it before. Flash never wins over substance as far as I am concerned.

Before the flaming begins, remember, it is my opinion.

I saw this one last night. Did I have a good time? Hell yes!!! The most eneterteining movie I saw this year. I even read the screenplay about ayear ago and knew how it all would end but still had a great time. I think Ebert nailed it in his review that if anyone was pissed off by the fact that we pretty much know who will die in the movie is a moron.

The anime sequence was great. When I first saw it, I was a little disapointed but the movement of the characters was so damn cool I ended up loving it. Also I thought the B&W sequence was right on. Didn't realy take me out of the movie. And yes, it was in the original script that the scene would be in B&W.

I'll definitely be seeing this one one more time on the big screen before part 2 which I rarely do.


"Silly Caucasian girl likes to play with Samurai swords."

My bad, didn't see it. Thanks to you too!

100%

• Quoth rushmore223 •<HR SIZE=1>Wow, pretty pathetic. The fanboys sure get upset if you say something that goes against how they feel. Do you feel so threatened by a contradictory opinion?
Before the flaming begins, remember, it is my opinion. <HR SIZE=1>

Before demanding respect for your opinion, could you lay off the "pathetic" and "fanboy" rhetoric?

• Quoth rushmore223 •<HR SIZE=1>1. I felt it lacked a strong story and had very little dialogue.<HR SIZE=1>

This is the intent. Maybe that intent isn't something you like, and that's fine, but it's not as if it tried for strong story and failed ... this was not the goal of the film.

• Quoth rushmore223 •<HR SIZE=1>3. laughing hysterically cause someone got gutted seems a curious reaction.<HR SIZE=1>

I assume you're aware that this is also his intent and has been in all his films (especially Pulp Fiction): presenting horrific violence in such a way that you cannot help but laugh and be disturbed at the same time. Part of Tarantino's unique talent is presenting art that evokes these types of reactions and forces us to question it.

das

See, I find uma to be the most beautiful female actor alive! I thhink she is naturally beautiful and looked her best in this movie (especially when she acted all naive and flirty to hatturi hanzo). Oh well, who cares, this movie was too amazing to care about how the actors looked!

Well, I sort of defended her by saying, "she has her moments". I don't think she's all that attractive, but I wouldn't call her ugly, either. She has a very unique look.

But dude, come on, what about her Boomerang feet? Her right big toe was crooked as heck.

From IMDB.com:

Ethan Hawke cheated on his wife Uma Thurman because he reportedly felt sure she was having an affair with movie maker Quentin Tarantino. The Reality Bites actor strayed with model Jen Perzow, 22, while he was working in Canada, and, as he and Thurman attempt to save their marriage, friends claim he thought his wife had already been unfaithful - with her Kill Bill director. A source tells American tabloid National Enquirer, "Ethan was really ticked off because he always thought Quentin had a thing for his wife. Quentin and Uma are longtime pals and there's a real chemistry there since they made Pulp Fiction together. When people around the set (of Kill Bill) tattled to Ethan, he was really upset. Now Quentin feels he's going to get dragged into this nasty mess." Meanwhile, Tarantino, who wrote Kill Bill as a birthday present to Thurman, is desperately trying to separate himself from the couple's marital problems. In a new Rolling Stone interview, the maverick movie maker insists Uma is nothing more than a muse, adding they have "a total partnership," and "there is nothing to that," when responding to questions about his involvement in the couple's problems.

The middle toe had people leaving the theater...

Argh.

Okay, I like The Rza and all, Wu-Tang represent.. but my favorite song in the movie is on the soundtrack with a friggin rap over it.



Crap, I'd kill for a clean version of that.

Contrary to what you've seen in Maxim, not all women's feet are perfect and airbrushed.

I for one am very glad that they let Uma and Lucy's natural beauty come out in this movie, espically with all the facial close-ups, I think it was a daring move not to paint them up all fake like in most movies these days. And that Julie girl is SMOKIN HOT!

Lucy Liu's freckles are cute.

I just wanted to make a quick comment about rushmore's comments... He's got a point, it's all about entertainment value for the specific person. The movie has sparse, slow dialogue, Silent stretches, bizarre content, and the debateable structure (though I love all these things about it.)

Kill Bill is a very "different" movie compared to a lot of others on top of that, it isn't a normal movie by any stretch... In fact it's almost a safe medium between recent Japanese films of this style ((extremely)over the top and back to the ground) and American norm.

To be perfectly honest, it reminded me of what would happen if Fudoh went samurai But it's all good, it was definitly one of the most uniquely memorable and thoroughly entertaining films I've seen in sometime.

So yeah anyone who bashes the movie has a point, they don't like it

I've never seen a film like this filmed quite so nicely or directed quite so well though.... Justification of the budget I suppose.

Oh and yeah, Lucy Liu is a cutie. And once you get past Gogo's nose, she's really quite cute as well

Food for thought - QT probably did that part of the sequence B&W to appease the MPAA. If you're mad at that, do you feel the same way about Hitchcock doing it for Psycho?

Hitchcock didn't shoot PSYCHO in black and white to avoid censorship, and anyway, the whole movie was in black and white, not just the shower scene. I think wahat people are complaining about is the b&w section of KILL BILL is unmotivated and a little jarring.

Censorship.

Yeah, i'll second that

time to close thread and start another one due to length.

I've been a devoted fan of Asian genre films (genre meaning action,
horror, fantasy, etc.) for many years now. I was first introduced to
the bullet ballets of John Woo early in college, and soon thereafter
discovered the one-man circus which is Jackie Chan. These were my
entry points into fantastic Asian cinema, but my explorations since
have encompassed many other directors, actors, and genres. I
certainly don't claim that I am any kind of authority on Asian
cinema, but you can't watch as many Asian films as I have without
picking up bits and pieces of Asian history, culture, philosophy, and
even language. I've always enjoyed Asian cinema precisely because it
is so very different from the films of any other continent. This is
not to say that western culture has not had an influence in the east
or vice versa, but not to the same degree that European sensibilities
have influenced film on all other continents. Asia, in many ways, is
an isolated culture where age-old traditions and myth are just as
alive in the minds of it's contemporary society as it always has
been. Since it is largely cultural mythos that informs a society's
art, it is apparent that films from Asian countries have a much
stronger understanding and appreciation of those ancient stories and
rituals.

I will not contend here that one requires such an understanding of
Asian film to enjoy or appreciate Tarantino's latest love letter to
the chop-sockey film, but it certainly helps. Quentin tosses in
references to dozens of Asian films faster than most of us could hope
to assimilate. Tarantino's affection for the genre is more than
apparent, and - if given the chance - can be quite infectious if you
leave your preconceived notions and the massive Tarantino hype- machine at home. However, the anti-Tarantino backlash before KILL
BILL was even out of the gate.

Of the reviews I've read so far, the majority have been rather
complementary. Most folks seem to "get it" in that they understand
the concept of an "ode" to the exploitation/chop-sockey/revenge
film. They understand that these films are traditionally "light" on
plot and character development... that these films are first and
foremost showcases for action and set pieces. While Ang Lee made a
beautiful film in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON with which to
introduce the rest of the world to a staple of of Asian cinema, it
was anything but typical or representative of the genre. Lee's film
fused the chop-sockey films that influenced him as a youth with his
subtle characterizations and a bona fide plot. In this respect,
Tarantino's approach is more authentic to it's cinematic ancestry,
though Tarantino's film bears little surface resemblance to the kung
fu classics of the Shaw Brothers, which is referenced in the opening
frames of KILL BILL.

While some may be disappointed by the lack of character development
here after the atypically sophisticated approach to his characters in
JACKIE BROWN (itself criticized in it's time for not being the "cool
flick" that PULP FICTION was), it should not be imferred that
character development is simply tossed out the window in KILL BILL.
The genre generally dictates that characters function as "cyphers"
and are drawn much broader than one finds in other film genres. The
good guys are generally VERY good, and the bad guys are irredeemably
despicable. However, there is plenty of room within those divisions
for memorable characterizations. In KILL BILL - V.1, Darryl Hannah's
character of Elle is introduced to us in one of the most memorable
scenes in cinema for the last decade. The eyepatch-wearing
statuesque blonde changes into a nurse's uniform, fills a syringe
with a presumably deadly liquid, and calmly walks down a hospital's
relatively deserted halls while whistling an eerily cheery tune
(which has been rolling around in my head ever since I heard it!).
The mise-en-scene is expertly constructed in a sequence of cuts,
where every shot is perfectly planned. Considering the brief screen
time that Elle receives in Volume 1, this sequence alone cements her
character and imprints her much larger-than-life personality upon our
subconscious.

So... What is the beef that detractors seem to have with KILL BILL?
If you research past reviews of Tarantino films, you'll find that
it's largely the same critics who consistently ride the crest of anti- Tarantino backlash. Most of these sad sacks have a very narrow view
of film, and have no tolerance for directors known for making "cool"
movies. Perhaps Quentin is a bit lacking in substance (though JACKIE
BROWN provides the antithesis for that particular criticism), but
deep personal dramas are not Tarantino's bag - nor should they be.
There are plenty of talented directors out there who have the "deep
personal drama" covered ten ways from Tuesday. Personally, the very
idea of every film being a "deep personal drama" repulses me almost
as much as every film being a "theme-park ride blockbuster". Variety
is the spice of life, or so they say, and I have a personal taste for
a wide array of spices!

Is it Tarantino's unabashed lifting from the other films and
filmmakers that attracts the wrath of some critics? That argument is
old hat by now, and doesn't really hold water. Every filmmaker
steals, whether they admit it or not. Francis Ford Coppolla said as
much in IFC's A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE, and went on to encourage
young filmmakers to borrow liberally from their influences. He goes
on to say that anything lifted from another film will inevitably
change when filtered through the filmmaker's own sensibilities. I
would add that it is expected for a doctor or scientist to build upon
the work of others, and yet some filmmakers are accused of outright
plaguarism for a similar methodology. Building on ideas that came
before should not be confused with "hack" filmmaking, where entire
sections or concepts are thoughtlessly cut and pasted from another's
film to their own.

The worst criticism I could level at KILL BILL is what everyone
already knows - it should have never been "split" into two film.
Some people complained about the lack of closure at the end of LORD
OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING...; for them I would suggest
staying FAR away from KILL BILL until they can watch both films back- to-back. KILL BILL - V.1 has a predictably abrupt ending and feels
as arbitrarily imposed as the news stories about the split have
already led us to believe. Even though Miramax and Tarantino are
practically begging us to sell KILL BILL - V.1 short by judging it as
a complete work apart from it's forthcoming "sequel", I will be
patient and reserve my final opinion until I see "Volume 2" and can
assess the work as a whole.

BTW - as to be expected, the soundtrack for KILL BILL is a killer.
Tarantino has a unique talent for pairing images and music that is
unequaled, and KILL BILL is no exception. I expect that I'll break
down and buy the soundtrack within a couple of weeks.

Eric Billingsley

cliff notes?