| Sunday, April 18, 2004 |
02:03 - Samurai, snakes, rock salt, the Mexican Jack Nicholson, and exploding hearts and eyeballs
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The thing about Quentin Tarantino is that he appears to inhabit a universe where every man, woman, and child is a high-powered trained assassin.
That said, Kill Bill is a pretty damned good story, and one that can be enjoyed even if you aren't a hitman. Believe it or not.
I saw Vol. 1 on DVD Friday night, and Vol. 2 Saturday night in theaters. The second part is definitely a different style of movie, but it flows seamlessly from the first one-- the places where the differences between the two are most jarring result from not knowing, at the end of the first half, most of the backstory that made the characters and the premise make sense. In Vol. 2, everything is tied back up in a nice little bow, far better (I think) than in Pulp Fiction; all the meandering plot elements find their way home, and it all comes to a very satisfying conclusion.
And I've just gotta say that David Carradine's performance as Bill is Oscar-worthy, and that's being stingy. It's packed with the kinds of full-bodied, tooth-cracking lines that Tarantino is famous for, and a delivery that you just can't peel yourself away from—it's like eating those cheddar biscuits from Red Lobster: you know you ought to stop, but you just can't.
Worth catching in the theaters, in other words. But for God's sake, see the first half first. Imagine what following the plot of Pulp Fiction would be like if you walked in halfway through. (Wait, actually that would probably make it simpler... so, bad example...)
UPDATE: I've gotta say, though, that the thing about making it a "wedding rehearsal" rather than a "wedding"-- and a dress rehearsal, at that, to make sure they were in gowns and tuxes, but to provide for all the lingering conversations-- feels like it was tacked-on after Vol. 1 was completed, because Tarantino hadn't thought out the plot point thoroughly enough. Or, rather, it's either majorly contrived, or Tarantino smirkily wants us to think it's majorly contrived. Knowing him, I'd just about put my money on the latter.
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Brian Tiemann
