Fish and Cherries Productions

Kill Bill Volume 2 kicked the simplicity right out of the plot near the end and delivered a satisfying and full circle conclusion. I want to keep this short because I don’t want to spoil anything, but suffice to say, the ending tied everything set up in this and the last movie together perfectly. By far, though, the standout moments came down to the crotchety old martial arts instructor played by Gordon Liu, Pai Mei. He owns every single scene he’s in. But really, this kicked the whole affair from being passable to a truly great experience. I really wish that I had waited until viewing this and then done both of them in one review because of that. But yeah, check it out, have a movie night, and bust out the popcorn.

Kill Bill Volume 1 is a movie that really wants to be remembered with its stylized action, vivid colors, and other odd quirks. It succeeds, but I don’t know if that’s the same as it being great. First and foremost, this film is a gender-flipped action movie as well as a straightforward revenge plot, so that will definitely contribute to whether you’ll enjoy it or not. I feel like a lot of people will get swept up in the action, but for me, my brain kept trying to analyze the visual quirks on screen, ranging from a very obvious castration metaphor to a very bizarre fountain juxtaposed with the final fight scene that I couldn’t decipher at all. The movie itself is structured like a comic book collection with the aforementioned vivid colors, the stylized gore, the breaking up of the story into five chapters that draw you in, and a huge cliffhanger at the end that will make you want to pick up the next volume, among other things. The characters are not complex by any means, though they’re not supposed to be. It’s just confusing when the movie is more complex than they are, shifting through genres and styles from action to drama to anime to exploitation, taking on a very different look with each one and I’m just sitting here, scratching my head and wondering what Tarantino was going for, other than to show off that he went to film school. Giving a recommendation is pointless because I’m the one late to the party here. Suffice to say, it’s probably something I’ll watch again for the experience alone and it does make me want to see the second volume. Speaking of…