Guest Doyo Report post Posted October 7, 2003 *POTENTIAL SPOILER WARNING* This couldn't have sat well with cautious execs at the family-friendly Walt Disney Co., whose envelope-pushing subsidiary, Miramax, is releasing the film. Miramax has been a pain in Disney's corporate BUTT ever since Disney bought the onetime indie upstart in 1993. For one thing, Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein (who'd backed Tarantino's sensational 1992 debut, "Reservoir Dogs," and his phenomenal 1994 follow-up, "Pulp Fiction," and who once called Miramax "the house that Quentin Tarantino built") isn't the sort of guy to give an inch in any creative dispute. So will this latest outrage lead to an overdue parting of the ways? Will Disney finally cut Miramax loose? You probably don't care, so back to the fun stuff. This past weekend, in London, Tarantino was quoted as urging the youth of this great nation to make a point of seeing his R-rated splatterfest. "Boys will have a great time," he reportedly said, "girls will have a dose of girl power." You want to see this, right? Of course you do. "Kill Bill Vol. 1" (the first part of a three-hour-plus movie that's been cut in two; the second half will follow in February) is a wild, hyper-bloody, ultra-violent and extremely smart and funny tribute to, among other things, the golden age of Hong Kong kung-fu movies and the now-classic Italian spaghetti westerns of the 1960s. Like most of those films, this one is a revenge saga: The hero has been wronged, and he sets out to dispatch those who wronged him in a variety of violent and alarming ways. Unlike those earlier films, however, "Kill Bill" 's protagonist and most of its bad guys are all women. Kick-ass women, of course. The story is simple, if not primordial. Uma Thurman is a retired member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DiVAS, what else?), which is presided over by a shadowy eminence called Bill, who is also her former lover. Pregnant with a baby girl on the eve of her wedding, the Bride (as Thurman’s character is called) is shot in the head and left for dead, along with the rest of her wedding party. But she's only in a coma! Four years later, she comes to in a hospital to find that a slimy orderly has been selling her unresisting body for sexual use by even slimier locals. When the next of these characters comes crawling up on top of her, she deals with him in a really novel (and really bloody) way. Then she terminates the terrified orderly in one of the most enthusiastically brutal head-slamming scenes in the history of ... well, of enthusiastically brutal head-slamming scenes. The Bride then sets out on a quest for vengeance against her former fellow DiVAS and, ultimately, against Bill himself. Her first stop is in suburban Pasadena, California, where another retired DiVA, played by Vivica A. Fox, has set up a new life with her doctor husband and their little daughter. Thurman greets Fox with a punch in the face, and kung-fu havoc ensues. In the midst of this, Fox's wide-eyed little girl comes home from school. You really have to see this sequence to believe it. The Bride next flies to Okinawa, Japan, where she visits a retired master sword-maker, played by actual kung-fu-movie icon Sonny Chiba. After some hesitation, he agrees to give her one of his celebrated samurai swords, a legendary weapon that will make her virtually invincible. She flies on to Tokyo, with the new sword nonchalantly propped by her side. (Presumably, it wouldn't fit in the overhead.) Here she confronts another of the DiVAS, O-Ren Ishii (played by Lucy Liu), who has become the first female leader of the Japanese gangster fraternity called the yakuza. The source of O-Ren's vicious nature is traced back to childhood trauma in a brilliant animated sequence that's as savage as anything else in the movie. The Bride confronts O-Ren in a vast nightclub called the House of Blue Leaves, where the gangster queen is guarded by a masked mini-army of black-suited killers called the Crazy 88s. They attack the Bride in a long, spectacular scene (choreographed by "Matrix" master Yuen Woo-ping) that required eight weeks to shoot. Swords clatter and clang, assailants fly through the air, fountains of blood spurt from the stumps of severed limbs — and the Bride prevails! But then she must get past O-Ren's personal bodyguard, the scary teenage schoolgirl/assassin Go Go Yubari (played, unforgettably, by Chiaki Kuriyama — best known, to those who know her at all, from the Japanese killer-kids cult flick, "Battle Royale"). The Bride prevails again, although not without considerable blood-drenched difficulty. The Bride and O-Ren finally have it out in a snow-blanketed Japanese garden, in a sword-wielding scene of remarkable beauty and visual delicacy. The movie ends with the not-yet-seen Bill interrogating one of O-Ren's sliced-and-diced cohorts about the Bride. "Does she know," he asks, "that her daughter is still alive?" Roll credits. To be continued. Obviously, there are many people who would find all of this deeply offensive and indefensible. I don't know any of them, however, and they shouldn't be going to see a movie like this anyway. Tarantino is a fearless filmmaker with a unique and multilayered pulp sensibility, and "Kill Bill" is a deliriously tangled web of pop-culture references — not least in its soundtrack, for which he acquired the services of the RZA, the presiding producer of that famously kung-fu-intoxicated MC collective, the Wu-Tang Clan. There's a vintage theme by the veteran spaghetti-western composer Luis Bacalov and an exceedingly little-known version of the 1966 Cher hit "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" by Nancy Sinatra. And while it would be obscure enough to interject the Rock-A-Teens' 1959 junk-rock hit "Woo-Hoo" and the Ikettes' 1962 oddity "I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)," Tarantino mulches things up even further by having these antique tunes performed by a rump-shaking, cocktail-dressed Japanese punk trio called the 5.6.7.8's. How much do we love this guy? "Kill Bill" is an explosive return to form for Tarantino. (I've heard there are people who liked his last film, the 1997 Elmore Leonard adaptation, "Jackie Brown," but I don't know any of them, either.) You may see this movie and hate it, but you won't soon stop talking about it. And given all the forgettable slop that pours through the multiplexes every year, that may be tribute enough to Tarantino's lacerating wit, his whiplash vision. — by Kurt Loder http://www.mtv.com/bands/m/movie_house/kil...feature_031006/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DangerousDamon 0 Report post Posted October 7, 2003 sounds good. to bad i'm not old enough to go see the damn movie........... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justsoyouknow 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 :::blows load all over keyboard::: I CANNOT wait to see this movie. EDIT: My ex-girlfriend works at Harkins, and she said that they let her watch an advanced screening of it, and that it was "really good, but really cheesy". Then again, this girl's favorite movie is Crossroads, with Britney Spears. When we broke up, she still expected a Christmas present, so when she said, "I want Crossroads", I got her Crossroads, with Ralph Machio. Anyway, they say that this is the FOURTH Tarantino film. Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill I understand, but what was the third? Was it Natural Born Killers? Or From Dusk Till Dawn? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Doyo Report post Posted October 8, 2003 Jackie Brown was the third that he wrote and directed. He didn't do any directing for Natural Born Killers and From Dusk Till Dawn, but did some of the writing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 Sounds like Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez share the same brain. Now if they can get El, the Bride, and Johnny Depp's character into the same movie.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nighthawk 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 I'll see it, but it had better be REALLY violent or I'll be terribly dissapointed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cabbageboy 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 Nevermind El and The Bride, how about a From Dusk Till Dawn and Mariachi crossover with Clooney and Banderas just killing the shit out of vampire drug lords or something? It would rule, admit it....hell the scenario is even easy: Clooney gets to El Rey after FDTD, where he finds that the vampires have spread from the Titty Twister to the town itself. El Mariachi is also there to find the drug lord who killed his ______(fill in the blank with whatever relative you want). The drug lord and his henchmen are all vampires. Hell throw in Cheech in his role as Carlos the dealer and of course Danny Trejo as a thug and you have money in the bank. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mole 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 Since I read potential spoilers, I won't read it. However I am psyched for this movie, so I will be seeing it on Sunday night, my new movie night. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 I want to see Antonio, Johnny, Uma in a Nu Martial Art Western! Bring on the ultra violence. Throw in the regular cast along with some has been actors or direct to video stars with a great retro soundtrack. Just combine the Robert Rodriguez and QT universe to form a 3rd universe. This new trilogy will consist of Once Upon A Time in Mexico, Kill Bill and From Dusk Till Dawn (only part 1). It would rule, admit it....hell the scenario is even easy: Clooney gets to El Rey after FDTD, where he finds that the vampires have spread from the Titty Twister to the town itself. El Mariachi is also there to find the drug lord who killed his ______(fill in the blank with whatever relative you want). The drug lord and his henchmen are all vampires Its a begining, I would have Antonio go to El Rey to help out a relative, Uma's character would go there to kill someone from her past that did her wrong, Johnny Depp will continue the role of the CIA agent and will be after the same person Uma is after. I guess I would cast Edward James Olmos as the bad guy boss, Dirk Benidict as the 70's comeback guy, John Saxon or Jim Brown with a cameo surprise apperance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted October 8, 2003 I'm not reading the article but the quote of "Most violent movie ever produced by American studios" makes me feel good. However, I'm sure the violence level won't be nearly as high in my mind. Of course that doesn't mean anything since I'm jaded to violence. I mean I didn't see what was so violent about Pulp Fiction, but it had critics freaking out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NoCalMike 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 The question isn't the violence, but the style of violence. I mean is it bloody violence like kitana sword ripping flesh and streaks of blood violence, or is it more "on-impact" violence where people get hit a lot and just get knocked around, but with little blood being shed? There are lots of styles of violence. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted October 8, 2003 From what I've heard it's kitana ripping flesh streams of blood style. Well that's during the scene they mostly show in the trailers. I guess the level and style of violence varies in the movie. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Agent of Oblivion Report post Posted October 8, 2003 I mean I didn't see what was so violent about Pulp Fiction, but it had critics freaking out. Well, it had assrape, a guy getting his junk blown off with a shotgun, a guy getting shot with an Uzi, "YES YOU DID, MOTHERFUCKER, YES...YOU...DID." Mia's overdose, and "I just shot Marvin in the face." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 I wonder if the fight scenes will reach anime exaggrated level of volience, such as say Uma attacks one of the Black Mask and beheads one then have blood squirt out like a gusher, then when the body falls it will quiver. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dubq 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 This movie looks great.. I just hope that Tarantino's ugly mug doesn't do a cameo. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Smell the ratings!!! Report post Posted October 8, 2003 I really hope people start making Ultra Violent Martial Arts Westerns. Maybe they could even get thier own Oscar. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cabbageboy 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 I've never really seen that much that was violent in Pulp Fiction either. It's not so much consistently violent as it was sprinkled with a few VERY memorable acts of violence. Tarantino has always been more about characterization and stagy type violence than outright wild action scenes and fights. I think that's why I enjoyed the hell out of FDTD when it came out....Tarantino's script provided some wild characters and dialogue, Rodriguez brought the action chops. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 I really hope people start making Ultra Violent Martial Arts Westerns. Maybe they could even get thier own Oscar. Tom Cruise is doing that Samurai movie so maybe this will become its own genre, no more Woo Ping wire work and more ultra violence for all! Every F'N movie must now have a fight scene in a church or hospital, the hero must have either 2 guns or a sword with a name. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Smell the ratings!!! Report post Posted October 8, 2003 Every F'N movie must now have a fight scene in a church or hospital, the hero must have either 2 guns or a sword with a name. sign me the fuck up Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted October 8, 2003 the hero must have either 2 guns or a sword with a name. What about BOTH? Guns and a sword...wooo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
razazteca 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 Now if only Blade 3 was subtitled: KILL HHH. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PsychoDriver 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 (edited) "I want Crossroads", I got her Crossroads, with Ralph Machio. I liked that movie, Never saw (nor do I want to) the other Crossroads but I'm willing to bet the Macchio one blows it away. And WTF is Loder talking about? Alot of people liked Jackie Brown! Edited October 8, 2003 by PsychoDriver Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cabbageboy 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 Jackie Brown was pretty good but there was something a bit more....subdued about it? It seemed a step down from his previous stuff, but still good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest thrall585 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 Kurt Loder? WTF. I didn't realize this was 1995, or 1985, or whenever Loder's time was. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justsoyouknow 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2003 From what my ex told me, this is the "blood squirts" all over the place type of movie. Apparently there are scenes where limbs are chopped off, and blood squirts out like a fountain. I can't wait. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted October 9, 2003 I've read somewhere that the scenes with body parts flying were filmed in b&w. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NoCalMike 0 Report post Posted October 9, 2003 Pulp Fiction had a lot of off-screen violence that was staged perfectly for the effect. If you have the Pulp DVD, listen to the commentary. It is great. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted October 9, 2003 Question for you DVD experts -- do you think that the DVD for this be split in two or will it be one big feature?... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest El Satanico Report post Posted October 9, 2003 (edited) I'd imagine we'd eventually get a DVD release with the entire 3 hour cut. Hopefully they do a DVD release that has each part seperate and the 3 hour cut, so I can have it the way it Taratino wanted it and as one complete movie. I'd want the ability to keep them seperate. Edited October 9, 2003 by El Satanico Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Choken One Report post Posted October 9, 2003 I'm still waiting for Taratino to stop trying to be shocking for the sake of being shocking but that won't happen any time soon... Violence is a Gimmick... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
