Two days ago, my youngest sister was suddenly in the mood to watch Kill Bill again. Well, since none at home had any violent reactions, we watched Volume 1 at around 8pm. Supposedly, I was to discuss something very important that night, but then we opted to lounge in the sala and watch Uma Thurman and David Carradine in Kill Bill.
The fact that I last watched this movie for around a year already, I was trying to figure out the sequence of the scenes. I have already forgotten parts of it, but still remember those that were really striking for me. Quentin Tarantino is really a one of a kind producer. His Kill Bill movie follows a different kind of sequencing.. we even thought we were watching Volume 2! :)
My sister doesn’t really remember watching it before, but of course we do. She made a lot of comments like the music wasn’t really very suitable with the scene, or that why are the blood scenes exaggerated?? and even.. why is there an anime portion?? Quentin had a different strategy, but we liked it (at least my honey and I know we do). I like the transition of the scenes, wherein it was presented like a book (from where it really was derived from). The scenarios themselves were a bit cruel, sometimes realistic, sometimes exaggerated.. but nonetheless wonderful. Kill Bill had the best casting, and even the dialogs themselves where sometimes intriguing. Its a different kind of attention-grabbing movie (like the Eagle Eye, War of the Worlds, etc). It had its own way of keeping the audience in the loop and always wanting more.
What I really believe is the best striking thought about Kill Bill is that it had lots of irony in it.
Bill had many assassins. Black Mamba (Uma Thurman) was one of them, but Bill had an affair with her. That alone is ironic. To add to that, he says “I love you” to all other female assassins he had. Another irony. All his assassins, except maybe for O-ren Ishii, had love affairs with Bill. That made him ‘the man’ of the movie. David in the character of Bill wasn’t a very charming man at all, in fact he is to be feared not loved. And well, may I say, another irony.
Black Mamba or “The Bride” almost died by a bullet shot through her head. She managed to survive somehow. And, ah, yes.. another irony. She was coined to be the “Blood splattered bride” of Texas. Even the cops took her as dead before she spit at the deputy. She went through four years in comatose while being sexually abused by those in the ward. After four years, Bill sent Elle the Driver to kill her. It was funny the way nobody would even notice a nurse walking around wearing her hair down and with an eye patch. As she inserted the needle with the poison, Bill stopped her and said it would be a shame to kill a helpless woman. A fair fight would’ve been more dignified. Again, your word for the day?? irony.. All these, but none woke her up except one mosquito bite. Sweet irony. She killed her rapist, and even killed Buck (the guy who sold her to the rapist). Her legs were still numb and her motor skills were of 50% usable at that time, but through her raging madness and thirst for revenge, she managed to “wiggle her toes” and drive off to the next point of killing destination.
Preparing herself for a long battle, she armed herself with a sword from the legendary Hattori Hanzo sword. Want another irony? She was able to travel on board the plane with her sword by her side. Interesting?? And the famous dialog between Hattori and her that I couldn’t forget was that.. “If ever you met God along the way, this sword could even cut him”. Yeah right.
O-ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) was next in her death list. She became an assassin at the early age of eleven. The whole O-ren story was delivered in a very creative yet gory anime style. O-ren was the head of Tokyo Underworld and her own was called crazy 88 (having at least/most 88 subordinates, I guess). It was a cool fight scene. Another gory one too. She fought all 88 subordinates of O-ren. Exhausted, she still managed to beat O-ren. How? Funny thing was, she almost lost when she fell down with one swoop of O-ren’s sword at her back. The fight scene was in the snowy backyard of the restaurant. With much blood coming from her big back wound, not a single blood tainted the white snowy floor. Hmm.. And what spoiled me the most for the fight was that O-ren died with one hit from Black Mamba’s sword. She was cut in the head. Her back skull showing her brains. Yup, the sword was sharp alright.
She had a death list. Her next prey was Vernita Green, who was at that time married to a doctor and had a baby girl. They had a fight at their house, but when the kid got home, they kept their acts straight, keeping a happy face full of blood while trying so hard to strike an easy but short conversation. She said, she didn’t want to kill Vernita infront of her kid. They set up a place to fight yadda yadda.. but when Vernita started the fight again, she got killed by Black Mamba. Irony here is that the little girl saw her kill Vernita.
Next stop was Bill’s brother. The only guy in the crowd of Bill’s assassins. She had a struggle at first and lost. Hands tied and feet tied together, she was buried alive. Yeah, nothing special, but more cruel? Yes. Now the irony here is that Budd was kinda kind. Unusual for the usual assassin, especially that he was Bill’s brother. He even gave Black Mamba a flash light for her to use while being buried. Naah.. They took her sword and planned to sell it. As she resurrects from the grave, she went back to Budd’s trailer to retrieve her sword and kill him. She finds Elle arriving with a suitcase of money with a black mamba inside it. Elle was bitter that it was Budd who gave The Bride her death.
Budd was poisoned by the black mamba in the face and died in great agony. The Bride stood by and waited until Budd has died and attacked Elle. The fight was quite short. Ending was another fun irony. She managed to get the best of Elle by taking her sole eye. Hihihi.. really gory, and my imagination was really satisfied. Towards the ending was Bill and The Bride’s confrontation. She finds that her daughter was not lost nor dead after all. She was about four years old already and was doing well. After sending the child to sleep, Bill and The Bride had a conversation.
Funny, even my sister was thinking why they would even have one when they were plotting to kill each other in the most gruesome way. Bill shot Black Mamba with a truth serum and went on with a magnificent intermission. He could’ve killed her in that instant if it would’ve been a real gun with a real bullet. But I understand that they are assassins. They put glory into each death that they deliver. Not that its orchestrated, but they enjoy making each death a work of art. Yeah.. a real assassin trait (I guess).
Bill goes on..
I have always been fascinated with superheroes. Like Batman, Robin, and Spiderman and the others. They all have alter egos that they protect. They are heroes when they put on their suits and abide by unbiased treatment to those who need their help. But they also have to protect their alter egos–who are their weak counterparts. Like Spiderman is Peter Parker, as Bruce Wayne is Batman. Their alter egos also protect the reputation of the superhero ego. But my favorite is Superman. Unlike Spiderman or Batman, he was born a superman. The former two gained their powers through some extra transformation. They were once simple humans before they became super heroes. Superman was superman when he was a kid. His alter ego is Clark Kent. When he takes off his costume, he is still superman. He tries to hide Superman when he is Clark Kent.. not like how Peter Parker hides Spiderman or Bruce with Batman.In the end, Black Mamba relates how she wanted to end her assassin life for her kid. Its an irony for an assassin like her. But then again, isn’t everything about life one big irony?? I like this story. I like this movie a lot. Her revenge rewarded her with priceless love of mother to child and child to mother. Sweet. :)