Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

tmdb13206453 June 10, 2017

★ 10/10

This is the movie he made after Jackie Brown. I thought I might just point that out. A big budget, larger scale action blockbuster. This is the one that would change the direction of Tarantino's films. And honestly, it might be my favorite besides Pulp Fiction. This movie oozes with style and beautifully choreographed action. This movie has an anime section akin to Japanese anime. That's some cool stuff. Even the non-action parts are some really good stuff. Like the guy from the old Street Fighter movies as Hatori Hanzo and making the Bride's sword. And the fantastic soundtrack. The great opening scene where the Bride gets shot and then the somber "Bang Bang" by Nancy Sinatra plays. But of course, the amazingly choreographed action makes this movie. A lot of it is showcased in the Crazy 88 fight and the few fights before it. It has some brilliant uses of the style. Of course, ther…

John Chard October 4, 2017

★ 8/10

Not so hush hush but very much on the QT. After being gunned down on her wedding day by her former colleagues, assassin Black Mamba (Uma Thurman) rouses from a four year coma with only one thing on her mind, revenge! Striking up a death list of five, she sets off for bloody retribution. Quentin Tarrantino writes and directs what is in all truth, a homage to all the cinema conventions close to his heart. Think an amalgamation of chop-socky, sexploitation, samurai, spaghetti Westerns, anime and cop shows of years past, and you get the heart of Kill Bill. A film that was so epic in scope it had to be cut into two films. What it lacks in Tarrantino dialogue dynamite it more than makes up for with action and astute visual flair. And it's bloody, very bloody. Thurman is great as the avenging Mamba/The Bride, while the inclusion of Sonny Chiba & Lucy Liu adds a touch of class as QT revels…

Wuchak July 19, 2018

★ 7/10

Uma Thurman as an anti-superheroine RELEASED IN 2003 and written/directed by Quentin Tarantino, "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" is an action/thriller/fantasy starring Uma Thurman as The Bride who seeks vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her, a group of which she once belonged. Her journey takes her from El Paso to Pasadena to Okinawa. Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, ravishing Julie Dreyfus and Michael Madsen appear as various assassins or accomplices. "Kill Bill” is a creative mish-mash of 60s-70's Bond-isms, Spaghetti Westerns and martial arts flicks, but with modern production values. It sometimes plays like a superhero movie in that The Bride is essentially an anti-superheroine who mows down literally armies of skilled fighters, e.g. the overly drawn-out B&W fight with the Crazy 88s. I loved the inclusion of Ennio Morricone's "Death Rides a Horse." On the downside, there’s an…

rsanek January 19, 2022

★ 5/10

Interesting usage of anime to tell O-Ren's back-story, but I wasn't really a fan of the cartoonish blood splattering and gratuitous fight scenes.

CinemaSerf October 1, 2022

★ 6/10

Awakening from a lengthy coma, the expecting "Bride" (Uma Thurman) embarks on a lethal killing spree to avenge herself on those responsible for killing her fiancée and to find out just what happened to her unborn baby. She has a past - formerly a soldier in the "Deadly Viper Assassination Squad" - she formerly dated it's leader "Bill" (David Carradine) - and so in theory has her work cut out for her as she seeks her revenge. Well, except that is, that the aforementioned "DVAA" could not hit a barn door with an Howitzer. Despite their overwhelming numbers, their supposedly expert training and resilience, "Bride" mows through them as if they were wheat to her combine harvester. This film has no jeopardy whatsoever. Thurman looks great and packs quite some charisma into her performance, and Tarantino presents a quirky style to the story, but that story is hackneyed and unremarkable. The ch…

Dr Nostromo July 5, 2026

★ 7/10

72/100 Shot in the head and left for dead at her wedding, our hero decides she's going to kill the entire Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, of which she was a part, and finish off with their leader, Bill. If you haven't gotten around to seeing this by now, you were probably never interested in the first place. Tarantino at his best bringing us a highly modernized and stylized homage to the Kung Fu films of the past in a delightful, albeit extremely bloody manner. Characters are colorful and exciting. Although, scenes tend to drag beyond their purpose at times, it's exciting and fun. -- DrNostromo.com