Kill Bill - Cinema of cool

If revenge is a dish best served cold, none serves it better than Tarantino.

The first time I saw Quentin Tarantino’s postmodern masterpiece Kill Bill (both volumes), I was left awestruck for days together. It was such a unique experience - I had never seen anything like that before or since.

More than a decade after its release, the film (considering volume I & II as parts of one movie) remains a cult favourite among viewers and still generates a lot of buzz on social media through its countless fans.

So what makes Kill Bill such an awesome piece of work? Well, a definition from the Urban Dictionary sums it up all -- Kill Bill is an excellent movie that, in order to understand fully, requires some key things: Intelligence; an appreciation and knowledge of movies; the ability to tolerate some violence in a movie; and a sense of humor.

We couldn’t agree more. Aestheticization of violence, weird yet memorable characters, simple plot yet great narration, incredible soundtrack and Uma Thurman (Tarantino’s muse), make Kill Bill one of the coolest movies ever made. Spoilers ahead!

An entire wedding party is massacred in a rural chapel by the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. The Bride (Thurman), a former member of the squad, miraculously escapes but slips into a coma. Four years later when she awakes from the near-death slumber she goes on what Tarantino calls a “rip-roaring rampage of revenge.”

In the very first dialogue of the movie when Bill asks a critically wounded Bride, “Do you find me sadistic?” it’s actually Tarantino asking his viewers the same question. A moment later, Bill clarifies to the Bride that “There is nothing sadistic in my action.”

In a Tarantino flick, one must always expect violence to play an integral part. However, from the infamous cop torture scene in Reservoir Dogs to the gory “I shot Marvin in the face” scene in Pulp Fiction, Tarantino has come a long way in aesthetically presenting violence. The violence in Kill Bill is over the top, even cartoonish at times. But it is aesthetically so captivating that you enjoy (without being sadistic of course) even when someone’s getting beheaded or disemboweled.

Tarantino’s flair for the narrative like in Pulp Fiction, which took Hollywood by storm upon its release way back in 1994, is what makes a simple story gripping to the viewers. The 10 chapters of the movie are perfectly placed, though in a non-linear way, to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats.

Kill Bill remains one of the most visually-striking movies ever made. Robert Richardson’s iconic cinematography is so captivating that you can’t take your eyes off the screen even for a moment. The RZA’a score and the eclectic soundtrack add to the movie’s beauty. Well supported by the rest of the cast especially Lucy Liu (O-Ren-Ishi), Michael Madsen (Budd) and David Carradine as the titular character, the four-hour long festival of violence is Tarantino’s most Tarantinoesque movie.  10/10