Kill Bill

Kill Bill is the fourth feature film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and stars Uma Thurman. Though technically one film, it was released in two parts due to its long (3 hour, 47 minute) running time. more...

Volume 1 was released on October 10, 2003 and Volume 2 was released on April 16, 2004. Volume 1 grossed $70 million in its American release while Volume 2 grossed $66 million.

Reviews were mostly positive, with some reviewers regarding it as a cinematic masterpiece. Others, however, felt that Tarantino's homage to Asian cinema was overly indulgent, or that it was a new low in cinematic morality. In particular, the film's unusual and pop culture-heavy dialogue was subject to heavy criticism. Meanwhile, some conservative critics decried its extremely graphic and exaggerated depictions of violence.

Overall plot

Uma Thurman plays Beatrix Kiddo, "The Bride", seeking bloody revenge against Bill (played by David Carradine) and her former associates the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad for their ruthless slaying of the wedding party after they gate-crashed her wedding rehearsal. With the rest of the wedding party slain, Bill administers the coup de grâce, a bullet in the head, cutting off her attempts to tell him she is pregnant with his baby. Waking from a coma four years later, The Bride is determined to kill all those involved, including Bill, her former mentor, boss and lover, but does not realize her daughter is still alive and in his care. The film was shot over the course of eight months, with scenes filmed on location in North America, Japan, and China.

Kill Bill is divided into ten chapters, five chapters per volume. As is common in Tarantino films, they are not arranged in chronological order.

Volume 1

Plot

Beatrix Kiddo, also known as The Bride, codename "Black Mamba" is a former member of "The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad." (It is not clear if the Squad are disbanded or still active: with one in a coma, another working as a low-income bouncer, another apparently a housewife and mother, and another running her own yakuza operation, it is possible that the group had disbanded at some time after the Massacre at Two Pines). Bill, her former boss and lover, tracks her down and finds her about to marry, and arranges for the Vipers to gate-crash the chapel and slay those within. The groom and the rest of the wedding party are murdered while she herself is shot in the head by Bill, and left for dead. Bill later sends Elle Driver (aka "California Mountain Snake", played by Daryl Hannah) to finish off the comatose Bride in the hospital, but recalls her as she is about to administer poison, deciding at the last second that killing her while she lies helpless would be dishonorable. He adds that if she wakes up, then they will kill her all over again. Elle is furious at the change, as she clearly hates Beatrix, but acquiesces.

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