Wednesday, October 29, 2003

On Sunday night, I went to see Quentin Tarantino's latest film Kill Bill. It's been six years since his last film Jackie Brown and I've been waiting with anticipation for his latest.

The story is about a woman(Uma Thurman) who wakes up out of a four year coma after being left for dead at her wedding by a gang of assassins, who she used to work for called the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. We never know her name, she's just referred to as 'the Bride'. After she wakes up, she seeks revenge on everyone involved.

The film is short on plot and characterisation but high on action and trust me there's a lot of action, most of which is very bloodthirsty. If you have a weak stomach and you winced at the ear cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs, you'll definitely have your eyes closed for the final part of the film, when the Bride takes on eighty eight yakuza. I enjoyed the film greatly, although I must admit I preferred Pulp Fiction.

Most of the film is set in Japan and the famous Japanese actor
Sonny Chiba plays a very important role. In fact the film is a homage to all of the Asian action films that Tarantino loves so much. In Asia, Tarantino has decided to release a slightly different version of Kill Bill, which is bloodier and more violent, apparently because he feels Asian audiences can take it. So we get an extended manga sequence dealing with O-Ren Ishii's(Lucy Liu) childhood and the fighting scenes against the eighty eight yakuza remain in colour throughout.

A really great film. Definitely worth seeing if you like your action violent and bloody, but unfortunately not a classic like Pulp Fiction.

0 comments: