Kill Bill: was released by Miramax in 2003 and 2004 as two films, Vol. 1 and Vol 2.
Vol 1 Chapters
2
Beatrix arrives at the location of the second member of her Death List Five - Vernita Green. The two engage in a hand-to-hand fight, destroying Vernita's living room. The fight is stopped due to the arrival of Vernita's daughter, Nikkia, who is introduced to Beatrix and is told to go to her room. The two former assassins take a coffee break, during which Vernita apologizes for her doings in the past, and asks for mercy. When Beatrix refuses to forgive, Vernita attempts to shoot her with a hidden gun in a Kaboom cereal box, only for Beatrix to dodge the bullet and throw a knife which kills Vernita. Nikkia witnesses her mother's death, and is told by Beatrix that if one day Nikkia will want to avenge her mother's death, she will be waiting. Beatrix then leaves in a yellow pick-up truck.
The blood-splattered BRIDE
A flashback reveals the massacre that occurred during Beatrix and Tommy's wedding rehearsal, in which the members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad murdered all those present at the chapel. Beatrix, the only survivor of the massacre, goes into a coma. Elle Driver, one of the assassins, arrives at Beatrix's room and intends on injecting her with poison, only to be stopped by a phone call from Bill, who claims Beatrix deserves a more honorable death.
Four years later, Beatrix awakens from her coma to find that she is no longer pregnant. At this point, she believes that her unborn child did not survive. She attacks and kills Buck, an orderly in the hospital that has been raping her and using her for his prostitution services, and one of his customers, and steals the keys to Buck's pick-up truck, the Pussy Wagon.
The Origin of O-Ren
While attempting to wiggle her big toe, Beatrix tells the story of O-Ren's past. When O-Ren was 9 years old, she witnessed her parents' deaths by a Japanese crime lord named Boss Matsumoto and his accomplices. After both of her parents were slaughtered, her house was burned down. O-Ren swore revenge, and killed Matsumoto when she was 11 years old, thanks to the fact he was a pedophile. 9 years later, O-Ren became a well-known assassin, carrying out international missions.
A year after the massacre, Bill financed O-Ren and helped her become the head of the Yakuza.
The MAN From OKINAWA
Beatrix book a one-way ticket to the island of Okinawa, Japan. She tracked down a legendary swordsmith, Hattori Hanzō, who also crafted Bill's sword. While pretending to demonstrate her lousy Japanese, Beatrix revealed her true reason for arriving at Japan: finding him. Although Hanzō at first was hesitant, he agreed to forge Beatrix her sword after learning of the "vermin" she intends to kill. The sword Hanzō made for Betrix was considered by himself the best katana sword he has ever made.
Showdown at House of Blue Leaves
After exploring O-Ren's personal team (which included Sofie Fatale, Gogo Yubari and Johnny Mo), Beatrix arrived at Tokyo, where she tracked O-Ren down at her hangout location known as the House of Blue Leaves. While in the restroom, Beatrix recognizes Sofie's cell phone ringtone, the same one she had while she was present at the massacre. Calling out O-Ren's name, Beatrix hopped off Sofie's arm, and challenged O-Ren for a fight. O-Ren sent Gogo and her personal army, the Crazy 88, to defeat Beatrix, yet they all failed.
Following O-Ren, Beatrix faced her in the snowy garden of the club. O-Ren ridiculed Beatrix's abilities and intentions, and refused to believe Beatrix's sword was crafted by Hanzō. After a short duel, Beatrix sliced off the top of O-Ren's head, with her final words confirming Beatrix's sword to be one of Hanzō's.
Production
Quentin Tarantino intended to produce Kill Bill as one film. With a budget of $55 million, production lasted 155 days. Harvey Weinstein, then co-chief of Miramax Films, was known for pressuring directors to keep their films' running times short. When Tarantino began editing the film, he and Weinstein agreed to split the film into two. With the approach, Tarantino could edit a fuller film, and Weinstein could have films with reasonable running times. The decision to split Kill Bill into two volumes was announced in July 2003.
Reception
Kill Bill: Volume 1 was released in theaters on October 10, 2003. It was the first Tarantino film in six years since Jackie Brown was released in 1997.[7] In the United States and Canada, Volume 1 was released in 3,102 theaters and grossed $22 million on its opening weekend.[8] It ranked first at the box office, beating School of Rock (in its second weekend) and Intolerable Cruelty (in its first). Volume 1 was the widest theatrical release of Tarantino's career to date,[9] and it was also his highest-grossing opening weekend to date. Previously, Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction (the latter released in 1994) had each grossed $9.3 million on their opening weekends.[7] Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, said Volume 1's opening weekend gross was significant for a "very genre specific and very violent" film that in the United States was restricted to theatergoers 17 years old and up.[9] According to the studio, exit polls showed that 90% of the audience was interested in seeing the second volume after seeing the first.[10]
Outside the United States and Canada, Kill Bill Volume 1 was released in 20 territories. The film outperformed its main competitor Intolerable Cruelty in Norway, Denmark and Finland, though it ranked second in Italy. Volume 1 had a record opening in Japan, though expectations were higher due to the film being partially set there and having homages to Japanese martial arts. The film had "a muted entry" in the United Kingdom and Germany due to being restricted to theatergoers 18 years old and up, but "experienced acceptable drops" after its opening weekend in the two territories. By November 2, 2003, it had made $31 million in the 20 territories.[11] Kill Bill Volume 1 grossed a total of $70 million in the United States and Canada and $110.9 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $180.9 million.[8]
For Volume 1, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 85% based on reviews from 218 critics and reports a rating average of 7.7 out of 10. It reported the overall consensus, "Kill Bill is nothing more than a highly stylized revenge flick. But what style!"[12] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 69 based on 43 reviews.[13]
A. O. Scott of The New York Times said Tarantino's previous films Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown were "an exploration of plausible characters and authentic emotions". He wrote of Kill Bill Volume 1, "Now, it seems, his interests have swung in the opposite direction, and he has immersed himself, his characters and his audience in a highly artificial world, a looking-glass universe that reflects nothing beyond his own cinematic obsessions." Scott attributed "the hurtling incoherence of the story" to Tarantino's sampling of different genres that include spaghetti westerns, blaxploitation, and Asian action films. The critic summarized, "But while being so relentlessly exposed to a filmmaker's idiosyncratic turn-ons can be tedious and off-putting, the undeniable passion that drives Kill Bill is fascinating, even, strange to say it, endearing. Mr. Tarantino is an irrepressible showoff, recklessly flaunting his formal skills as a choreographer of high-concept violence, but he is also an unabashed cinephile, and the sincerity of his enthusiasm gives this messy, uneven spectacle an odd, feverish integrity."[14]
Manohla Dargis of the Los Angeles Times called Kill Bill Volume 1 "a blood-soaked valentine to movies" and wrote, "It's apparent that Tarantino is striving for more than an off-the-rack mash note or a pastiche of golden oldies. It is, rather, his homage to movies shot in celluloid and wide, wide, wide, wide screen—an ode to the time right before movies were radically secularized." Dargis said, "This kind of mad movie love explains Tarantino's approach and ambitions, and it also points to his limitations as a filmmaker," calling the abundance of references sometimes distracting. She recognized Tarantino's technical talent but thought Kill Bill Volume 1's appeal was too limited to popular culture references, calling the film's story "the least interesting part of the whole equation".[15]
Cultural historian Maud Lavin argues that The Bride's embodiment of murderous revenge taps into viewers' personal fantasies of committing violence. For audiences, particularly women viewers, this overly aggressive female character provides a complex site for identification with one's own aggression.
Vol. 2 Chapters
Chapters
Massacre at Two Pines
Flashbacking 4 years ago, to the day the massacre occurred. During a wedding rehearsal, Beatrix and her fiancé, along with a group of family friends, decide on the details of the wedding. Beatrix, fully pregnant, takes a break and finds Bill on the balcony of the chapel. The two share some tendered moments, and evantually they go inside, where Bill is introduced as Beatrix's father.
As Tommy walks away, the two kiss, and Bill takes his seat at the bride's side. Moments after, the four members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad enter the building, and kill all those who were present.
The Lonely Grave of Paula Schulz
Beatrix after attempting an attack on Budd one night at his trailer following soon after Bill's forewarning is shot full of rock salt in the chest and sedated with a needle by Budd. Budd then ties Beatrix up and along with his pint sized friend Ernie takes her out to a local Texan Cemetery and buries her in the empty grave of Paula Schultz.
Beatrix is buried with a flashlight in the wooden coffin ending the second chapter sequence the lonely grave of Paula Schultz which begins with Budd going to work at the Go Happy Go Strip Joint in Texas.
The Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mei
The chapter shows the recount in Beatrix's mind whilest she is buried in Paula Schultz's coffin of her first being told of the Great White Lotus Ninja Pai Mei by Bill.
She then is enrolled for training by Pai Mei and goes under extremely cruel psychically demanding training methods which make her an incredibly strong fighter.
He teaches her how to punch a hole through solid wood and how to eat with chopsticks.
The end of the chapter then sees Beatrix break out Paula's coffin with the punch wood technique and head for a nearby diner where she purchases a glass of water for dehydration.
ELLE and I
Following straight on is the ninth chapter Elle and I in which the scene begins with Elle Driver in her California Mountain Car speeding towards Budd's Camper whilest Beatrix at the same time is traversing the large surrounding sand mountains which lead to Budd's Trailer.
She arrives at the hill overseeing the camper at the same time Elle arrives at the trailer and then the scene is taken to Elle and Budd's deal for Beatrix's Hanzo sword within the trailer.
Elle deceives Budd as she has secretly stashed a Black Mamba snake within the money in the red suitcase she has brought.
The Black Mamba bites Budd several times on the face and it's gargantuan poison kills him within 10 minutes as Elle explains to him about the Black Mamba and her deep regret that she didn't get to kill Beatrix and that she supposedly met her end at the hands of someone like him.
Elle is then called by Bill in which the she lies to him claiming Budd was killed by a Black Mamba Beatrix stashed in his camper.
As she hangs up she rounds the money all over the ground from the Black Mamba and skirmish and kicks the camper door open only to be pushed back in by Beatrix who has reached the caravan.
The two do the battle of the blonde gargantuans in which Beatrix wins by using Pai Mei's eye gouge trick which he had previously used on Elle in her training to leave with one eye.
Beatrix having now removed Elle's last eye watches as she in rage and blindness tears up everything around her.
At an eventual point Beatrix drops Elle's cleanly gouged out and eye and squishes it with her feet before taking back her Hattori Hanzo sword and exiting the camper with a bang ending the chapter.
Face to Face
The Last chapter begins with a sorrowful song over a grassy landscape as Beatrix travels to a small hut brothel run by a former father figure of Bill's named Esteban Viahio.
Esteban points Beatrix towards a nearby villa where Bill is as Bill had asked Esteban to give his location away.
Beatrix arrives at the Villa with a gun in hand and the Sword on back but is horrified as she comes across Bill to find her daughter next to him.
She plays along with them for a while until she puts B.B to sleep by watching Showgun Assassin with her and then goes to join Bill.
Bill tells of his favourite superhero and compares the hidden identity crisis and power problems with Beatrix.
Beatrix then having being shot with an anaesthic needle by Bill gains control of her limbs and joins him outside at a backyard table.
The two discuss the motive behind the planned assassination of her and everyone.
She then utters her battle beginning line: You and I Have Unfinishes Business and Bill swipes at Beatrix beginning a chair donned battle.
Beatrix within seven seconds overcomes Bill and uses the five point heart exploding palm technique taught by Pai Mei to kill Bill.
She gives a sorrowful goodbye as he takes five steps into the backyard to his death and then goes to collect B.B.
The chapter ends with Beatrix getting in her blue car with B.B and starting the engine before the scene is taken to the Next Morning sequence.
Cast
- Uma Thurman- Beatrix Kiddo AKA The Bride AKA Black Mamba AKA Mommy
- David Carradine- Bill AKA Snake Charmer
- Lucy Liu- O-Ren Ishii AKA Cottonmouth (Archive Footage)
- Vivica A. Fox- Vernita Green AKA Ginny Bell AKA Copperhead (Archive Footage)
- Gordon Liu- Pai Mei
- Michael Madsen- Budd AKA Sidewinder
- Daryl Hannah- Elle Driver AKA California Mountain Snake
- Michael Parks- Esteban Vihaio
- Bo Svenson- Reverend Harmony
- Jeannie Epper- Mrs. Harmony
- Stephanie L. Moore- Joleen
- Shana Stein- Erica
- Caitlin Keats- Janeen
- Christopher Allen Nelson- Tommy Plympton
- Samuel L. Jackson- Rufus
- Reda Beebe- Lucky
- Sid Haig- Jay
- Larry Bishop- Larry Gomez
- Laura Cayouette- Rocket
- Clark Middleton- Ernie
- Claire Smithies- Clarita
- Perla Haney-Jardine- B.B Kiddo
- Helen Kim- Karen Kim
- Vanessia Valentino- 1st Grade Teacher
- Thea Rose- Melanie Harrhouse
- William Paul Clark- Soda Jerk
- Victora Lucai- Trixie
- Stevo Polyi- Tim
- Al Manuel Douglas- Marty Kitrosser
- Jorge Silva- Bartender/Pimp
- Patricia Silva- Hooker #1
- Maria Del Rosario Gutiérrez- Hooker 2
- Sonia Angelica Padilla Curiel- Hooker 3
- Lawrence Bender- Hotel Clerk
- Julie Dreyfus- Sofie Fatale (Archive Footage)
Production
Reception
Kill Bill: Volume 2 was released in theaters on April 16, 2004. It was originally scheduled to be released on February 20, 2004 but was rescheduled. Variety posited that the delay was to coincide its theatrical release with Volume 1's release on DVD.[2] In the United States and Canada, Volume 2 was released in 2,971 theaters and grossed $25.1 million on its opening weekend,[3] ranking first at the box office and beating fellow opener The Punisher. Volume 2s opening weekend gross was higher than Volume 1s, and the equivalent success confirmed the studio's financial decision to split the film into two theatrical releases.[4] Volume 2 attracted more female theatergoers than Volume 1, with 60% of the audience being male and 56% of the audience being men between the ages of 18 to 29 years old. Volume 2s opening weekend was the largest to date for Miramax Films aside from releases under its arm Dimension Films. The opening weekend was also the largest to date in the month of April for a film restricted in the United States to theatergoers 17 years old and up, besting Lifes record in 1999. Volume 2s opening weekend was strengthened by the reception of Volume 1 in the previous year among audiences and critics, abundant publicity related to the splitting into two volumes, and the DVD release of Volume 1 in the week before Volume 2s theatrical release.[5]
Outside of the United States and Canada, Volume 2 was released in 20 territories over the weekend of April 23, 2004. It grossed an estimated $17.7 million and ranked first at the international box office, ending an eight-week streak held by The Passion of the Christ.[6] Volume 2 grossed a total of $66.2 million in the United States and Canada and $86 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $152.2 million.[3]