Barnes & Noble

Oddly billed as "The 4th Film by Quentin Tarantino," Kill Bill, Vol. 1 is the film-geek auteur's self-consciously ostentatious fusion of American gangster movies, Japanese manga, and Chinese martial-arts films. Willowy Uma Thurman stars as a female assassin targeted for extinction on her wedding day by former coworkers under the direction of her mysterious old boss, Bill (David Carradine). After spending years in a coma, she unexpectedly revives and sets out to wreak vengeance on the killers who murdered her loved ones. Vivica A. Fox and Lucy Liu are the first team members to feel Uma's wrath, and there are more to follow, presumably in Vol. 2. (Shortly before release, the epic film was cut into two shorter parts.) There's no more plot than this; Tarantino presents just enough exposition to prepare the viewer for a succession of over-the-top fight scenes, each more outlandish than the last. His visual and aural references to various films are too numerous to count, although you don't have to be familiar with the other movies to enjoy this one. Kill Bill represents the director at his dynamic best: Totally unrestrained and supremely self-assured, Tarantino has manufactured a great big gob of eye candy -- a flamboyantly excessive piece of entertainment that reflects not just his reverence for movies but also his love of the filmmaking process. Remarkably, the movie lacks the witty, hard-boiled dialogue that helped build Tarantino's fan base. Not that it’s really missed, as the fast-paced, blood-soaked mayhem manages to mesmerize just the same, and certainly whets appetite for Vol. 2. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Perhaps the most highly anticipated film of 2003, Kill Bill Vol. 1 marked the return of renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino after a six-year hiatus. Re-teaming the director with Uma Thurman for the first time since 1994's Pulp Fiction, the film was originally the first half of what was to be a three-hour-plus movie before being split into two films. Thurman stars as The Bride, one-fifth of a team of assassins called DiVAS. When The Bride opts to leave the outfit for a life of marital bliss, it doesn't sit well with her boss, Bill (David Carradine), so he has her former cohorts, played by Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, and Michael Madsen, show up at the nuptials, leaving behind a blood bath. Miraculously, The Bride survives a bullet to the head and, four years later, she sets out for revenge against her four assassins and their employer. The story is concluded in Kill Bill Vol. 2, released six months later. Matthew Tobey

Product Details

• UPC: 786936294705
• Source: MIRAMAX
• Region Code: 1
• Time: 1:51:00

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