Kill Bill

Kill Bill is the fourth feature film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and stars Uma Thurman. Though technically one film, it was released in two parts due to its long (3 hour, 47 minute) running time. Volume 1 was released on October 10, 2003 and Volume 2 was released on April 16, 2004. Volume 1 grossed $70 million in its American release while Volume 2 grossed $66 million.

Volume 1

Plot

Beatrix Kiddo, also known as The Bride, codename "Black Mamba" (played by Uma Thurman) is a former member of "The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad." Bill (David Carradine), her former boss and lover, tracks her down and finds her about to marry, and arranges for the Vipers to gate-crash the chapel and slay those within. The groom and the rest of the wedding party are murdered while she herself is shot in the head by Bill, and left for dead. Bill later sends Elle Driver (aka "California Mountain Snake", played by Daryl Hannah) to finish off the comatose Bride in the hospital, but recalls Elle as she is about to administer poison, deciding at the last second that killing her while she lies helpless would be dishonorable. He adds that if she wakes up, then they will kill her all over again.

Related Topics:
Beatrix Kiddo - Uma Thurman - The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad - David Carradine - Elle Driver - California Mountain Snake - Daryl Hannah

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In the opening of the film, The Bride is driving a car identified by its body-work as the "Pussy Wagon". She rings on a door in a suburban street, and attacks the woman (Vernita Green, aka "Copperhead", played by Vivica A. Fox) who answers. Vernita, a retired member of the same assassination squad now turned mother and housewife, is shocked but rapidly recovers, their vicious fight to the death interrupted by her young child Nikki returning from elementary school. The child is sent to her room as both adults pretend nothing is going on, then over coffee discuss that the past betrayal of The Bride by Vernita cannot be undone, and they agree to meet up for a fight to the death. Suddenly Vernita fires a concealed gun at The Bride, but misses, and The Bride responds by throwing a knife which kills her. The child, who has come in at the noise, is numbed, she is told by The Bride, "I didn't want you to see this, but your mom had it coming.. When you grow up.. If you still feel raw about it.. I'll be waiting."

Related Topics:
Vernita Green - Copperhead - Vivica A. Fox

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We flash back 6 months. The Bride is still in a coma after four years. She awakens suddenly and almost immediately realises she has lost her baby. She hears footsteps approaching so she pretends to be unconcious. She realises that Buck, the hospital orderly, has been selling her body for sex whilst in a coma, and overcomes her physical weakness to kill her would-be rapist, then Buck, and finally takes the keys to Buck's "Pussy Wagon" and escapes, launching her quest to eliminate her former associates. This is far from easy - her legs are still extremely weak and will barely move, much less support her body.

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Once she regains her full strength, she travels to Okinawa, Japan where she asks master swordsmith Hattori Hanz? (played by Sonny Chiba) to come out of retirement to make one final katana (samurai) sword with which to accomplish her revenge. Hattori Hanz? was Bill's teacher, and despite having sworn an oath many years before, to never create "something that kills people" again, he feels an obligation to help her for having trained him and agrees to make one final weapon for her.

Related Topics:
Okinawa - Japan - Swordsmith - Hattori Hanz? - Sonny Chiba - Katana - Samurai

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Flying from Okinawa directly to Tokyo, Japan, The Bride locates O-Ren Ishii (aka "Cottonmouth", played by Lucy Liu), a half-Chinese-American, half-Japanese woman raised on an American military base, orphaned by the yakuza, and now "the boss of all bosses," ruler of the Tokyo underworld. In a nightclub named the "House of Blue Leaves," The Bride kills or maims all but one of O-Ren's bodyguards, known as the Crazy 88. She then pursues O-Ren outside to a snow-covered zen garden. Although injured in the exchange, The Bride finally ends the duel with a swing that slices off the top of O-Ren's head, exposing her brain (later censored in some versions). O-Ren dies, her last words being, "That really was a Hattori Hanz? sword..." She tortures the half-Japanese, half-French Sofie Fatale (Julie Dreyfus), one of Bill's lovers and O-Ren's lawyer, second lieutenant, and best friend, leaving her alive but mutilated to tell Bill that she is coming for him.

Related Topics:
Tokyo - Japan - O-Ren Ishii - Cottonmouth - Lucy Liu - Chinese - American - ''yakuza'' - Crazy 88 - Zen garden - Brain - French - Julie Dreyfus

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Making a death list on the plane, The Bride then returns to the United States, to Pasadena, California which is where the film started, with the killing of Vernita Green (aka "Copperhead").

Related Topics:
United States - Pasadena - California - Vernita Green - Copperhead

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Details

• The Japanese release of Volume 1 begins with a dedication to Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku.
• The film also features an anime sequence explaining O-Ren's tragic backstory. It is directed by Kazuto Nakazawa, who also directed the Linkin Park video for "Breaking The Habit", with the animation studio Production I.G, producers of Ghost in the Shell among other works.
• During this first half of Kill Bill, The Bride's real name is bleeped out when characters say it. However, The Bride's real name is present on her boarding pass for her flights to Okinawa and Tokyo.
• A different cut of the film was released specifically for Japanese audiences, where it opened several weeks after the North American release. While the American cut of the movie shows a notably violent segment (the battle at the House of Blue Leaves) in black and white, the Japanese cut shows it in color.
• The Crazy 88: in Japan the number "88" is an "evil number"; there are not actually eighty-eight members of the group, however, and in Volume Two Bill muses that the Crazy 88 simply "thought it sounded cool."