Before I begin, let me tell you this is by far the most intentionally over the top film I have ever seen. And I've seen stuff like Robert Rodriguez's Machete. The film is both an homage and a parody of martial arts films, Chanbara, spaghetti westerns and the like. So the tone of the film works both as a serious action film and as a comedy. Seriously, the action here is really fucking intense and very well choreographed, but it's so ridiculously violent and exaggerated you can't help but laugh your ass off. The amount of times I said "whaaaat" in between laughter is pretty damn high.
Seriously, is human blood pressure so high that a severed limb becomes a fucking fire hose?
The story is mostly about an unnamed assassin-something played by Uma Thurman (referred to as "the bride" or her codename, Black Mamba), who is betrayed by her "clan", the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, on her wedding day. Her unborn child dies and she goes into a comatose state, waking up four years later vowing revenge on the ex-clan members. The story is (surprise) non-linear, so I'm not really spoiling a lot when I say that 15 minutes in she successfully took down O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and Vernita Green, meaning she has three more people to kill, including their leader, named Bill. Hence, "Kill Bill".
Most of the movie tells how the bride woke up from her coma, went to Japan to get a sword from the best swordsmith ever or something, Hattori Hanzo, and take down Ishii. Most of the characters here have little to no personality, but to be honest, does anyone care? All the character development we need is said character's fighting style. And it works. Period. Thus, the real highlights of the film are not the most relatable of believable characters (did I really just say believable?), but the ones that fight the best or make the biggest impression. So sure, the bride, Ishii and that Japanese chick on the schoolgirl uniform take the cake.
Killing 80-something henchmen simultaneously is memorable enough in my book.
The soundtrack is just excellent. I don't know if it was composed for this film (I doubt it) but I really liked it. There's an incredible variety of tunes: you have a menacing theme for when the nurse creeps towards the bride ready to kill her, J-rock songs, the Green Hornet theme playing during a chase in Tokyo, and THIS... Every song sets the tone for their respective scenes while keeping the playful, parodic tone of the overall film.
That's it, I suppose. I can't really give my verdict until I see Volume 2 tomorrow. All I can say for now is that if excessive, ridiculous violence is not appealing to you, just don't watch these films. After what I've seen I doubt you'll find anything other than that here.
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