Tarantino’s latest film well worth the wait
The ‘Pulp Fiction’ director took
five years to bring his new film,
‘Kill Bill: Volume 1’ to the big screen
By Steven Neuman
Freelance Writer
Up until last Sunday, it had been five years
since a Quentin Tarantino film was in the the
aters. If 1 had to wait another five, 10, or 20
years for the next Tarantino release, 1 would
gladly oblige because "Kill Bill: Volume 1" de
livers. This movie is just damn fun.
The plot is purpose
MOVIE
REVIEW
ly simple, lima Thur
man's character, "The
Bride," is part of the
Deadly Viper Assassi
nation Squad (DiVAS)
headed by the faceless Bill. The DiVAS are paid
killers of the highest caliber, vaguely reminis
cent of "Charlie's Angels" and the fictional "Fox
Force Five" mentioned in "Pulp Fiction." The
pregnant Bride decides to leave the squad but is
gunned down by fellow assassins on her wed
ding day when Bill puts a bullet in her head.
I lowever, The Bride not only survives, she awak
ens from a coma to find her unborn child miss
ing. Bent on revenge, she sets out to kill Bill and
the fellow assassins who betrayed her.
This movie isn't about plot (like "Pulp Fic
tion") or character (like "Jackie Brown"); it's
about balls-to-the wall action. It's a pure,
unadulterated homage to action, cheap samu
rai flicks, revenge thrillers, and spaghetti west
erns; however, it still distinguishes itself from
most American action films. Despite the buck
ets of fake blood gushing on screen, "Kill Bill"
leaves none of the bitter aftertaste that comes
with most gratuitous movie violence. In fact,
because this film makes no pretense of reality,
the gore and dismemberment comes across as
strangely beautiful and comical, and the
movie achieves a form of fantasy that the only
fight scenes of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Drag
on" possessed (incidentally, Tarantino used
the same stunt director).
Like most directors, Tarantino constructs a
fantasy world, but he doesn't pretend his world
is governed by, or relates to, the real world that
his audience inhabits. This makes "Kill Bill"
palatable. The film is completely stylized:
Bright colors pop off the screen, characters
dress like cartoon characters and when The
Bride flies into Tokyo, we are shown slightly
cheesy scale models left over from a "Godzilla"
film. The final result is something that resem
bles the bastard child of the 1960s "Batman"
television show and a Bruce Lee film.
Other quirks constantly break the audi
ence's sense of illusion — like when The
Bride's name is censored with a bleep or a
flashback is rendered in anime. These distrac
tions make it possible for the audience not
only to suspend their sense of reality but to in
dulge in fantasy in a way that directors like the
Wachowski brothers, or even Jerry Bruck
heimer, can't capture.
For example, in the climactic "Showdown at the
House of Blue Leaves" scene, The Bride battles a
seemingly endless army of Kato-masked hench
men strewing limbs around a Japanese nightclub.
The segment is remarkably simi
lar to Neo's battle with the .Agent
Smiths in "The Matrix Re
loaded," however, "Kill Bill"
somehow comes across as more
realistic and human. "Kill Bill"
personally invests the audience
in The Bride's revenge in a way
that makes each slice through an
anonymous henchman seem
like a victory.
The performances by the
mainly female cast are superb.
Thurman's Bride character pos
sesses such an incredible inten
sity that her emotions practically
bleed from the screen, while
Lucy Liu's portrayal of "O-Ren
Ishii" (a.k.a. Cottonmouth) is
richly rendered with few words.
1 ler performance verges on a
minimalist masterpiece, Ine usually verbose
Tarantino gives his characters little dialogue, but
"Kill Bill" miraculously leaves the audience ful
filled. The cumulative effect is that when any
character actually does speak, the audience
hangs on every last syllable.
Unfortunately, we don't really get to see Vivica
A. Fox — who plays the fourth assassin, Vernita
Green (aka Copperhead), — show off her talent
for very long before getting axed by The Bride —
one of the few problems with the film.
Bill is played by David Carradine and perhaps
gives the best, creepiest performance of the movie
using only his disturbing touchy-feely hands and
gravely voice. Tarantino builds an immense
Courtesy
“The Bride” (Uma Thurman) faces off against Bill’s henchmen.
amount of suspense by limiting his performance
to these parts of the character.
Daryl 1 Iannah plays the one-eyed assassin Elle
Driver (a.k.a. California Viper Snake) and appears
only briefly. There's something intensely satisfying
about her characters cool killer exterior. 1 ler smol
dering performance walks the line between come
dy and drama and characterizes the schizophrenic
nature of this movie. 1 ler character's brief appear
ance is just a taste of her larger role in "Volume 2"
(to be released in February). But ultimately, the
first volume is fusion cinema at its best, where the
sum of the whole is greater than its parts.
Steven Neuman is a freelance
writer for the Emerald.
MUSIC
continued from page 1
room, depending on the quality of
sound.
"It's kind of a 'gee whiz' thing," he
said. "It sounds pretty cool and the
price seems reasonable but if it doesn't
have bass, it's not for me."
However, for some, the novelty of
new technology takes precedence over
product quality.
"I am all for the fetish," visiting mul
timedia and design professor Joey
Bargsten said. "A lot of our current mu
sic electronics come from the spirit of
toying with technology."
Although he hasn't ever "toyed"
with the portable Soundbug or inflat
able speakers, he has worked with
wearable speakers, which can be at
tached to various parts of the body
like the shoulders. Bargsten said he
uses the speakers and other devices to
compose musical pieces and direct
musicians by using musical notes,
pitches and time relationships.
"It's interesting to work with small
er or more subversive devices because
it's activating space through a new
technology," he said.
Wayne Leeds, manager of the
Fabulous Tweeter Brothers stereo
store, said he always encounters
people with special requests for
new speaker technology.
"We've had requests for boat speak
ers and for underwater speakers, which
are just beyond me," he said.
Although the Soundbug and inflat
able speakers have yet to hit the shelves
In Partnership with UO Bookstore!
AM DJI
AMD Athlon ™ XP Processor
2400+ with QuantiSpeed ™
Architecture outperforms
Competitive 2.40 GHz
Processors.
“Ultimate”AMD
Athlon UP2400+
$829.99
• MSI KT4V-L Ultra 2 Board
• 64 MB GeForce 2 MX
• 40 GB 7200 RPM Drive
• 512 MB DDR Memory
• 17”.27SVGA Monitor
System includes ATX case, 360 Watt power
supply, Windows XP Home, 52X CD, S6K
V. 90 modem, Jloppy, mouse, keyboard,
sound, and stereo speakers
This section of our web site is
fun!
Here you will find everything
you need to make the best
looking
computer on your block.
Check it out at:
www.voscomputers.com
Microsoft
OEM System Builder
Gold Member 2002
3131 West 11th. Ave.
Call us at 343-8633
Open Mon-Sat 10-6
\ OS Inc. Systems are also
ailabli' at I lie I C) Bookstore. Prices good through IT) 24 O.V | nulcmarks propcrV\ olthcii i espeel
at the 385 W. 2nd Ave. location, Leeds
said students like Boehm can always
find simple, inexpensive speakers at
Tweeters year-round.
Satisfied with his "slightly above
budget" speakers for now, Boehm said
he can't wait for tire price of the new
speakers to go down.
"I am excited for technology to get
cheaper, especially in stereo speakers,"
he said.
Contact the business/
science/technology reporter
at caronalarab@daiiyemerald.com.
CAMPUS
Friday
“Lawyers in Society” library exhibit, East and
West entryway corridors at the Knight Li
brary. Exhibit questions society’s view of
lawyers as "either deities or demons.” For li
brary hours, visit
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/acs_svc/hours.
htrrtl. Display will run until Dec. 31.
2003
Emerald City
(-s^all Q^Jedding C^Shon)
Oct. 18th & 19th
Performing Arts Hall
Lane County Fairgrounds
• Largest Fall Wedding show in the area
• 70 local businesses
Admission $5.00. Sixteen & under FREE.
FREE Parking.
| HHI § \ - - - < ft 8§k v- $
Fashion
Hours Show Hours
Saturday 10am-5pm 11 am & 2:30pm
Sunday 11 am-5pm 12:30pm & 3pm
Sponsored by
Springfie ld News
www.oregonweddingshows.com
□ b a d m n d m a m a
Find fun stuff in the ODE Classifieds: Comics, your daily horoscope, and, of course, the crossword.