Heavily pregnant assassin and the 'most dangerous woman in the world' Beatrix 'The Bride' Kiddo aka Black Mamba (Uma Thurman) is beaten half-to-death, shot in the head and left for dead during her wedding dress rehearsal by members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (of which she was a member) and her mentor and lover the eponymous Bill (David Carradine). Four years later she awakens from a coma to find herself robbed of the child she was carrying and embarks on a bloody trail of revenge against the two men and four women who tried to kill her. The film told in chapters and chronologically out of order charts her battles against O-Ren Ishii- Cottonmouth (Lucy Liu), Vernita Green - Copperhead (Vicica A. Fox), Ellie Driver - California Mountain Snake (Daryl Hannah) and Budd - Sidwinder (Michael Madsen) until the final showdown with Bill himself.
What follows is 275 minutes of pure cinematic genius, a glorious movie, one that now presented as a whole and not as two films released a year apart is a note perfect triumph, made by one of the last great auteurs of the cinema, Quentin Tarantino.
Originally released back in 2003 for Kill Bill films and 2004 for the second part, it's only now as a whole that Tarantino's vision can be experienced as he truly intended and what an astonishing visual feast it is! Seeing both together elevates both films to something close to perfection. The original Kill Bill was hailed by all, while the second film felt flat in comparison. Seen now as a whole, slightly tweaked, with added sequences, an extended anime interlude and the original 'cliffhanger' removed, the journey of The Bride becomes an utterly absorbing experience, and the 275 minutes seemed to fly by, I found myself grinning for the entire running time, sucked in completely and fully engaged, to see this write large, in 35mm up on the big screen helped to complete the illusion. The music, handpicked by Tarantino fits perfectly, the acting peerless, David Carradine was never better, likewise Michael Parks playing two roles was sublime, as was Michael Madsen, not to mention either Thurman, Hannah or Liu, all of whom were superb! The look and cinematography gave this film its own unique and almost tactile feel. the cinematography by Robert Richardson has to take a special mention too, the colours, so rich and sumptuous. And whereas the original Kill Bill 2 seemed a tad wordy and talky, here as a whole the two halves compliment each other and help to create one of the greatest films of this century, so far. The script by Tarantino is filled with quote-worthy lines and some truly beautifully written scenes. He really was never better than with this and whereas i still really enjoy his films, this is the one I love beyond measure. The action so expertly shot and now presented in all its uncut gory glory is astounding. No need for shaky cam or frantic editing, here everything is in shot and choreographed by a stunt team of utter legends. GODDAM IT! I have to stop, I have nothing bad about this film!
There are some people who do not like Tarantino the man, or his works who will call Kill Bill ploddy and boring, or all style over content, but to those people I will say that not only are you wrong, but your opinion is also utterly without merit and completely wrong. We should count ourselves lucky to live in a world where Tarantino can create unique, original works that confound our expectations.
Drop everything and go and see this on the big screen as soon as you can. I cannot think of a single thing I did not like about the film, it truly was one of those extremely rare cinematic occurrences, a note-perfect, cinematic triumph that will go down in history as one of the best films of all-times.
A total stone-cold 10/10.
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