Kill Bill Volume 1: Uma Thurman Kills Bill... and everyone else

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Two years and several reviews later I think it may just be time to return to my not so continuous marathon review chain of Quentin Tarantino's directorial career. And what better way to make my glorious comeback than with a double "bill", see what I did there, review special of the two movies that truly broke QT out into the mainstream, making him an icon of action lovers and the bane of weak stomached movie censors worldwide.

Kill Bill: Volume 1

The story of "Kill Bill" is one of ruthless, beautifully choreographed revenge where Uma Thurman’s enigmatic character, “The Bride”, takes centre stage as she travels the world inadvertently and singlehandedly ending global over-population, whilst all the time enacting brutal retribution against her former friends and fellow assassins for an incident several years before hand that left her entire family dead and a steel plate embedded in her skull. As we quickly come to realize, from an opening scene involving a ninja knife fight, equal parts frantic and vicious, as well as the decimation of a picturesque small town America home "The Bride" means business, as does Tarantino.

From the opening of this thrilling introductory chapter to the closing credits Tarantino's trademark artistic flourishes and constant film references are comfortingly present throughout. The action is ludicrously OTT, or should I say QTT mwahah... sorry. This is especially true during the famed "Crazy 88" fight scene in which Thurman becomes a samurai sword wielding, florescent jumpsuit wearing human blender. This flamboyant spectacle is one of the standout moments of Tarantino’s career with an FX budget larger than most countries GDP. Each cast member is rapidly reduced to nothing more than a ketchup filled sprinkler system as Tarantino ensures that any Jam manufacturers in the area will be getting new Ferraris for Christmas. This particular marathon fight scene along with several others throughout the film display the full extent of QT's technical directing prowess as well as establishing him as a truly exceptional action coordinator, ranking amongst those whose work he is overtly paying tribute to. Uma Thurman gives a cooler than an ice cube with a penchant for madmen suits performance, whilst Lucy Lui is equally cold and intimidating as a mass murdering, racially sensitive Triad Boss decapitating her way to the top of the Hong Kong criminal underworld.

No one. Touched. The jumpsuit.

However the only enemy character development, beyond that of the superficial, comes in the form of a series of awkward anime flashbacks, conveying the sense that Tarantino is trying a little too hard to honour Japanese cinema, not only putting it on a pedestal but offering a back massage and a reach around. The major protagonists are for the most part forgettable, acting simply as an array of human obstacles for "The Bride" to make into racially diverse Sushi in gradually more violent and imaginative ways. The subtle, quirky comedy is also missing, except for a mentally scarring yet darkly hilarious hospital scene. Whilst the action scenes are constant shots of hyper-stylised adrenaline no amount of lighting and visual trickery or Samurai movie homages can make up for the lack of Tarantino's trademark quote it till it hurts dialogue or endearing characters that we've come to love and, perhaps unfairly, expect.

Once all the smoke has cleared and the tsunami of blood and prosthetic limbs has been cleaned away I was left, like many of Thurman's less fortunate victims, feeling slightly hollow. 6 stars out of 10.