Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

Quentin Tarantino wears his influences on his sleeve and makes no apologies. Reworking what he sees as the best aspects of the genre films he grew up admiring, Tarantino takes those elements and makes them into something wholly new and engaging without the pained worship or tongue-in-cheek approach that so many other directors suffer from. In Kill Bill Volume 1 Tarantino took his genre sampling to a new level, piecing together bits of Hong Kong cinema, Japanese samurai movies, animé and spaghetti westerns with his typical flare for witty dialogue and pop-culture references and the result was a thoroughly engaging revenge movie displaying an imaginative use of technique.

Told in Tarantino's usual nonlinear fashion, the film is segmented into "chapters" and opens up in black and white on a scene of a bride (Uma Thurman) in a bloody wedding dress in a chapel in El Paso, Texas,  as an off camera Bill (David Carradine) declares "this is me at my most masochistic" as he shoots her in the head just before she is able to finish getting out the words, "Bill, it's your baby."

From there we are taken on a wild ride as The Bride, back from the coma that resulted from the gunshot to her head, goes on a bloody rampage of revenge against the members of what is known as The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, who killed her entire wedding party, including her fiancé. As she meets them, does battle, and ultimately takes them down, she crosses them off of her list. The various scenes throughout Kill Bill Volume 1 are filmed in different styles hinting at the influence of their respective genres. For example, "Chapter Three: The Origin of O-Ren" is completed animated in the Japanese animé style or "That Really Was a Hattori Hanzo Sword" nods at Japanese samurai films.

The film's genre sampling even extends into its musical selections and choice of actors. David Carradine is most famous for his role as Kwai Chang Caine on the hit 70's television series Kung Fu and Sonny Chiba reprises his role as Hattori Hanzo, the same character he played in the early-80's Japanese television series Kage no Gundan (Shadow Warriors). Still, even with the obvious debts to previous genre films and the basic plot devices of revenge and violence, Kill Bill Volume 1 is more than just spectacle. The story is involving, with Tarantino's typically witty dialogue and the brilliant performances he coaxes out of the actors. Uma Thurman is more than believable as the deadly Caucasian samurai assassin out for revenge against her would-be killers and Tarantino's keen eye for cinematic language and brilliant sense of pacing means that there is always something to catch your eye and to keep you wanting more.

How many of us haven't been wronged and felt the need for justice in some fashion or another? Kill Bill Volume 1 is almost like a video game in that it lets one lose oneself in a fantasy of vengeance and it doesn't preach or cause you to feel guilty. But, Tarantino never lets the violence become the focal point of the film. On the contrary, Kill Bill, like all of Tarantino's films, explores the characters behind the violence; what makes them act out, why they do the things they do. Perhaps what gives people the impression that Quentin Tarantino's films glorify violence lies in the fact that he never makes any excuses or apologies for his violent characters -- he just lets them live in the world he has created. Kill Bill Volume 1 is no exception and in Vol. 1 Tarantino has created a world all to its own, almost like a graphic novel in its look, feel and physics. There was a six-year interim between Kill Bill and Tarantino's previous film, Jackie Brown, and that six years was well worth the wait as is this BD release of Kill Bill Volume 1.

The Picture

Volume 1 comes in a wonderful AVC/MPEG-4 1080/24p video encoding of its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1 that averages around ~30Mbps. The transfer captures every nuance of the pristine source. Images are sharp, clear, and detailed and black levels are deep with shadow details that are well defined. The fine level of film grain throughout offers a great film-like cinematic experience and flesh tones are accurate, even in the film's more saturated scenes such as the candy-colored suburbia of The Bride and Vernita Green's (Vivica A. Fox) showdown in the "Chapter One: 2" and "We'll Have us a Knife Fight". In the film's black and white sequences, convergence is excellent and blacks are once again like oil fields.

The transfer's detail is so sharp images explode from the screen. In the scene entitled "That Really Was a Hattori Hanzo Sword", where The Bride and O-Ren have their sword fight, every individual snowflake can be picked out.  This is most definitely a superb transfer from Disney/Miramax, surpassing the previous DVD release, which suffered from terrible artifacting and edge enhancement, in every way. Vol. 1's transfer shows no sign of any compression artifacts or processing issues at all, it is absolute reference material.

The Sound

Kill Bill Volume 1 comes with an English uncompressed PCM 5.1 soundtrack in addition to English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 options. Listening to the PCM soundtrack is a real treat. Dialogue is clear and full in the center channel with ample amounts of ambience mixed into the surrounds. When the film is at its most settled moments, the sound is calm and spaced mostly across the front three channels, but when the action is at its most intense, the low frequencies rumble and discrete sound effects make their ways into the back channel for a spacious and raucous mix when needed. The mix has a superb level of dynamics, from quite to booming, but dialogue is never lost in the more rowdy scenes. The musical soundtrack is weighty with great stereo definition and marvelously spaced, but never overwhelming the dialogue.

The Extras

The extras on Kill Bill Volume 1 are all just ported over from the previously available DVD release and are all in standard definition. There's nothing really very compelling. There's a 22-minute making-of featurette entitled The Making of Kill Bill Volume 1 (4:3/standard definition) that doesn't offer much information, and two musical performances from Japanese band the 5,6,7,8's (4:3/windowboxed/standard definition). In addition, there are trailers for all of Tarantino's previous films, a bootleg Kill Bill trailer, and trailers for Volume 1 and Volume. 2, all in 4:3 standard definition.

Final Thoughts

Kill Bill Volume 1 serves as Quentin Tarantino's homage to the films and filmmakers that he respects. Sampling bits from multiple genres, he put together a fast-paced and engaging story of revenge that is both a technical marvel and a credit to his strong storytelling abilities. This film looks and sounds spectacular having been given the "Blu" treatment. All Tarantino fans should have this in their collection.

Where to Buy

• Kill Bill Volume 1 on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Uma Thurman, Sonny Chiba, Samuel L. Jackson, Gordon Liu, Michael Madsen, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Audio/Languages: English  uncompressed PCM 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), English and French Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
• Region: ABC (All Regions)
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R
• Studio: Buena Vista Home Video
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: September 9, 2008
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• List Price: $34.99
• Extras:
  • The Making of Kill Bill Volume 1
  •  The "5, 6, 7, 8's" Bonus Musical Performances
  • Tarantino Trailers
    • Reservoir Dogs
    • Pulp Fiction
    • Jackie Brown
    • Kill Bill Volume 1 Teaser
    • Kill Bill Volume 1 Bootleg Trailer
    • Kill Bill Volume 2 Teaser