Tarantino kicks it old-school with “Kill Bill”
By Geronimo Rodriguez

Good movies are about more than good endings — the key is all the moments in between. Quality directors start sending their message minutes after the light flickers onto the screen, exploring all aspects of filmmaking by the time the reel reaches its end.

With “Kill Bill: Vol. 1,” Quentin Tarantino amplifies this idea, creating a work designed to satisfy the true movie buff and regaining some prestige in the cinema world along the way.

The director and his proud parents at Miramax caused quite a fuss by slicing the movie in half, but after watching what Tarantino has done just with the first half, no one will be hesitant to stand in line for Vol. 2, which hits theaters in February.

The film begins with Uma Thurman’s character, who was known as Black Mamba but now goes by The Bride, fighting to breathe after getting whipped by the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Bill (David Carradine) decides to end her days with a bullet to the head. The pulling of the trigger coincides with Bride telling Bill she’s carrying his baby.

And just how did Tarantino tell this story of a bride who survives something close to hell? He offers something old in the movie’s samurai theme, something new in more ways than one, and something borrowed in the score to the gore to the fight scenes. But it might be the something blue he offers that puts the film over the top, teasing audiences until the second installment.

In The Bride’s sad journey, she experiences a blood-stained wedding, the apparent loss of her unborn child and a string of sexual abuse while comatose. It’s that first scene in which Tarantino establishes sympathy for his character, and it might tie up in the last scene of the next movie. Knowing Tarantino’s work, it might not be the ending you’d expect.

As for borrowing past directors’ ideas (which is what the former video-store clerk is known to do), it works in this movie. Even a film purist can’t help grinning when the camera leans in to fill the shot with a character’s face, or when the story is driven by such a breathless score that it becomes more of an opera. But just as it did in “Pulp Fiction” and “Jackie Brown,” that grin might wear off, and all that’s left is a guy who knows his movies.

Is he a good director? Sure, but he’s nowhere close to Sergio Leone on a bad day.

After experiencing “Kill Bill,” it's clear Tarantino just might know the classic directors’ works better than any other fan. He knows there’s no such thing as a long-winded battle if it’s done right. He knows how to jump around a plot without losing his audience. He knows all about eccentric characters and what they bring to a movie.

Sure, it’s missing an ending, but Tarantino could have easily slapped one on this film and been done with it. Good directors don’t do that.

At least we won’t have to wait six years for more of Tarantino’s work. He already has one of this year’s best films, and in four months, we’ll see if Vol. 2 is one of next year’s best.

This is an article from The Daily Cougar at the University of Houston.
It was distributed by U-Wire.