message in the movies By Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

               
Kill Bill Volume 1   Rated R
Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Starring Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu. 

Photo © Copyright Miramax
At last I have met the movie that challenges everything that this column is about.  Kill Bill: Volume 1 is a film that gleefully announces in every frame that there is no message whatsoever. There is barely a plot.  A bridal party is brutally massacred and left for dead.  The bride does not die, but remains comatose for four years, before being awakened by a mosquito’s bite.  After escaping from the hospital, she sets out to avenge her near-death by killing those who sought to murder her.  She keeps a “To Do” list and crosses off each victim’s name after his or her execution.  She also carries with her a sword of incredible power.  The master swordsman who crafted the weapon tells The Bride that, if she encounters God, God will be cut.  God (and any moral sensibility) is not only cut, but also sliced, diced, pureed, and beheaded.  This is a big budget homage to ultra-violent martial arts films of past decades, and it succeeds brilliantly.  But to what purpose?  Uma Thurman gives a physical performance that is so amazing you just wish it were in service to a meatier script. Writer-director Tarantino obviously loves this stuff (as he also loves his own films, with in-joke references to his three previous pictures).  To really enjoy Kill Bill: Volume 1 you must understand that if people are killed creatively and with a sense of humor, there is no need to mourn their passing.  You also must understand that if the carnage is done with style, there is no need for logic or even character development.  And, if you happen to be Quentin Tarantino, the critics will praise you for gruesome and tasteless scenes that would be vilified if found in a standard exploitation film.  I am enough of a film geek myself to admit that I was entertained by this movie.  I am enough of a Christian to realize that this movie is the kind of Guilty Pleasure that is worthy of personal shame at the Great Throne Judgment. 

Halo and Pitchfork Rating: One halo. (A shameless exploitation film that at least has the decency to not take itself too seriously.) Five pitchforks. (Constant profanity, intense violence, crude sexual remarks.)