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</script></div>{/googleAds}Just when you thought that the days of something truly surprising were gone from the world of cinema, along comes Quentin Tarantino to re-energize it all again. As he did with Pulp Fiction, Tarantino's new film, Kill Bill, is an amalgam of arthouse and action, pulp and poetry, all blended into one big cinematic stew. Kill Bill doesn't have the element of surprise at its disposal that Pulp Fiction had, nor does it harbor much shock value considering the films that have been offered up to us since Pulp's release in 1994. It is however, one big, rousing, bloody, and slightly disturbing revenge flick that will stay with you days after you see it.

Kill Bill is essentially a woman-out-for-revenge film split into two chapters, Volume 1 and Volume 2. Volume 2 is due in February and should contain all the pathos, emotion, and ultimate payoff that many felt was missing from what is in theaters now. However, taken as a whole, that's not a bad thing. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is exactly what it needs to be: a shot out of a cannon. Uma Thurman (gosh, I've missed her) plays a character known only as Black Mamba (or the Bride, as she's called most often) who was a member of an elite group of assassins employed by a big boss known only as Bill. When The Bride tried to leave the life of a killer and start a family of her own, her former peers turned on her and she was gunned down at her own wedding.

The Bride doesn't die, however, and wakes from a coma with a metal plate in her head after several years. That's when the things get really interesting. The Bride, you see, is extremely ticked off at the murder attempt, the loss of her baby, and... um, the â"things" that have been done to her while she was in a coma. She sets off on a trail of revenge, vowing to track down every one of her team until they are all dead.

As routine as it all sounds Quentin Tarantino injects this film with such a lifeblood and such an energy, that you can't help but be sucked in. His film is ripe with homages to B-Westerns, Samurai films and action extravaganzas. It's all in here and it's a delightful concoction... if you can take it.

Which leads me to my inevitable disclaimer: the violence. Yes, I know... you saw Bad Boys 2 and nothing bothers you. Be sure. Because Kill Bill is filled to the brim with the most outrageous, over the top, and extremely bloody violence I have ever seen in a mainstream R-rated film. Heads roll, limbs are lopped off, and people die in extremely graphic (albeit, almost cartoony) ways. It's a film that will get your blood pumping and your eyes darting all over the place. That in itself is a reason to go. Just remember, Quentin Tarantino has made it dangerous to go to the movies again.


DVD

DVD Details:

Screen formats: Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1

Subtitles: Spanish; Chinese; Japanese; Korean; Closed Captioned

Language and Sound: English: Dolby Digital 5.1; French: Dolby Digital 5.1

Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access; making-of featurette; trailer; music video.

* Featurette:
o The Making of Kill Bill - 20 minute featurette with contributions from Tarantino, producer Lawrence Bender, Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Viveca A. Fox and Darryl Hannah as they discuss insipirations for the film, and the film's music.
* Music Videos:
o I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield
o I'm Blue
* Trailers: full-screen and wide-screen trailers of several Tarantino films including Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill Vol. 1 teaser, Kill Bill Vol. 1 bootleg, and Kill Bill Vol. 2 teaser.

Number of discs: 1

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