My Kill Bill review

[carl]

Release Date:October 10th, 2003
Director:Quentin Tarantino
Writer:Quentin Tarantino
Starring:Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Sonny Chiba, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, Lucy Liu, LaTanya Richardson, Michael Jai White, Woo-ping Yuen, Samuel L. Jackson (cameo)
Studio:Miramax
Genre:Crime, Thriller
Rated:18

All I ask is that you believe that I was expecting a solid 3 star film.

As I look back on my life I can find few films, if any, that have caused the same empty feeling of disappointment inside me as Quentin Tarantino's latest effort Kill Bill, and the strange thing is that I didn't exactly have high expectations to begin with. Even The Matrix Reloaded, which I had relatively high expectations for, lacked the sheer level of disappointment that Kill Bill provokes. It's a film I could easily imagine putting down as the most overrated, as well as most tedious film, that I have had the displeasure of seeing all year!

Kill Bill represents Tarantino's efforts at directing one of those clichéd 70's Kung Fu movies, it's not a spoof, an homage or any other term that would make it sound like he views these films in a bad light. He's a big fan of those type of films, and time and again he's stated that if you are looking for something to make fun of them then look elsewhere, but if you're looking for the latest 70's kung fu movie then Kill Bill is aiming to please you. However let us examine this genre than Tarantino is trying to infiltrate for a second, let us consider the difference between a good clichéd kung fu movie, and a bad clichéd kung fu movie. The difference, as would be expected, comes not from the direction, but from the stars themselves. It is, and always has been, the person playing the hero, or heroine, that makes a badly written exercise in choppy editing fun. Well then, let's move back to Kill Bill and examine how it stands up in this regard. I'm afraid that is a move which is destined to make you realize that, Uma Thurman isn't exactly Bruce Lee.

I mean, yes, she certainly spends a large portion of the film scowling, talking big, and generally trying to imitate the real daddies of revenge cinema, but she isn't even remotely convincing. The peak moment of her entire performance came towards the beginning of the story, which was also around halfway through the film itself, in a pathetic scene involving a close-up of her hideously large feet. Not only that though, she had no charisma either, no screen presence, not a single thing that would imbue this girl as the latest tough chick on the block. That award would have to go to Lucy Liu who is the lone wolf in a world of bad acting. Her on screen bitch from hell character was portrayed with Liu's usual, over the top sense of sadistic fun, and unlike Thurman she actually looks tough, mean, and stylish. Shame her role took the backstage to her many minions who were thrown into the film for the sake of being diced up by The Bride.

Yet I can already hear the cries from here, "What were you expecting. You had seen the trailer, you know Tarantino, so why did you go to the film expecting to dislike it?" Well let me clear that point up right now. I did not go into Kill Bill expecting to dislike it, I expected it to be a good film, just nothing in the range of a 4 or 5 star film. What I was expecting was what the trailer had led me to believe Kill Bill would be, a style over substance revenge thriller, with artistic cinematography and a killer soundtrack. What I was provided with was a slow, pointless film that was so devoid of artistic merit it was unbelievable. The cinematography that the trailer promised, and that I have come to expect from Tarantino's admittedly excellent eye, was sadly missing in all but one scene of the film. That single shot of Liu and her Cronies entering a club was the one and only camera shot that impressed me. The rest was the kind of typical, unimaginative camera work that you would expect to find from a poor, try hard film that's dieing to make a fan base for it's devoid style. Oh yeah, and that scene also happens to be one of the rare moments in the film, if not the only moment, where that classic tune used in the trailer is played out. The rest uses some of the cheesiest, terribly annoying 70's tunes available.

What though of the films infamous violence? I have heard a lot of differing reports ranging from, it's the most violent film ever made, to, it's too over the top to be offensive. With all of that information I was planning on avoiding Kill Bill based purely on it's violence. Then I read a review by a critic I respect who said that Kill Bill's violence was not gratuitous, but artistic, and it was this comment that piqued my interest. Let me tell you now that there is absolutely nothing artistic about the violence in Kill Bill. There's no grace, no style and nothing that was more difficult to achieve than pumping fake blood through a dummy. It is, I confess, to over the top to be taken seriously, which is exactly what makes it more offensive. You see, there are 2 forms of cinema violence, one is the kind of brutal, graphic and shocking violence that is designed to shock you, because violence is shocking. Then there 's the violence of film makers like Tarantino, (a form that has been taken to all new levels in Kill Bill) and that is designed and filmed by someone with an almost fetishistic eye for violence. It's not designed for anything except pleasing the directors desire to be more violent than the next guy, and gives Tarantino the ability to show everyone how cool his over the top decapitations can be. That, I am sorry to say, is not art, that is the kind of crap that has made anime movies like Fist Of The North Star and Ninja Scroll popular. I suspect Tarantino has seen both of those movies a few times, because Kill Bill has the same ridiculous violence, mixed with horrible editing and shallow story telling.

It's not all completely bad though. There are 3 points that work in Kill Bill's favour. There's Lucy Lui and that lone shot that I've already mentioned, plus there's a very stylish anime sequence that manages to be something that could be described as emotional. That one scene had everything that a revenge tale should, and even though the violence looks just as stupid as the rest of the film, the very fact that it's animated enables it to look more artistic. This one sequence was tense, dramatic and had me caring for it's main character who's parents were brutally murdered, and who was able to use the killers pedophilic nature to gain her revenge. Again, this character was the same one played by Lucy Liu, so I guess it could be claimed that Lucy was the lone float that prevents Kill Bill from sinking to the depths of Battle Field Earth, but she does. She single handed grants the film it's one star. The rest of the film (which has been filmed in typical Tarantino, non leaner manor, for no reasons beyond that's Tarantino's style and he will use it even when it works against the film) is just not worth the bother.
1/5