Kill Bill

Reviewed by Shelley Cameron

for Reel Movie Critic

HHH

Cast

Uma Thurman Lucy Liu

Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Drama/Action/Martial Arts.

Rated R. Running time: 90 Minutes.

The bride with no name

Several years in the making, the latest from the reigning master of macabre, "Kill Bill" is Quentin Tarantino at his menacing, entertaining best. Part one of a two-volume piece; it's a violent ballet about revenge and power. Uma Thurman dazzles as the wronged avenger/assassin, whose husband-to-be along with all eight other attendees at her wedding were murdered execution style by a group known as the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, led by Bill (David Carradine). She is shot in the head and left for dead.

In a coma for four years, a tiny random act of nature bolts the bride to conscienceness and she begins her instantaneous quest to settle the score. Looking alternately gorgeous, or perky, or pretty beat up, Uma, (The Bride), is not afraid to let her super model face atrophy into ordinary. Not so for the rest of her body. Within minutes The Bride wills her body into taut fighting shape, toes first. On screen almost constantly, Uma delivers an effecting, if exhausting, performance.

The project was conceived around the time of "Pulp Fiction" and bears its over-the-top stamp of cartoon-like violence. After the opening sequence, one quickly abandons any notion of plausible sense and just goes along for the ride. The plot is twisted enough to keep you going but it's the execution (pun intended) that is lavished with eye-popping cinematic style.

A vehicle for Tarantino's visual style and his penchant for mixing genres, it is highly stylized and dominated by extreme close-ups, unlikely martial arts moves, and perspectives from above and below, including one his favorites: the glass bottomed night club dance floor. With enough playfulness to keep it entertaining, the uncluttered elegance of the cinematography and simple but veiled story turns on fitting together the puzzle pieces, rather than complexities of character. Mercifully, the majority of the worst bloodletting occurs not in graphic Technicolor but in two sequences in other modes. The first is an animated flashback history of Yakuza chief, O-Ren (Lucy Liu), disclosing her character-shaping moments when she witnessed the savage murder of her parents. The second fuses into black and white as The Bride faces the virtual army of trained killers flanking O-Ren. The assortment includes the usual bevy of brutes and a couple of women close to O-Ren's heart, assuming she has one.

Too silly to be scary, and at 90 minutes the film ends before it gets tedious. Wisely, Volume Two will be released as a separate film next year rather than forcing it into one three hour movie. The story is intriguing enough, and the cliffhanger bizarre enough to make you want to revisit. In part one, we've barely had a glimpse of Bill. I doubt we've seen the last of him.