Kill Bill

[jjf2003]

I have just seen Kill Bill on DVD. I was enjoying the film up until the ridiculous samurai swordfight when the starring woman takes on 80 swordfighters. I know it wasn't meant to be taken too seriously, but up till then it was half believable. Then it just got silly. I had planned to go and see Kill Bill II at the cinema, but I wonder now if it'll be worth my while. What do you think, people?

[treaclefight]

tarantino might be a genius, but even genius' make mistakes. i know i'm in a minority, but i thought kill bill was terrible. i think that no-one had the guts to just ask tarantino to stop (schhhtop, like the grolsch ads) and have a little think. this is either what you get when you give someone a load of money but no brief or boundary OR tarantino is proving that you can turn out any old rubbish once you're famous and people will buy it. we know he's a big fan of b movie's and so on, i think maybe kill bill was supposed to be more tongue in cheek than it has come across but to be honest i just felt it insulted my intelligence.

[bobbobley]

Crikey, don't apply for any film reviewers jobs you two!

Of course it was silly, it never pretended to be anything but. It was a well done homage to the slasher/revenge flicks that he has been so influenced by. Its not his strongest work but I think a Director who came into our worlds with the best opening sequence of a film ever, ever in Reservoir Dogs is allowed a little lapse.

[Dave Potts]

IMHO Kill Bill II is a lot better than the 'first half', although I would echo bobbobley's comments re. the OTT fight scenes in Kill Bill I - it's all intended to be very much tongue-in-cheek....Kill Bill II has no large-scale fight scenes but does round out all the characters and the plotline more fully - well worth your five quid!

[jimmer]

how the hell should we know. it's a bit like asking: will i like sardines? i.e. totally subjective. however, you may decide that, thinking the first film was a bit rubbish, there is a good chance that part 2 is not your cup of fish. jim

[Lotus]

Cmon, jjf2003, how is Uma Thurman taking on 80 samurai fighters any less believable than Bruce Willis or Pierce Brosnan taking on 30 odd gunmen with all their ammo, whilst they (Willis/Brosnan/etc) have only one hand gun with a mag that seems to never run out of bullets? Kill Bill, with all its madness, just seems to point our attention at the ridiculousness (I hope thats a word) of all the Bond/Matrix films, etc we've been fed in the last God knows how many years. I really think its a very good film. It has made people talk about it, hasnt it? People feel things about it, want to discuss it, etc - and that makes it successful. I personally think that the samurai/hentai scene was put in purely for Tarantino's personal pleasure - we can allow him that, cant we? And the fact that people think the firat part wasnt all that can actually be a benefit. Because they will want to go see the second part, and see whether it leaves them feeling differently. Controversy is Tarantinos second nature - and I think he's banking on it, on the audiences knowledge of it. I certainly felt better after the second part of Kill Bill than after the Matrix trilogy, which went rapidly downhill from part 2 onwards. There is a lot that can be argued about KB, and that is what makes it a good film in my opinion.

[treaclefight]

good question in these answers, why is that we are willing to suspend out disbelief for so many films and yet this seems to be one that many people feel has overstpped the mark. i dont think its a sex thing, matrix and crouching tiger in particular have great female fighters in leading roles. crouching tiger was more fantastic (in the sense that it is based on fantasy) than KB and yet i could relate to it more. i even put my first negative reaction to KB down to PMT and tried watching it again but turned off after 20 minutes convinced it was just stupid. i'm a big film buff, i even seem to like the same films as tarantino, i really cannnot find a reason not to like one of his films other than the one i first said....KB is terrible, i simply cannot suspend my disbelief to that extent for that long, life's too short.

[jjf2003]

Thanks for all your answers, everybody. I have to agree with treaclefight - Kill Bill I (at least from the mass samurai scene) was terrible. It was like watching a Playstation computer game. Boring, predictable, repetitive, too long. However, on Dave Potts' assurance that there are no such scenes in KB II, I will go and see the sequel and give it a try.

[scatman]

Deffinately no OTT fight scenes in Kill Bill vol. 2, much much more dialogue and a few giggles =) Oh, and i am unsure if that fight scene with the 80 dudes was real or not. In Kill Bill 2 it says "she really took on 80?" - "no they just call themselves the Crazy 88s" or something like that. strange..