Kill Bill (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #15

Even though it was released in two parts, I consider "Kill Bill" to be one film. I've heard discussions whether "Kill Bill Volume One" is better than "Kill Bill Volume Two", but I refuse to compare them. It's just one film. It's perfect as it is.

The story's chronology jumps backwards and forwards, but it's never difficult to understand. The Bride's numbered Kill List tells us what order things are happening, even when a scene isn't explicitly marked as a flashback. I once asked myself the question whether the film would be better if everything were shown in chronological order, and I eventually came to the answer No. Things are ordered just as they should be to tell the best possible story. I'd prefer a single four and a half hour cut as a single film, omitting the recap at the beginning of the second part, where the Bride speaks directly to the camera. That's the only change I'd make. Quentin Tarantino promised a complete cut 15 years ago, and I'm still waiting. I'm sure the film studio has blocked it as financially unviable. I'm hoping that the 4K remastered release will have a single cut, when it's finally released.

I mean a single cut of the official films. I'm not talking about the Japanese version, which has several differences to the international version. It would be interesting to see the two versions side by side, but they'll never be released in a single box set, because a different studio holds the rights to the Japanese version.

Beatrix Kiddo, usually called the Bride, was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. It's never stated what their aims were. Mercenaries for hire? Probably. Their leader is a man known only as Bill. When she found out she was pregnant, she spontaneously decided to quit, even though Bill was her child's father. She didn't tell him she was leaving, she just went into hiding. She changed her name and fell in love with a record shop owner in El Paso, Texas. Bill located her and took revenge by executing her and everyone else invited to her wedding rehearsal.

From left to right.....

Elle Driver (code name California Mountain Snake).

 Vernita Green (code name Copperhead).

Budd, Bill's brother (code name Sidewinder).

O-Ren Ishii (code name Cottonmouth).

Sofie Fatale wasn't a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, but she was trained by Bill, and she was present at the El Paso massacre as a witness.

The Bride (code name Black Mamba) survived the massacre and lay in a coma for four years. When she woke up the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad had broken up, so she had to search for the former members. She set out to take revenge on the four assassins and Bill himself. She spared Sofie's life, merely cutting off her arms.

The Bride was also carrying out revenge for the death of her child, but she discovers that the baby was born while she was in a coma. The girl called B.B. is living with her father.

The Bride becomes the Mother. And they all lived happily ever after.

Success Rate:  + 3.6

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