4 6D - The Michigan Daily - New Student Edition - Fall 2004 ARTS After all the blood is spattered and the severed limbs fall to the ground, Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" serves as the perfect homage to the grindhouse flicks of the '70s. The director's love for the body genres emanates from the screen, beginning with the title and last- ing until the end credits. The film radiates with style, from the incredible soundtrack to the stunning sets. Having the requisite flash and glitz compensates for a paper-thin plot. Uma Thurman plays The Bride, a former assassin wronged by her boss, Bill, unseen but audible, and the four-mem- ber Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. The DiVAS left The Bride - who was pregnant - for dead after massacring her wedding party. Now she seeks revenge against those who wronged her. The plot serves merely as the mecha- nism for The Bride to exact her retribu- tion, culminating in beautiful and brutal violence. The fights range from realistic to cartoonish, best exemplified by the stunning anime sequence. The eight- minute section tells the origin of O-Ren (Lucy Liu), one of Bill's assassins who was responsible for the wedding attack. As Thurman dismembers foe after foe, Tarantino manages to film the scenes as though it is a skillfully choreo- graphed dance, making the grotesque 11IM - T O I UI'J FW i U 'A V and often gruesome slayings attractive to the viewer. The pristine widescreen transfer brings the bloody mayhem to life, even on the small screen, while the carefully selected music enlivens the film in the Dolby Digital soundtrack. For a movie so entrenched in its film- maker and star, the features should be plentiful and informative. This is where "Kill Bill: Vol.1" fails. Instead of a com- mentary track with Tarantino not only discussing the process of making the movie, but also providing insight into the films that inspired this tribute to the exploitation genre, there is nothing. Thurman could have been involved and discussed the creation of The Bride char- acter with Quentin, but she is noticeably absent from the extras. The only things included on this edition are a meager "making-of" featurette, music'videos of the Japanese band featured in "The House of Blue Leaves" chapter and trail- ers for Tarantino's film catalog. As a revenge film, "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" is the culmination of the best parts of the genre. Though the lack of an engrossing storyline remains its biggest fault, the frenetic action and incredible style will likely lure viewers back to see if The Bride gets her retribution in "Kill Bill: Vol. 2," but as a DVD, fans are better off waiting for the obligatory special edition that will be released after "Vol. 2" fin- ishes its theatrical run. Film: **** Picture/Sound: **** Features: * I Here comes The Bride an d she's angry Kill Bill: Vol.2 April 16, 2004 By Alex Wolsky Daily StaffWriter T HE MAIN EVENT ...* ** First things first: "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" isn't a perfect film - neither was "Vol. l." The final piece of Quentin Taranti- no's sundered pulp puzzle comes togeth- er in full force as. The Bride (Uma Thurman) inflicts final punishment on those who wronged her. Underneath all the shogun violence and dried blood lies Kill Bill: Vol. 2 At Quality 16, Showcase and Madstone Miramax a film so dense in both history and cul- ture, one can't help to be amazed by Tarantino's ambition. Once again acting as both writer and director, Tarantino has no problem wear- ing his influences on his sleeve. With a dense network of references in the sec- ond installment, Tarantino is on one hand playing a game with his audience, while on the other hand making a point - demonstrating how East and West have so strongly influenced each other over the past few years. Just as Japanese director Akira Kurosawa openly brought the American Western to his 1954 epic, "The Seven Samurai," Italian director Sergio Leone brought Kurosawa's influ- ence to the European market with "A Fistful of Dollars." Finally, Tarantino has connected all three points with "Kill Bill." He melds the Eastern, European and American points-of-view into one raucous, poignant meta-film. "Vol. 2" draws most heavily on the American Western. Where the first film was a transition from East to West (The Bride was literally transplanted from a Texas hospital to Japan), the second film is solely focused on The Bride's journey through the barren, cavernous Texas landscape in search of her final enemies - Budd (Michael Madsen, "Reservoir Dogs"), Elle Driver (Darryl Hannah, "Splash") and, of course, Bill (David Carradine, TV's "Kung Fu"). Because "Kill Bill" has such a thin plot to work with, the performance of the characters comes to the forefront. And, as The Bride drives the story for- ward, the secondary characters become the most important feature of the film and thus take the spotlight off of Thur- man. Their peculiarities and nuances make the characters memorable and more fleshed out than in "Vol. 1." JOEL HOARD Darryl Hannah, who had a fairly lim- ited though significant role in "Vol. 1," returns in "Vol. 2" as the manipulative Elle Driver. Elle plaintively acts as a foil - her character, by contrast, enhances the distinctive characteristics of The Bride. Hannah marvelously plays "The Bride Gone Bad," which is so carefully alluded to in her dialogue from "Vol. 1." Hannah's flawless execution of the role transcends the film's self-referential nature, as she becomes a unique entity in her own right. Michael Madsen portrays Bill's broth- er and colleague Budd, playing an iron- ic, absurdist role in "Vol. 2" as a once-deadly assassin turned bouncer at a lonely Barstow, Calif., topless bar. Mad- sen brings the disillusioned swordfighter to life wonderfully. He's a man who has turned to Barstow for a solitary, private life, only to be brought out of retirement by The Bride's quest for revenge. And then there's The Bride and Bill's unfinished business. Carradine - who plays the masterful Bill, nearly non-exis- tent in the first film - becomes all-too- human in the second. Tarantino's conscious move to not portray the char- acter negatively works effectively, and by the final battle royale, the audience empathizes with Bill. Interwoven in between tense, well-crafted scenes of Bill and The Bride are flashbacks into the life of The Bride, including a hilari- ous homage to '70s kung fu detailing her training with the white-browed Pai Mei (Chinese film star Chia Hui Liu). The nefarious Bill - known only by the tenor of his voice in the first film - proves to be a master of not just martial arts, but long-winded bullshit. The anti- climactic third act of "Vol. 2" serves as a microcosm for the entire film, which is slanted toward dialogue rather than combat. It will most certainly upset those who enjoyed the first volume's in- your-face violence. Unlike "Vol. 1" which felt like a visceral dagger to the jugular, the second installment is a spa- cious exploration in character study and dialogue. Nearly every fight sequence in "Vol. 2" is framed by long, drawn-out conversations which slow, but don't hin- der the film. The structure of "Kill Bill" seems off, however. At times, scenes from "Vol. 1" seem like they would fit better later in the film. Tarantino appears to have reshuffled "Kill Bill" for the sake of reshuffling the film, not because it emphasizes a critical point or thematic issue as in his earlier work, "Pulp Fic- tion." That being said, the films work best together. In the way that "Vol. 1" seemed rushed and aimless, "Vol. 2" seems slowed and cerebral. They com- plement each other perfectly. With the release of "Kill Bill: Vol. 2," Tarantino's grand design becomes clear: The first part of his epic took place under the sign of the East, while the second part is largely devoted to the West - that is, American and European revenge flicks, particularly the spaghetti Western. And it does so with a panache and style unlike any other film this year. DON'T THE ROCKS T I GOT THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE MOVIEGOING EXPERIENCE 1 :AI I:1 A] 3 Buy used and save October 23, 2003 There is something so familiar, yet, at the same time, so mysterious about the sights, sounds and smells of a movie theater - the ornate lobbies, the flicker of the screen, the aroma of fresh popcorn (please don't actually eat the stuff; one handful is guaranteed to shave years off your life). At its purest, seeing a movie is a reli- gious experience, and a good movie the- ater can come to resemble a church. See a great movie in a great theater, and you can see the face of God Himself. But, in recent years, the quality of the experience has declined severely. A vari- ety of problems perpetuated by both the industry itself and suburban multiplexes are destroying the once-holy ritual. What was once as transcendent as finding God is now about as awe-inspiring as shopping at Wal-Mart. Take, for example, last Saturday when I went to see Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" at the Quality 16 on Jackson Road. Arriving at the theater, I was greeted by an undertrained and underpaid staff of 15-year-olds - a typical pimple-faced bunch thanking me for my patronage with feigned sincerity. Entering the the- ater well early, the usual slideshow of movie trivia and ads for cosmetology schools and local car dealerships was up and running. Two punk teenagers played hacky sack in the aisle as the sounds of a film from a neighboring theater bled through the paper-thin walls. At the scheduled start time, as is the trend, a 20-minute segment of TV commercials and trailers played. After that, as is also the trend, the theater's shameless self- promotion reel ran, instructing me to buy refreshments and gift certificates, all in the guise of a public service announcement asking people to turn off their phones and refrain from talking. Like most other moviegoers, I've grown accustomed to these incompetent Buying used textbooks saves you 25% off the price of new. Rush to the bookstore for the best selection of used books. o ttar, s staffs, irritating audience members and pre-show ads. On the whole, I've given up hope that I can go to a multiplex and have the magical experiences I did in years past. I hoped that "Kill Bill" would restore my faith in our nation's multi- screen theaters. Quentin Tarantino hasn't let me down in the past, so I trusted that if anyone could do it, it would be him. Sadly, it wasn't the moving experi- ence I hoped for. But it was no fault of Tarantino - "Kill Bill" is a film of instant-classic caliber. Something else tainted the experience. Throughout the film a pattern of red dots momen- tarily flashed on the screen. But these dots weren't splatterings of blood from the ultra-violent movie hitting the camera, nor were they subliminal messages inserted by the devious Weinsteins. The dots I saw are part of the film industry's new anti-piracy campaign. Each print of the film is marked with a unique pattern of red spots so that if the film should be illegally copied, it can be traced to its original source. The technology, known as Cap Code, was actually developed 20 years ago by Kodak. In its original form, the patterns on each print were so small that the average moviegoer never knew they existed. But recent problems with digital copies of films being distributed on the Internet have caused film distributors to increase their anti-piracy efforts. A new form of the Cap Code has been instated, and in its latest incarnation, the patterns are much larger and are conspicuously flashed in light-colored areas of the screen. The new system has become so invasive that in some cinephile circles it is referred to as "Crap Code." I won't go so far as to suggest that the Cap Code ruined the film for me, but it interfered with an otherwise uplifting experience. 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