Kill Bill Vol. 1

This is my first exposure to a Quentin Tarantino film, and I'm not sure how to feel about it. ˎˊ˗ 

07/18/25 

 ❛ Kill Bill Vol. 1 Review ❜ 

Alright so I've heard way too much about Quentin Tarantino, and particularly the Kill Bill franchise. As I got more interested in watching movies, it was a consistent reminder in the background in every conversation other cinematic spheres of discussion. Thus, I naturally decided to watch this film; it was somewhat inevitable — an urge to get rid of a ringing mosquito.

every cinephile I know hardcore glazing this film.

So the first thing I have to point out is that Tarantino, as far as I know from this movie, has a very distinct style from anything I've watched before. He has a succinct, get-to-the-point style, and this is evident in the dialogue, pace, and plot. As someone who enjoys build-up and wrung out moody scenes, this was a bit awkward for me to adjust to. I could see how some may enjoy this style, but I was unfortunately not a part of this target group. I found myself often confused and left with questions (where did the Bride get her ID and money for the flights, for one? And her updated knowledge, for two?) and hanging thoughts due to the short scenes, which led me to not be as engaged in the film itself, overall.

I did enjoy Tarantino's sprinkling of creative techniques, though. The sudden back-and-forth between animation and real action, the black and white, the blinking into the blue scene with the glitching sound effect (speaking of sound effects, the "aaAAOW!!" sound effect when some of the fighters died was uncannily familiar...I may have to look into that). The cinematography is also not to be ignored. Gorgeous angles, colour grading, and quality. My issue, though, was the inconsistencies. It seemed to me that Tarantino was experimenting throughout the film, without actually sticking to one technique. Colour grading shifted between a Mexican dusty hue, moisturized orange-teal, futuristic neon blue, etc. Same with the techniques; the animation-real life technique only applied to O-ren Ishii's origin story, and B&W only occured once respectively. I also enjoy when films have a signature style; something that serves as a mark of identification. Technique-wise, I did not see this, and it gave me a sense of inadequacy.

I feel like characters had sufficient quirks that set them apart from each other. I must laud Tarantino for this. His concise style ended up covering all character design, for the most part — the Bride being determined and also funny, O-ren Ishii with her haughty but commanding air (also her American accent! Iconic; glad they didn't voiceover that), Bill with his strange fetish-y nature, and even Gogo, who had (I'd guess) less than 15 minutes of screentime, with her mischievous and impish personality, were all clearly conveyed. I ended up rooting for the Bride as the movie went on, despite having a bias from the start after watching one-too-many edits of O-ren Ishii.

Music could've been better. I did not enjoy certain scenes as much. The one portion of the movie I was most intrigued about, in terms of music, is the scene where the restaurant/lounge was introduced. The music that was playing sounded like the stereotypical rock n roll / country music that I hear at Rib Fest, or near a farm. Okay, I'll just say it: White people music. It was in Japanese, though, so it was cool to hear this fusion of genres. Otherwise, I found the music banal, unsuitable, and overall utterly underwhelming. I was disappointed to see a final-boss-level-adjacent scene covered by such boring and dry music. Did they get this out of a royalty-free cartoon music platform? I believe that music is such an integral aspect in building scenes, so the fact that the played this chewing-on-hay-and-bubblegum music disappointed me a lot. I wish for a remake of the Bride and O-ren Ishii fighting scene, with music from Joe Hisaishi or Ludwig Göransson. Whoever was in charge of music? NEVER COOK AGAIN. 

Costume design was pretty solid. Notable bright yellow suit for the Bride, white dress for O-ren Ishii (cool for the blood seeping through scene), etc. They all suited each character as well, building up individual character profiles in spite of the brevity in features, like Gogo with her spunky wrecking ball chain thingymabob. 

Yeah overall this film was not really my style, and I was often left confused. I'd give it a 3.7/10, for the creative techniques, but not 4 or above because of the inconsistencies and that bugging me a lot. I'm tired now; it's 12:30 AM. Catch you later for Vol. 2, or not.

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