Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Okay... I’ve gotten these two new reactions in from the Cambridge screening (not Boston, as was pointed out to me in a number of e-mails), but I’m not sure what to make of them. There seems to be some conflict between some of what they describe and what the guy Harry posted yesterday described. Still, this should give you some idea of the range of reactions we may be seeing as more people lay eyes on this one.
Moriarty,
I originally wasn't going to bother to post, seeing as how surely everyone else in the theater was going to run home and do it. However, since only two other people have bothered to write in so far, I decided to toss in my two cents.
I am not going to bother comparing Kill Bill to previous Tarantino films.You could write pages about how some aspect of the film was done better in one of his previous works. Having said that, here is what i have to say:
Kill Bill is a movie about one thing, revenge. While the plot is fairly simple, the story itself is not. From the very beginning we follow Thurman's character on her journey to kill those who were responsible for destroying her life. The film doesn't start the audience off at the beginning but instead jumps right in. There is no handholding narration, and there is no awkward dialogue where characters suddenly feel the need to talk about everything little detail that happened since they last met. As Thurman's character progresses in her quest to kill bill, we are introduced to many characters. Some of which, like Lucy Liu's character, get an entire origin sequence and others, like Vivica Fox's character, only come out in some of the details of the setting and the dialogue. For Liu's origin sequence the film even switches to animation, and it is incredible. It is graphic, expressive, and flows entirely with the movie.
As the movie progresses, the chapter style format takes us forward and then back then forward once again. Because we are told so little from the start, it is nice to know at any point the movie could can go back and pick up a few more details. For each encounter that Thurman's character has, a few more details about Bill or her past come to light.
The movie itself felt a little short, and not just in the sense that I wanted to see the second half. But that the second film will either have to be 3 hours long, or a lot of the characters that have yet to be introduced won't get a lot of attention.
On the surface, the movie is certainly to be labeled a kung-fu flick. However, there are really only a few fights scenes in the movie, a couple early on, and a really big one towards the end. You could probably break the last one into several smaller ones, but for the most the movie feels fairly balanced. But if you want to have a movie forced fed to you, you won't get it. Almost every scene is beatiful, and much of the movie is in the acting, not the action. And i was grateful that they reshot the scene from the trailer where Liu and Thurman exchanged words to make it seem less forced.
Overall I think the movie is superb, and if it is any indication of what Tarantino is still capable of producing Miramax should let him make whatever he damn well pleases.
call me zjbeuys
Okay. You’re zjbeuys.
This next guy describes something about the ending of the film that doesn’t jibe with what an earlier report said. He may have been a wee bit distracted, though, for reasons I had to delete to protect his identity, so maybe he made a logical jump that is inaccurate. I’m still trying to sort this one out...
Just wanted to drop you a line about the KILL BILL VOLUME 1 screening last night. I'm [info deleted to protect his identity], and I got to catch most of the movie. First of all, the second review you ran (from MC MC or something) sounds like fresh bullshit. There is plenty of dialogue and plenty of plot. It's just that this time (as opposed to PULP FICTION) most of everything is straightforward and doesn't include as many characters stories. But that doesn't mean that it's "simple."
Secondly, comparing this to the original MATRIX movie is silly. All of the action scenes in this film are centered on revenge, and there aren't "too many." There are only about four. That's par for the course for a 90 min movie. Everything is motivated, even the “bad guys” have motivations, which makes all of the fight scenes crucial to the story as well as entertaining to watch (and we’re talking BEAUTIFULLY shot….this could be the best shot action movie ever…and don’t even BRING UP the over-directed MATRIX).
Finally, (SPOILER) to say that THE BRIDE'S ass isn't "kicked hard enough" in part one to make you believe she won't come back in part two is an idiotic statement. The way this movie ends is a much better cliffhanger than that awful MATRIX REVOLUTIONS ending, which leaves you with nothing but questions. Yes, we know THE BRIDE will be back...but how the HELL is she going to get out of that grave??? It's a perfect place to end the movie leading up to VOLUME 2. Tarantino keeps people wondering, keeps people wanting more.
I had more fun watching this screening last night than I did at the movies in a long time. Is this flick as substantial as PULP FICTION, JACKIE BROWN and RESERVOIR DOGS? No, but it's a helluva good time, and a great action movie, which is something we haven't seen in ages. Recommended.
(sorry if I come off as hating the MATRIX flicks, but people keep comparing KILL BILL with these movies, and while I mildly enjoy the MATRIX flicks, this film is in a league of it’s own, and isn’t trying to be anything it’s not….i.e., it really IS a fantastic action kung-fu samurai movie, not a faux intellectual noodle cooker). Thanks.
If you use this, call me PARKER.
So… already we see that KILL BILL is going to be a new player in the Franchise Wars that drive me so freakin’ crazy. Inevitably, something has to be torn down for something else to be built up, it seems, with people less and less able these days to simply discuss a film and its merits as an individual film, apart from comparisons.
Can’t wait to judge for m’self.
"Moriarty" out.
