In terms of which director is a sure choice for ensuring a stylized, two-hour ass-kicking entertainment firebomb, Quentin Tarantino usually takes that spot. And Kill Bill (Vol. 1 and 2) certainly proves this. Having heard about the rave reviews over the years about how amazing these films were, I was excited to check them out, and was most certainly far from disappointed.
If you didn't already know, Tarantino writes and portray his characters extremely well in all of his films. He is perhaps one of the few directors that is virtually incapable of creating a protagonist that isn't well-rounded and dynamic. Now, they aren't exactly heroes by the classic standards (I mean, with all the violence in Pulp Fiction it isn't exactly easy to compare Vincent and Jules to Superman), but this has the effect of humanizing them and making their respective films far more enjoyable. In this case, I felt that Uma Thurman's portrayal of Beatrix Kiddo was well-done, and she had more than enough strength to carry the entire story. The story itself is fairly simple: Kiddo, AKA the Black Mamba, once worked for one of the deadliest assassin squads in the world, but left after she became pregnant and chose to be married. However, at the wedding, Bill, the leader of the Deadly Viper Assassin Squad, massacres the wedding guests and tries to kill Kiddo, who survives and vows revenge upon Bill and the entire squad. Standing in her way are other members of the squad (which includes Lucy Liu and Vivica Fox) and Bill's associates, all of whom she plans to mow down on her way to take out her former employer.
So, basically, it's a revenge story. Is it relatively simple? Absolutely. But uninteresting? Far from it. The story flows in a logical sequence, and the action and characters definitely keep it moving. It has a few slow moments, but this actually helped to balance out the more dramatic sequences, as building the film entirely on the action would have worn out the audience far too fast in this case. The fight sequences are insane, despite how the blood and gore can get a little over-the-top, but that really just adds to the feel of the movie. You can tell that the production devoted a lot of time to the cinematography as well as the fight choreography, which makes the film more well-rounded and detailed and also creates a more immersive atmosphere for the audience. I was having an absolute blast watching this all play out on screen.
I liked that even though the film prides itself on having strong female characters, it doesn't rub it in your face too much or try to beat you over the head with a message of "please acknowledge the fact that we have strong female characters and are therefore not sexist". Now, not that I would've been irritated had something like that occured, but the fact that we are able to focus on the character's actions instead of just seeing them as symbols for breaking social boundaries is really what makes the movie enjoyable. I admire the fact that Tarantino writes his characters as characters and doesn't just manipulate certain traits like gender to try and please a particular audience. It was nice that I was able to focus on Beatrix Kiddo as just being a strong character rather than thinking of her as empowering simply because she's a woman. There are certain movies and other forms of entertainment that force their strong female characters to constantly face conflict that relates to the basic fact that they are female, and while sometimes this conflict can be justified, a lot of times it feels incredibly forced and unconvincing. And this may actually have the effect of ironically promoting the film as being sexist. So it was refreshing to see that this film didn't really focus on the gender issues too much, and only brought it up when necessary. The characters are not separated or promoted as "strong men" and "strong women" but simply strong characters as a whole. I feel this is how we should see characters in film, and appreciate that Tarantino is able to do this well in the majority of his films. All in all I really liked how character-driven the film was, I appreciated the performances, the cinematography was enjoyable, and the flow of the narrative really tied it all together. Definitely one of the more entertaining films I have seen recently, and it's certainly a ride I will be taking again.
Overall rating: 9/10
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