Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

After awakening from a four-year coma, a former assassin wreaks vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her.

Director:

Quentin Tarantino

Writers:

Quentin Tarantino, Quentin Tarantino (character The Bride) (as Q)

Stars:

Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah

Top Rated Movies #171 | Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 27 wins & 101 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Uma Thurman	...	The Bride
Lucy Liu	...	O-Ren Ishii
Vivica A. Fox	...	Vernita Green
Daryl Hannah	...	Elle Driver
David Carradine	...	Bill
Michael Madsen	...	Budd
Julie Dreyfus	...	Sofie Fatale
Chiaki Kuriyama	...	Gogo Yubari
Shin'ichi Chiba	...	Hattori Hanzo (as Sonny Chiba)
Chia-Hui Liu	...	Johnny Mo (as Gordon Liu)
Michael Parks	...	Earl McGraw
Michael Bowen	...	Buck
Jun Kunimura	...	Boss Tanaka
Kenji Ohba	...	Bald Guy (Sushi Shop) (as Kenji Oba)
Yuki Kazamatsuri	...	Proprietor

Storyline

The lead character, called 'The Bride,' was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, led by her lover 'Bill.' Upon realizing she was pregnant with Bill's child, 'The Bride' decided to escape her life as a killer. She fled to Texas, met a young man, who, on the day of their wedding rehearsal was gunned down by an angry and jealous Bill (with the assistance of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad). Four years later, 'The Bride' wakes from a coma, and discovers her baby is gone. She, then, decides to seek revenge upon the five people who destroyed her life and killed her baby. The saga of Kill Bill Volume I begins.

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Plot Keywords:

bride | revenge | sword | japan | martial arts | 

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Taglines:

The Fourth Film by Quentin Tarantino

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese French

Release Date:

10 October 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kill Bill

Filming Locations:

American Cement Building, 2404 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$22,089,322, 12 October 2003, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$70,099,045, 28 May 2012

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$180,949,045, 28 May 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax,A Band Apart,Super Cool ManChu

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The characters streaming down the left side of the screen in the opening scenes are Japanese kanji and hiragana. They read "Hana yome ga kuru, hana yome ga kuru" ("The Bride is coming, the Bride is coming") over and over again.

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Goofs

When "#2" shows the picture of her daughter, she holds by the top/side between shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bill: Do you find me sadistic? You know, I bet I could fry an egg on your head right now, if I wanted to. You know, Kiddo, I'd like to believe that you're aware enough even now to know that there's nothing sadistic in my actions. Well, maybe towards those other... jokers, but not you. No Kiddo, at this moment, this is me at my most...
[cocks pistol]
Bill: masochistic.
The Bride: Bill... it's your baby...
[BLAM!]

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Crazy Credits

"Revenge is a dish best served cold." - Old Klingon Proverb

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Alternate Versions

On the DVD, the Bride's line, "I could see the faces of the cunts that did this to me and the dick responsible. Members all of Bill's brainchild - the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad." is altered to "I could see the faces of the cunts that did this to me. And the dicks responsible. Members all of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad." (The TBS version uses "tramps" and "jerks" instead.)

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Connections

Referenced in Transformers (2007)

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Soundtracks

Il Grande Duello / The Grand Duel - (Parte Prima)
Written by Luis Bacalov
Performed by Luis Bacalov
Courtesy of EMI General Music Srl

User Reviews

one of the best films of all time

Arguably this should not be a difficult film to review. It is nothing less than brilliant. The story, the direction, the musical score, the casting, the acting, the dialog, the fight choreography, the inset homage to past films ... brilliant.

Just brilliant.

What makes this film tricky to review is not the film but ironically the film-maker.

I do not know the deep background here but I am guessing that QT, at the very height of his creative powers, locked himself in a cabin in the woods for a month and put this opus together. And essentially (in the view of this reviewer) not only created one of the best films of all time but essentially defined his own career by setting a bar so high that even his own future work could not equal it.

And there you have it. The hard part of the review.

The film is perfection. But in my view QT has yet to produce anything that comes close either in terms of final product or even in terms of effort expended.