Kill Bill quickly became a cult classic after its debut in 2003. Praised for its unique and stylized violence that places cruelty closer to art rather than barbarity, this movie absolutely oozes personality. Three MTV Movie Awards and almost 200 million dollars in box office revenue prove its impact.
The film follows a young woman who is referred to as “the Bride” and goes unnamed for the entirety of the movie. She starts on a murderous quest for revenge after a massacre carried out by a group of assassins ruins her wedding rehearsal. She picks off each of her assaulters one by one and along the way, we get to know her better as well as why the assassins carried out the attack. Uma Thurman played the role of the Bride expertly. Thurman practiced swordsmanship and combo sports for three months to prepare for her role, and it’s obvious when you see just how dedicated she is to the part, performing most of the stunts and fight scenes by herself.
The group that enlisted the initial attack on the Bride was called The Deadly Viper’s Assassination Squad. The leader, Bill acted out of jealousy of her being wed to another man. The Bride was once a part of Bill’s team of killers and was ultimately betrayed by the people she once called colleagues. She lost her friends, her fiance and her unborn child. Her anger is palpable, violent and started a deep hunger for vengeance. I think that Thurman’s character is so perfect because it shows how much rage can control a person who is struggling with grief.
My favorite fight scene is between the Bride and Vernita, a member of The Deadly Viper’s Assassination Squad. The entire sequence is shot in Vernita’s kitchen and it’s filled with tension and savagery. There is a quick battle between the two of them involving a frying pan versus a knife and the shot is captured in sync with the movements of each strike, changing composition with each hit before returning to bare-knuckle fighting.
My most-rewatched section of this scene is when Vernita’s daughter walks in on the battle and the Bride patiently introduces herself in order to not scare her. It gives me whiplash to watch Thurman go from boiling anger to swift calmness when she talks to the child. The Bride respects Vernita and her life enough to not do something like harm her daughter, even though Vernita tried to kill the Bride when she was pregnant. I think that this is quite symbolic of the type of person the Bride is. She is not inherently cruel; she is hurt and has nothing left. She truly is a good person, even though she is blinded by her need for revenge.
A performance I am really impressed by is Lucy Liu as O-Ren Ishii, a multilingual sharpshooter and combatant. The overall execution of director Quentin Tarantino’s vision is done exceptionally well by Liu. She really dedicated herself to the part, and I couldn’t think of a better person to play the character. I certainly think that the origin story of O-Ren Ishii is the best in the entire franchise. She turned to a life of crime and assassination after witnessing the death of her parents at the hands of the Yakuza. Her early life is retold through a long arrangement of violent animated sequences.
This segment is such a strong point in the movie because not only does it give a much needed backstory for the character of O-Ren, it also exudes a thrilling energy that is portrayed perfectly through cartoons that couldn’t be replicated with real life actors. For example, the scene where O-Ren kills the man who took her mother’s life is extremely bloody and filled with constant movement that I think would look tacky if Tarantino attempted to use actual performers rather than animation.
Kill Bill definitely is a movie to be remembered. Tarantino built a brilliant mix of influences from spaghetti westerns and martial arts films into a movie that is not only creative but also extremely original and stylistic. It has been parodied so many times and is such a staple in mainstream media that it’s no doubt incredibly iconic and forever a model of peak cinematography.
