4K Review: The Essential Cinema of KILL BILL VOL. 1

Where to begin on part one of one of the greatest films of all time? Quentin Tarantino is a filmmaker with an immense knowledge of cinema; he’s always been a remix artist for me, a film DJ, and that has never been clearer than in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and 2. (I’ll focus on the second half of Kill Bill in a separate post.)

These two films burst with Tarantino’s complete and undying love of the form. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a love for cinema through another filmmaker’s work. You can feel the undeniable love, the glee, the energy for the media in Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Really, it’s refreshing and inspiring. And in an age more than 20 years after its initial theatrical run, where most studios are run by people who only have the love of the almighty dollar, this kind of adoration for moving stories is sorely needed. (This does not mean I endorse or even like the Weinsteins. Far, far from it. That any filmmaker should succeed under their rule is an incredible feat.)

If you’re reading this review, this site, you know this film. But a quick recap: Uma Thurman is incredible in this role as The Bride. She’s an assassin who’s tried to escape the life because (yes, I guess I’ll spoil this decades later) she’s pregnant and wants her child to have a better life that doesn’t involve growing up around constant murder and a cavalcade of sociopaths.

However, the leader of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, Bill, played by David Carradine in arguably his best role, has other plans. Namely, murder, per usual. How horrible to kill his former lover on her wedding rehearsal day, in addition to everyone in the unfortunate Two Pines Chapel in El Paso. He has his assassins do the dirty work with semi-automatics, and somehow, The Bride doesn’t die, but lies in a coma for four years. When she wakes, she finds herself having been the victim of a rather disgusting scheme at the hospital. She’s being kept alive but pimped out by one of the workers there to all kinds of vile men… which fill this film. Nearly every single male character is reprehensible, and that’s something I see Tarantino do in order to amp up our empathy for The Bride. In addition to making the revenge all the more deserved, of course. I don’t see him as a misogynist because of what he chooses to aim his lens at and who he gives power to, but I see him using misogynist characters against the women in his films. All of this is to influence how his audiences feel and to make this endangered women more triumphant when they finally overcome the impossible.

What follows as The Bride gets her strength back is an epic tale of adventure and retribution. I’d go so far as to say that Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is one of the best films of all time, and that goes for Vol. 2 as well, since I see them as halves of the whole. It’s Tarantino and his entire cast and crew firing on all cylinders in a bloody spectacle that eclipses most cinema. That said, Vol. 1 is a love letter to Lady Snowblood and Shaw Brothers films, and differs from Vol. 2 in that its mainly a pastiche of awesome martial arts homages with a dash of spaghetti western, whereas that formula is flipped in terms of genre ratio in the second film and has more tender drama than the nonstop, raging thrill fest of Vol. 1.

These films are simply spectacular. There’s Carradine’s book on his experience making the films, as well as Tarantino’s own novelization. I’m not going to summarize Vol. 1 further, because you should really just go get this release for yourself and experience all of the joy that it brought me.

The picture looks absolutely incredible, as does the sound. The legacy making of featurette was enjoyable.

Special Features

SteelBook® art by Matt Taylor

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

Screen Display & Aspect Ratio

16x9 (2.40)

4K UHD Audio

English 5.1 DTS HD-MA

French 5.1 Dolby Digital

Blu-ray Audio

English 5.1 Uncompressed Audio

English 5.1 Dolby Digital

French 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles

Spanish

SDH

English

Captions

None

4K UHD Resolution

2160P High Definition

Dolby Vision

4K UHD Disc Format

1BD100

4K UHD

Blu-ray Resolution

1080P 23.98 High Definition

Blu-ray Disc Format

1BD50

Blu-ray Region A

If you’d like to add Kill Bill: Vol. 1 to your home video library, Lionsgate offers a standard package with Blu-ray and a slipcase cover, in addition to a limited-edition steelbook with rad artwork.