“Kill Bill Vol. 1” - Quentin Tarantino’s reverential tribute to martial arts films and samurai movies - rocks. It’s contemporary Tarantino out Tarantino-ing classic Tarantino. He leaves no stone unturned visually, jumping from black & white to Day-Glo, to a breathtakingly violent anime sequence, and finally landing in a sumptuous battle bathed in blue.
Full of inside jokes and pop culture references (Quentin fans will pick up on these quickly while the uninitiated will unfortunately miss out on the fun), Tarantino puts on a giddy show that exceeds expectations.

The Story:
If you’ve been living under a rock then you’re probably unaware Uma Thurman stars as ‘The Bride,’ a former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DiVAS) who is out to kill Bill (thus the title). Keeping this as spoiler-free as possible, The Bride awakens after four years in a coma with one thought on her mind – revenge. After a disturbing side-story involving sex and a hospital orderly, The Bride gradually regains her fighting skills and goes after the people who murdered her groom, her unborn child, and the wedding party. Making a hit list, The Bride (her true name is bleeped in the movie – kind of a weird effect that catches you off-guard) sets out to kill her former DiVAS comrades.

The DiVAS work for Bill (David Carradine) and were each given code names having to do with deadly snakes. O-Ren Ishii (‘Cottonmouth’ – Lucy Liu) and Vernita Green (‘Copperhead’ – Vivica A. Fox) are The Bride’s two primary targets in “Vol. 1,” with Elle Driver (‘California Mountain Snake’ – Daryl Hannah) and Budd (‘Sidewinder’ – Michael Madsen) getting limited screen time (that’ll change in “Vol.

2”).

The Players:
Uma Thurman as The Bride is a goddess in yellow, handling a sword as though she was born with one attached (not a pretty picture but it gets the point across), leaping, twirling, and battling a battalion of killers in a martial arts extravaganza. Thurman’s put through the wringer in “Kill Bill,” but never once does she let down the audience. She’s near-perfect in the battle sequences and in the more dramatic/comedic dialogue-driven scenes (which there aren’t many of) Thurman commands the screen. It wouldn’t be pushing it too much to say that “Kill Bill” is as much Uma Thurman’s movie as it is Tarantino’s.

The role of O-Ren Ishii fits Lucy Liu like a tailored glove. Short of stature and slight in build, nonetheless Liu’s a commanding presence as the leader of the Japanese underworld. Liu’s perfected the ‘if looks could kill’ gaze and in the climatic scene that pits O-Ren Ishii against The Bride, Liu’s like poetry in motion.

The rest of the cast including Vivica A. Fox (stunning as always and getting to show off her athletic prowess), Daryl Hannah, Chiaki Kuriyama (Go-Go Yubari, O-Ren’s personal bodyguard) and Julie Dreyfus (Sofie Fatale) seem to have a great time playing vicious killers. We don’t see much of Michael Madsen or David Carradine, but we get hints of what’s to come, indicating that they will be major players in “Vol. 2.”

The Summary:
The split into two movies has been highly debated. Was it a ploy to get moviegoers to spend twice as much on what could have been just one long film? In my opinion, the flow of the story in “Vol. 1” is smooth, with the necessary amount of time devoted to building the backstory. The final climatic scene is definitely the logical place to leave the saga. More importantly, there weren’t any extraneous scenes that could have been cut out or even shortened.

“Kill Bill” is a gorgeous, blood soaked, ultra-violent, squeal-inducing movie experience. “Vol. 1” is so mesmerizing you’ll be stunned when 2 hours have passed and it’s over. I for one am going to find it extremely agonizing to have to wait a few months for the release of “Vol. 2.”

GRADE: A

"Kill Bill" was directed by Quentin Tarantino and is rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content.