Nov 02, 2003 11:36 AM
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(Updated Nov 02, 2003 11:53 AM)
If you prick us, do we not bleed?if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
Hamlet (Shakespeare)
Suppose somebody hurts us .It is natural for us to retort back (even though many great men have said that forgiveness is better). But then, film makers have always been obsessed with revenge as a theme. In many action movies, we have seen the hero or hero’s family being hurt badly by the villain and we see the hero taking revenge in the end... Often, revenge is the central theme in films that belong to the kung fu genre or the spaghetti western genre. Kill Bill is a tribute to these films.
The story is simple. A female assassin (The Bride) is about to get married to her lover when her ex-lover and ex-boss, Bill kills all the people in the church and “almost” kills her. She goes into coma for around 4 years. When she wakes up, she swears revenge on her former boss (Bill) and his deadly Viper assassination squad. The code names of the members of the squad are based on the names of deadly poisonous snakes. The first thing she does is head to Japan to see Hattori Hanzo(Sony Chiba).She knows that killing these people is not going to be an easy job. She needs to get herself a deadly sword that can kill people easily. But then, Hattori had stopped making swords that kills people. She tells him what happened to her .Since Bill was a student who trained under Hattori, Hattori had to make the sword for her because he felt it was a moral obligation for him and he felt that it was right for her to take revenge on Bill and his squad. Kill Bill Vol 1 focuses on how she kills 2 of the 4 main members: O-Ren-Shii (Lucy Liu) and Vernita Green (Vivicia A Fox).
After seeing this movie, I understood that either you would love this movie or hate it to the core. Let us delve deep into the positive and negative points of this movie.
IHQM = I hate Quentin Tarantino Movies
QIG = Quentin Is God
(IHQM and QIG come out of the theatre ...They start their discussion on Kill Bill Vol. 1)
IHQM: Kill Bill Vol 1, I think, was hyped to be the movie of the year. And I think it turned up to be a big disappointment. The screenplay is good but then the story is lame. I wonder why he had to do this movie... It is a tribute to old B-grade kungfu flicks …He should have focused more on the story…
QIG : I think he was clear about what he wanted to have in this movie…He wanted it to be a tribute to the films that he loved that belong to the martial arts or the spaghetti western genre.. So I feel the focus is more on the quality of action in the movie rather than the story...
IHQM: But, I feel Uma Thurman was the wrong choice for the movie. She looked very uncomfortable in some action scenes. She is a great actress no doubt but then she is not suitable for this role.
QIG: Oh...it was Uma Thurman who suggested this story line about a female assassin who takes revenge on her 5 colleagues. ..So I suppose Uma was the obvious choice for Tarantino...Just check out the screen play…The film is filled with typical Tarantino dialogues...
IHQM : He had the audacity to say that the film is his 4th film …I find this movie to be very violent … heads are cut ,hands are severed …so much blood ….I think he is trying to glorify violence in this film
QIG: I strongly disagree…He doesn’t glorify it...He just shows it as it is without any pretensions….In fact , after some point of time , I found these scenes funny…It had become repetitive …But then check out the action sequence in the House of Green leaves when Uma confronts Lucy Liu…Amazing rite?
IHQM: Yes, it has been picturized well. But then , I think he had forsaken logic for action…Uma kills around 80 people …And it seems she had trained for sword fights just for just one month! ..These guys are professionals…Don’t you think it defies logic?
QIG: Yes. I feel Tarantino had forgotten logic…But I think he has traded it for style. In almost all action movies, we see that the action sequences defy logic. So you cannot pinpoint that only this movie defies logic. We should blame all action movies then…But then, the instrument she uses (the sword made by Hattori) is powerful and very dangerous…So I would say that it played an important role in this killing...
IHQM : I don’t think there is anything that Tarantino wanted to say in this movie…just mindless bloody action sequences ….and it is very cold…people killing people
QIG: Oh…there are a lot of justifications that Tarantino has given in the form of dialogues or scenes…First of all, these guys are assasins...Even though they kill people, they have a code of conduct...For example, Bill stops a member of the squad from killing Uma when she was in coma in the hospital .The reason he gave was that it is not good to kill people who are in sleep and who are defenceless..
IHQM: But then do u think attacking a pregnant woman in a church with 4 other members of his squad is according to the rules of conduct?
QIG: Hmm...Probably a direction mistake…But then, I don’t agree that it is just mindless action…It is just that these characters lack compassion and forgiveness. Even The Bride (Uma) says that in the scene when she confronts Vernita Green. Bill had done severe harm to the Bride. She was put to coma for 4 years...Her child was killed even before she was born…She was also abused in the hospital for no valid reason...Let us understand the stress she had to go through. All her family members were killed in the church! She had been wronged very badly. So revenge is the next natural thing for her...
In a battle, you cannot worry about the enemies nor have compassion …
IHQM: Hmm...What about the anime sequences that dealt with O-Ren-Shii’s childhood.Dont u think it was unnecessarily lengthy?
QIG: Hmm...Yes. It is a bit lengthy. But then, it shows the reason for why O-Ren-Shii is very cold... The scene when she cuts the head of the guy who opposes her based on her American-Chinese heritage also highlights how cold she is… Did you check out the music in the action sequences? The theme music titled as “Battle without Honor or Humility” (very apt!!) by Tomayasu Hotei is superb, rite?
IHQM: Hmm... Yes... But, I still feel that this film is not as good as, say, Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs…
QIG: May be, that is your point of view…But I am very much eager to see the second volume of Kill Bill…I am sure there are more reasons and explanations in that!
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