Review Analysis
In the Kill Bill Vol1 review, Robert Ebert writes in informal language therefore it feels like he is having a friendly chat with us. He uses a powerful vocabulary so it gives us a sense of.... At the beginning Ebert mentions Tarantino’s unique technique which is one of the selling points of this movie. He gives us a taste of what’s the movie about but he doesn’t tell us exactly what is going to happen. For instance “his story is a distillation of the universe of martial arts” and “his story engine is revenge” therefore it clarifies the genre, attracts the particular audience and we’re curious what is going to happen in this movie, therefore we want to watch it. He refers to Tarantino’s previous movies such as ‘Pulp Fiction’ and he also relates to other movies such as ‘The Matrix Reloaded’ as some scenes are similar. As The Matrix Reloaded is a successful movie and Kill Bill is similar in some way people want to see it as they won’t be disappointed.
Ebert also talks about the effects added during editing such as slow motion and a name that’s beeped and also an extended sequence in anime. As he says “it allows Tarantino to deal with material that might, live in action, seem too real for his stylized universe.”
He also mentions actors’ names, Thurman, Fox and Liu. All of them are popular actresses and they’re a selling point for this film. They’re also young and attractive therefore it would attract the target audience (men). He also slightly tells us that representation of women in this film is exaggerated as they’re powerful and dominant over men.
In this review Philip French begins with mentioning Quentin Tarantino’s previous successful movies and that he managed to keep the high profile since his fist movie till now, this tells us that he’s a really good director and people will go to the cinema just to watch his new movie. He also comments on the opening credits “The opening credits announce it as 'The fourth film by Quentin Tarantino', which is presumably a joke about self-importance” I also think it’s a selling point for this movie as he is a well known director and we can see this line on the poster as well. After that he talks about Tarentino’s early life, his education and how he engaged his interests within media and directing.
He also mentions on the main aspect of the movie – revenge which shapes the entire movie. He says that Uma Thurman is the main character and the protagonist who’s seeking revenge for the death of her unborn baby. He mentions the name of one antagonist Lucy Liu. Both of them are famous actresses and they’re an USP for this film.
After that he concentrates on the narrative, he gives us a taste of what this movie is about but he doesn’t reveal the whole story therefore we want to watch it to find out what happens.
“The last half-hour or more is a blood bath.” This sentence makes the genre even clearer. We know that it’s an action and there will be many fights scenes, violence, anger and blood therefore, fans of these types of movies will watch it.
In the review by Peter Bradshaw he starts off with positive comment about Kill Bill, he mention Uma Thurman and Tarantino’s name as they’re the unique selling point and it shows their importance in the movie. He says “I felt like the director himself had cacklingly jammed his hypodermic into my throbbing arm. Really, no one delivers that sheer, aneurism-inducing rush with the same intravenous efficiency as Tarantino.” He uses a powerful and strong vocabulary and makes a positive comment therefore the reader wants to watch this film as it sounds really good.
He says that it’s a martial arts movie where the norms don't apply. He also says “Brutally bloody and thrillingly callous from first to last”, from this we know there will be a lot of action, blood and violence and we won’t get bored as he said it’s from first to last. He also says that it isn’t the “floating beautiful martial-arts” movie, he relates it to other filmmakers and he’s trying to say that Tarantino has a different technique.
Further in the review he talks about how the film begins and the actors such as Sonny Chiba, Chiaki Kuriyama, Jun Kurimura and David Carradine, he also mentions the previous movies there were at.
In another few paragraphs he talks about narrative. How the revenge is the main theme of the movie and that Thurman never looked good as the Bride. He briefly tells us the storyline but he doesn’t say what exactly happens. He mentions the soundtracks and some aspects of mise en scene.
He ends his review with “Kill Bill just leaves you feeling excited: pointlessly, wildly excited. How many films can do that?” which is a positive statement and it makes us want to watch it.
