Introduction:
If you are a fan of Bruce Lee, classic kung fu, and Samarai movies, you’ll enjoy Kill Bill, Volume I.
The Story:
Quentin Tarantino’s story, simply put, is about revenge. The movie is rather formulaic with few twists other than those you’ll see in the fight scenes. Like most cult martial arts movies, the main character (played by Uma Thurman) was once bad (or affiliated with the bad guys) and turned good (or tried to leave the bad behind), but is compelled to take the path of revenge due to a particular event or circumstance.
Kill Bill starts with Uma Thurman’s character waking up from a coma in a hospital. You’re shown flash backs of the events leading up to her present situation. She remembers what happened and starts her journey to uncover why and to ’’Kill Bill.’’ I won’t reveal much more of the plot because I hate reading reviews that reveal too much. What I’ll do instead is point out the tributes that Quentin Tarantino makes in his movie.
Tributes:
Taken right out of Bruce Lee’s The Game of Death, the yellow jumpsuit Uma Thurman wears and the gauntlet of opponents she faces is reminiscent of the plot in GOD (Bruce Lee died while filming this movie in 1973, which included Karim Abdul Jabbar).
Quentin Tarantino also makes tribute to the Japanese Samarai movie by including Uma’s weapon of choice provided by a retired Samarai swordsmith who hides from his past. This is reminiscent of classical Japanese movies, such as Samarai I, II, III. In the Samarai series starring Toshiro Mifune, who plays the wandering Samarai Musashi Miyamoto, the main character faces an unavoidable duel against an opponent he respects.
To circumvent possible injury to his worthy opponent, Musashi trades his metal sword for a wooden one. In the end, he kills him anyway. Tragic! If you like these types of movies, I highly recommend Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samarai, Run Run Shaw’s The Five Deadly Venoms, Master Killer, and The Kid with the Golden Arm.
Complaints:
My only real complaint against the movie concerns the decision to split the movie into two volumes. Over all the movie doesn’t offer too much in plot and is kind of short (around 90 minutes long). However, it’s great to see a modern tribute to the classic cult martial arts movie.
Recommendation:
Don’t judge the overall movie before you see the second volume, since it’s really one movie.