Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 – Blu-ray Review

Quentin Tarantino continued to delight fans and repulse pundits with his unabashedly over-the-top wet-dream of a project ‘Kill Bill’, a martial-arts epic so massive in content and tone, Tarantino decided to separate the film into two parts, appropriately ‘Volume 1’ and ‘Volume 2’ - which are now coming to Blu-Ray in dazzling high-def.

Mention the name of Quentin Tarantino in a crowd of cineastes and run like hell (which is something I like to do for fun) as there are very few contemporary directors that provoke such fervor between the loves him/hate him crowds. Detractors claim he’s nothing more than a rip-off artist, a glorified editor assembling scenes of older films with his own pop-culture track played over them while fans, of which I consider myself one, concede this point and offer...so what? These films are way too much fun to get caught up in a stuffy debate on whether Tarantino simply has fun with homage’s or steals out right (also a common conversation point for Tarantino-mentor Brian DePalma who never shied away from shameless Hitchcock 'homage’s') and the stylized violence and reverence for particular genres in these two pics was also clearing the way for Tarantino's and Rodriquez's underrated 'Grindhouse' double-feature. The joy in these films is to be found in the details and not necessarily the broad outline.

In 'Kill Bill: Volume 1', we meet the 'Bride' (Uma Thurman), shot and left for dead on her wedding day with the rest of the wedding party massacred by an assassination squad that she was once a member of. The massacre was from the order of the intangible 'Bill' (David Carradine) who apparently felt she needed to be punished for a past deed. Pregnant when shot, the bride wakes up from a four-year coma with the loss of her baby and revenge searing in her brain. Making a list of the assassination squad that she needs to kill, ending with Bill, the bride starts off on her quest in 'Volume 1' that leaves a literal trail of bodies and body parts in her wake. A suburban Pasadena housewife Vernita (Vivica A. Fox) and an American with Chinese/Japanese heritage, O-Ren Ishii, (Lucy Lui) who has come to rule the Japanese underworld are her first opponents with a stop in Okinawa to attain a legendary Hanzo (Sonny Chiba) sword. A type of sword of mythic proportions, the bride will need the sword to assure her success against Bill, a former student of Hanzo's. 'Volume 2' continues the quest as she goes up against Bill's brother Budd (Michael Madsen) and 'they call her one-eye' Elle (Daryl Hannah) and we learn of the bride's training with Kung Fu master Pai Mei. Then she finally comes face to face with Bill himself in an effective finale surprisingly more restrained than what people were expecting.

Shaw Brothers, Master of the Flying Guillotine, Seijun Suzuki, Lady Snowblood, Zatoichi, Battle Royale, Bruce Lee, They Call Her One Eye aka Thriller, Anime, Comic Book Mythology and an old Klingon proverb are all deliriously covered throughout the two pics and if you consider yourself a fan of any of the above then chances are that you will come away from the films on a cinematic geeky high. Uma Thurman carries the grindhouse epic on her slender shoulders fabulously and will most likely end up being the role of a lifetime for her. Filled with exploitation and genre stars as well as a few regulars, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox and Lucy Lui have rarely if ever been better. Sonny Chiba, Gordon Lui, Michael Parks are cast perfectly in reverent roles.To solidify Tarantino's spot-on eye for casting what might appear to be aging has-beens, David Carradine brings real weight, emotion and class to his comparatively brief on-screen time as Bill with flawless delivery of some lengthy monologues. And be sure to check out the lone deleted scene of the two pics on 'Volume 2' which shows that Carradine's still got it. Both Volumes come to Blu-Ray with absolutely flawless 1080p encodes. The AVC MPEG-4 2.40:1 image is sparkling with the heavy stylings of the film including vibrant colors (of which geysers of blood make a big part) that pop off the screen. Having just watched the demo-worthy Blu-Ray of 'Speed Racer' the night before, these two catalog Blu-Rays amazingly kept up on their own basis. Uncompressed PCM 5.1, a high-res audio, is thankfully provided and the constant clanking and swooshes of swords and knifes have never sounded so close. A great overall video/audio presentation.

Unfortunately, the only downside of these two discs is the special features. Only carrying over what was on the previous SD versions, which wasn't much, we get a 'making-of' on each pic, two music videos on 'Volume 1' featuring the Japanese group 'the 5, 6, 7, 8's', the previously mentioned deleted scene and another music video on 'Volume 2' and the same handful of trailers on both. This would have been the perfect time for those long-rumored special editions as well as restoring that B&W sequence in the House of Leaves battle to color (changed to appease the MPAA), but it seems a Blu-Ray double-dip is inevitable. Despite the disappointing extras, the flawless quality of the high-def presentation for both of these pics might be more than enough to entice fans, particularly as the Blu-Rays come with a $10 rebate for owners of the old DVDs. With a little smart shopping, you could probably snag these two Blu-Rays for ten bucks a piece after all is said and done. As far as the films, they certainly won't convert non-fans, but I find them to be a rollicking good time and an easy recommend for fans.