Well,ladies and gentlemen,it's a new millennium and Quentin Tarantino has got a new movie for us. After changing the popular film landscape in the 1990's with the classics "Reservoir Dogs","Pulp Fiction",and to a much lesser extent,"Jackie Brown",Tarantino spent a half a decade in hibernation,accompanied by little more than a television set,a movie projector,and collection of Johnny Cash records and a bong. But now he is back after a six year hiatus with "Kill Bill",a thrill ride with the grand style of his earlier films and a brilliant tribute to those Shaw Brothers martial arts flicks of the 1970's and the action heroes of that same decade with includs Charles Bronson,Telly Savalas,Burt Reynolds,Clint Eastwood,Fred Williamson,Steve McQueen,Jim Brown and James Coburn. "Kill Bill" is also a chockablock of references to bygone movies like "Master Of The Flying Guillotine","The Wu",and the television shows like "Hattori Hanzo". This contains many of the elements that have made his earlier films so entertaining and he continues the tradition of that to.
You have the wicked wit,the funky score,the hip-retro cultural artifacts and lots of non-stop,brace in your face action that is not to be missed. Also once again,he has divided the action into chapters with voiceover narrattion to boot,plus he's even got a new trick up his sleeve in which the story is told with some fancy Japanese anime. Basically the film gives much of the screen time to actress Uma Therman and she carries the film with the assurance of a golden diva that she is. The film rises and falls with her,and Thurman pulls that off beautifully in one of the best performances of the year. Thurman plays a professional assassin,attached to a criminal group of bodacious martial arts-trained killers(Vivica A. Fox,Daryl Hannah,and Lucy Liu)who are lead by the unseen,shadowy Bill(unseen in the first installment played by David Carradine). Among the crew she was called Black Mamba,but otherwise simply known as The Bride because she was betrayed on her wedding day when they gunned her down and left her and her near-term child for dead. But she gets her revenge against the ones that tried to kill her and from there the story is a thrill ride of sorts leading up to the next so expect the unexpected. However,a lot of body parts get slashed here and some of it is very gruesome includes scenes of decapitation of heads and a half a head,a leg in severely cut off and a Achilles Tendon gets slashed,a eye and some fingers get chopped off too. This film also has brought back some really good Kung-Fu stars from the 1970's which includes Sonny Chiba,aka "The Street Fighter",and so many more....... I'm surprised that martial arts actress Michelle Yeoh is not in this one. And by the way,what Quentin Tarantino movie wouldn't be correct without his main man Samuel L. Jackson in the role as The Organ Man. Jackson,however was in two Tarantino films including the role he should have gotten the Oscar for in "Pulp Fiction",which also starred Thurman and opposite Pam Grier in "Jackie Brown".
However,the film ends in a cliffhanger so we will have to wait for the next installment which will be out in early 2004. Be forewarned,this not for the kiddies,so use caution when seeing it. In all,one hellva thrill ride.
