Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)

Succeeded by: Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)

	Directed by: Quentin Tarantino	COUNTRY USA GENRE Action NORWEGIAN TITLE Kill Bill: Volume 1 RUNNING TIME 111 minutes
	Produced by: Lawrence Bender
	Written by: Quentin Tarantino

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
The Bride	Uma Thurman	½
O-Ren Ishii	Lucy Liu	½
Vernita Green	Vivica A. Fox	½
Elle Driver	Daryl Hannah	-
Budd	Michael Madsen	-
Bill	David Carradine	-
Hattori Hanzo	Sonny Chiba
Gogo Yubari	Chiaki Kuriyama	-
Ranger Earl McGraw	Michael Parks	-
Sofie	Julie Dreyfus	-

Review

Quentin Tarantino's homage to oriental martial arts, 1970s exploitation movies, and the comic books of his youth demonstrates the virtuoso filmmaker's flair for visuals and staging scenes but lacks the depth and originality that made his first three films masterpieces. Not only did Miramax decide to divide Tarantino’s story into two, thus sadly turning the film into a serial, but this story also has minimal connection or parallel to our everyday lives, unlike Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown. Tarantino's delightful pieces of life philosophy are few and far between, and the characters are – both thematically and visually – little more than copies of cartoons. Tarantino has always been proud of his inspirations and influences, but previously, he integrated them more into his own expression. Here, he simply copies them. After a rather promising opening, where we get acquainted with what seems like an interesting Uma Thurman character, Kill Bill gradually becomes more narrow-minded and one-note. The only thing that motivates the characters and Tarantino here is revenge in its most stereotypical fashion. And since the film is essentially a cartoon in both writing and execution, there's also less at stake for our heroine, making the film less urgent, less immersive. Still, even when his most infantile ideas drive him, Tarantino has the ability to create scenes and settings that make you want to watch, even if Kill Bill is his least original and memorable film to date.