Hey folks, Harry here with 5 other reviews from this morning's press screenings around the country it seems. 4 extremely positives and one very negative. Also out there you can find Roger Friedman's review from FOX NEWS and Jeffrey Wells' sly tidbits of guarded reactions after his Oscar column. Here ya go, a buncha folks that've never met Quentin...
Hi Harry
My names ________, never written you before but I'm an occasional talk backer under the name Ultra 7. I'm a critic for ________ a major alt weekly here in _ town and I just saw KILL BILL this morning at a presser. Another critic and I were just in disbelief, grinning from ear to ear all the way, and he sits on praise like golden eggs.
Let me just say that all blown smoke and shifty plant reviews aside , this is the craziest goddamn movie I've seen in a long time. From the Shaw brothers homage opening credits, through the Nancy Sinatra rendition of 'Bang Bang' from the ketchup splattered finale this sucker just buries the speedometer and refuses to quit. It's the most exuberant and exhilarating nonsense imaginable, just one giant ass kicking good time.
The final twenty odd minutes or so, where Uma dismantles one ornate geisha house and an entire army of Kato masked thugs called the Crazy 88's is the most violent display of pure gore I think America has ever seen. I haven't seen this many beheadings and dismemberments since Baby cart on the River Styx. Just rivers of red stuff, geysers of blood shooting out of hacked limbs like the fountains at Epcot. Heads roll, fingers roll, eyes roll, legs roll, tongues roll, torsos roll.
We're talking Wooden chair leg fu, fire poker fu, curio cabinet fu, Vivica A. Fu, butcher knife fu, Sonny Chiba built unbreakable sword fu through the midsection Fu, Japanese Girl Group "the 5 6 7 8s" doing Ike Turner songs fu, 'Pussy Wagon Fu' and all sorts of angry Uma Fu.
Battle Royale's Chiaki Kuriyama pretty much rules the earth as Lucy's personal shit kicker, GO GO Yubari, in a super cute Sukiban Deka style school girl outfit, swinging a giant ass mace, and bringing down the thunder real hard.
Call it a pastiche if you want, but that's what Quentin does with such amazing accuracy. He convinces you that your watching something new, while all the while he's reworking Game of Death, Five Deadly Venom's, I spit on your Grave, Coffy, Bride with White hair, Death Wish, every Sho Kusugi ninja classic, and a million and five other cult flicks that burned across his eyeballs. Sure the story is as deep as a Dixie cup, you get most of it in the trailer, we get the what and some of the how her wedding got crashed, but never the why, but Uma sells it with astounding conviction. She has an amazing crying scene, just a long controlled close up of her melting down with all the rage and sadness required for her to commit the massacre that's coming. She's not some indestructible engine of destruction , she gets her ass handed to her hard, but we believe she has the will to pick her bloody bruised up carcass off the ground and finish off the next sorry motherfucker, because they simply have it coming. Not even the sight of Darryl Hannah in a candy stripper costume with matching eye patch bothered me, and I hated every nanosecond of her work in Northfork.
The chapter breaks, the black and white fade ins, the animation {don't get me started on the animation!} Yuen Wo-ping's stunning choreography, all of it works and works triumphantly. As in any Tarantino film musical choices are impeccable, and the incidental work by the RZA is just too jaw droopingly, unbelievably cool. This is Saturday morning kung fu theater come back to life and straight to the multiplexes where it belongs, with all the style and wit of a filmmaker in total command of his craft. Major, immense fun, a head spinning jot of just unadulterated popcorn bliss from the word go. You hardly even see Michael Madsen as "Budd" or even glimpse Carradine, but you won't mind, because you know there's more coming soon, and you know it's going to pretty much rearrange all the stars in your personal film geek galaxy.
You can call me Mechakong if you'd like.
Next is Matt P. who flipped out for it...
Hey Harry. This is my first review I've sent to you. Just saw a super secret advance screening of Kill Bill Volume 1. here's the review. Friends brother works at movie theater. Screens it for his friends midnight yesterday. In case your wondering how I saw it.
Kill Bill Volume 1
A review by Matt P.
(Contains minor spoilers)
Well it's not quite a day later after getting back from a super secret advance screening of Quentin Tarantino's latest opus and I still haven't got over it. For those who don't know here's the premise. Quentin Tarantino loves Kung Fu movies. Then he decides he's going to pay tribute to the great Hong Kong and martial arts films of the past. He gets Yeung Wo Ping to do the choreography and makes one of the coolest most bad-ass martial arts films of all time. Now before I go on I must state this movie is not for the squeamish. It's extremely violent and bloody. I'm talking limbs coming off and blood spraying. The basic plot is as follows. A woman's wedding is turned into a massacre when a deadly gang of assassins called the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, led by Bill (David Carradine) kills everyone at the ceremony including the woman (Uma Thurman) takes a bullet to the head and is left for dead. Four years later she wakes up from a coma and swears revenge on the DVAS.
The movies strong point is its sense of anticipation. You find yourself thinking "what is this woman going to do next?" or "how is this fight going to turn out." The movie is also highly stylistic. As would be expected from a Tarantino film. Innovative camera angles, quick cuts, extreme close-ups. He even pays tribute to Japanese Anime in the film by throwing a little Anime section in there. The fight scenes are some of the best I've ever seen. This guy really knows his stuff. Beautifully choreographed. There's a reason why Yeung Wo Ping is considered one of the best Martial Arts choreographers working today and it shows. There's a little bit of Wire-Fu in the film. But nothing over the top.
All in all Kill Bill Volume 1 is a fantastic film. It's Tarantino's best since Pulp Fiction. A fast paced, highly stylized film. Very violent, very kick-ass. After seeing this film I suddenly want to see more films like it. I can't wait for volume 2. Highly recommended.
Next we have Big Tex - he hates that he didn't see Volume 1 and Volume 2 at the same time, but seems to love just about everything about what he saw. Here ya go...
Kill Bill aka Pregnant Bride and the Orgy of Blood
Just saw this. Is it a great film - I'm still trying to figure that out. Is it enjoyable - Yes, hell yes. Goddamn yes. Not since Dawn of the Dead has a splatter display be so enthralling. It is not just a rollercoaster of thrills, it's like being dropped from a helicopter five thousand feet over the park and having the thrill of facing your death all the way down. It's incredible.
But is it a great film - I don't know.
This is the first epic of the Aint it Cool Era. The ultimate fanboy movie - from it's opening reference to Wrath of Khan to a 10+ minute Anime flashback to the incredibly sexy, yet dangerously insane Japanese schoolgirl bodyguard - this film has it all. And way too much of it all.
QT has moved on or.. 'grown' if you want to put it from the patented QT'isms. The typical Pop Culture references and ironic music cues are still there, they are just kept in check. This is the most different and perhaps most stylized QT film yet. The action is incredible and makes the CGI orgies of the Matrix and it's kind seem like a ten year old Nintendo 64 that you have at the back of your closet. This is the action film of the decade.
Typical Great work with the actors. Uma Thurman is great and Daryl Hannah, Viveca Fox and Lucy Liu have all never been better. In particular- Lucy Liu. QT is the first director to successfully utilize her - simple shots of her just staring at the camera have a more visceral thrill than a thousand 'SWAT's. The elongated scene of the Yakuza meeting, with it's 'Thunderball'-esque resolution is amazing. The most exciting single scene in a film this year. After dragging in portions - as soon as the film focuses on the Lucy Liu character, the film flies on adrenaline.
But even with that. I can't tell you it's a great film. The story is not much and the film doesn't feel complete (and it's not-admittedly). It doesn't feel organic - It feels like the ultimate 'whole is not equal to the sum of it's parts' film. I left the theatre thinking it was the best QT film yet, and now I'm sure it's the least. There is a wave of disappointment when you realize the film is over. It should not be in two parts. THIS SHOULD NOT BE IN TWO PARTS. You need to... you have to see the whole. The two parts is a mistake. Three + hours of this would seem shorter than 90 minutes of most films.
What also holds the film back, at least to me - is the history of QT and the torrent of expectation that it creates. The film doesn't have the surprise of 'Reservoir Dogs', the once in a lifetime filmmaker/zeitgeist connection of 'Pulp Fiction', or the almost relaxed and matured charm of 'Jackie Brown'. It doesn't resonate like his earlier work.
However, this is like complaining that the original 'Star Wars' is not '2001'.
The experience of seeing this film is like meeting someone at a club that seems a little crazy- taking them home that night and having them fuck you in every strange and amazing and frightening way possible for hours on end. But, then when you open your eyes in the morning, you're just praying that they're gone.
If fountains of blood don't bother you. This will be the most fun you'll have this year.
All fanboys bow to QT - he is truly one of us.
Call me Big Tex.
Then there is Tress...
Hello! Long time reader, 2nd time contribution. Last night, I had a chance to see ‘Kill Bill Volume 1’ at my local Landmark theater. The theater had the print for a critics screening, so we played it last night to see what Quentin Tarantino has been up to for the last couple years.
Starting off, I have no idea if I am even aloud to like ‘Kill Bill’. One reason is for the huge amount of references and homages that take up the movie. I have always considered my self to know a far amount of kung-fu flicks, B-movies, and other outcasts of the Hollywood system, but ‘Kill Bill’ put me to shame. Sitting there, I just kept thinking that most of the stuff I see on screen is inspired by or is a duplicate of a movie that only Tarantino would see.
In other words, hard core fans of super crazy kung-fu western revenge flicks are going to love ‘Kill Bill’. The film is packed with gun action, kung-fu hijinx, gore (more and more gore), Japan, anime, and pretty much anything else you can think of. And on top of all that, there are great characters and an absorbing story. The film flows The Bride (played by Uma Thurman), a woman who lost her baby in a merciless beating she got on her wedding day from an assignation squad (consisting of Michael Madsen, Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, and Daryl Hannah) lead by Bill (David Carradine). The title of the movie then explains the rest. The Bride wants vengeance, so that is what she sets out to do.
Out of all the characters in ‘Kill Bill’, I have to go with Uma Thurman as the The Bride as my favorite and also my overall favorite character in a movie this year. Thurman is just so much fun and fantastic to watch in this. She pulls off being brutally merciless and betrayed, with out coming off like a some dumb 2-D character. She is perfectly badass and vulnerable. With the heavy metal/hooky/epic dialog she has to read in this movie, she some how pulls off that people actually talk like that (or maybe just when you are out for revenge with a truck that seas Pussy Wagon on the back). Anyway, I just love her in this movie.
Every year, I try to picks out some of the best fight scenes of that year. 2003 is going to be a hard choice because ‘Kill Bill’ has upped the anti. The amazing (and very chaotic) fight sword fight at the bar with The Bride versus the whole Yakuza army, is a site to see. Every single appendage of the human body is cut off in some way, blood is spilled in huge quantities, and a spanking is delivered to one young Yakuza. This fight truly rules.
My other favorite sequence is the anime telling of O-Ren Ishi’s (Lucy Liu) past. If any of you have seen the ‘Animatrix’ short ‘Kids Story’, that is pretty much what it looks like. Characters bodies change, morph, and move very wavy like. The animation looks so ruff, it almost looks as if it was burned strait into woods planks. Content wise, it plays like the anime movies of old where it felt like almost every anime was filled with extreme violence and hard boiled stories. The sequence doesn’t feel out of place in a live action movie and adds a lot of character to On-Ren.
‘Kill Bill’ is the most refreshing film I have seen this year. Its a great movie the embraces its R rating and doesn’t tipi tow around the violence. Violence is never really a good thing, but in the case of movies, you can make it look so ridicules that you can’t help but in joy watching it. ‘Kill Bill’ succeeds at this and never lets up. ‘Kill Bill’ feels like a movie that no one on Earth wants you to see because everything about doesn’t fit into any category of movies. With a great mix of characters, music, and a yellow track suit, this is one of my favorite films this year.
-Tress
Finally - here's Marcellus Wallace, who feels RESERVOIR DOGS hasn't dated well, and thinks KILL BILL is a disaster... O.....K.....
Harry,
Long-time reader, first-time writer. I saw KILL BILL this morning. Here is my reluctant review:
(Spoilers follow?)
RESERVOIR DOGS hasn't dated well, mostly due to the countless rip-offs, but it is a very good film in context. PULP FICTION is a masterpiece. JACKIE BROWN is a very good movie, and in my opinion, the perfect follow-up to PULP FICTION.
KILL BILL is a disaster.
The film opens with a "Presented in Shaw-Scope" card, which sets the stage for what should be a rollicking entertainment. The opening sequence is also quite brilliant, ending in a truly shocking jump-cut to the title sequence.
Then: the confrontation between Uma Thurman and Vivica Fox. Despite the camerawork of the always-brilliant Robert Richardson and the fight choreography of Yuen Woo-ping, this scene plays as if it were written by a film school freshman.
So does the rest of the film.
The editing is choppy, cutting incoherently from one sequence to the next. Whereas Tarantino brilliantly sequenced his previous films, KILL BILL is just one damn thing after another, never adding up to anything even remotely resembling a cohesive and interesting whole. There is not one point throughout this film in which you care in the slightest bit about what is going on. I know KILL BILL a kung-fu flick, but I expected a Tarantino kung-fu flick; instead, I got a not-so-greatest hits collage with absolutely no originality behind it.
There are a few inspired moments (probably four or five, adding up to about six minutes of total screen time). The opening of Darryl Hannah?s hospital scene is quite brilliant, beginning with her whistling a tune that carries over after she has departed. A frank discussion about raping coma victims is disturbing and strangely funny. There is also a hilarious scene in Okinawa, featuring an argument which I will not ruin here. An anime sequence is inspired, even though I have the feeling that the only reason it was done this way is because the MPAA would never have allowed the scene in live-action. (As well, there is a sequence toward the end that shifts incoherently into black-and-white, most likely because "all the red blood" would never have been approved for an R-rating. KILL BILL is only the latest unfortunate cop-out in this regard.)
The film is visually appealing, which can be expected given the talent behind the camera. But KILL BILL is lifeless. I was bored. This is by far the most disappointing film I have seen in a long time. I can, however, say this: I'm glad they cut it in half, and I have the option of skipping Volume 2.
I guess you can call me Marcellus Wallace, in memory of better times.
