The Movie:

Kill Bill: Volume 1 is the perfect half of a stylistic epic complete with drama, zingers and more guts than any other pictures in the past five years combined.

Immense pressure was placed on KBV1 to match the brilliance of Quentin Tarantino’s cult classics Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. The film succeeded with sharp direction, a tight screenplay and plenty of eye candy.

What happens when a member of an elite assassination group wants to get hitched? Nine dead in an El Paso chapel and one person’s incredible bloodlust for revenge. The Bride, aka Black Mamba, is left comatose after a severe beating and a single gunshot to the head. She recovers with an urge to inflict serious suffering to her former colleagues.

During the film’s first part, The Bride (Uma Thurman) raises hell in the suburbs and takes on the Crazy88 gang in Tokyo.

The movie’s “execution” is flawless with a 25-minute hack-’em-up fight sequence that should keep even the most attention-deficient audiences glued to the screen.

At the heart of KBV1 is a simple story of revenge. Tarantino borrows numerous elements from older martial arts films, while maintaining a fresh appearance and boasting his signature dialogue. The only downside of KBV1 is the lack of Tarantino-esque conversation. Instead, fans are treated with one of the bloodiest action sequence in the history of cinema.

What we said then:

After six years of silence, Quentin Tarantino released Kill Bill Volume 1, a film that showcases a lot more than just some bad ass Kung Fu. With his latest venture, the most famous film geek on the planet shies away from the recurring ruse of his early work, instead embracing the artistic innovation that had apparently been lying dormant.

It is a creative leap that could quite possibly secure Tarantino as the directing genius of his generation.

With Bill, Tarantino sprays a creative homage to his biggest “guilty pleasure” directorial influences (ergo Ishiro Honda and Alfred Vohrer) as evildoers in the flick spray an abundance of fake blood during their messy death sequences (Nick Margiasso, Oct. 16, 2003).

The DVD:

Those smart studio execs have decided to release this sparse Kill Bill DVD on the Tuesday before Volume 2 bows into theaters across the country. This disc could be seen as nothing more than another source of revenue.

The single disc is skimpy in the extras department but maybe Miramax is holding out to release a special edition after Volume 2’s initial DVD release.

The DVD is left without a director or actor commentaries. Also, insights into the next volume would have been helpful.

KBV1’s only supplements include a “making of” feature, trailers for Tarantino’s other three films and a teaser for the second installment of the KB franchise.

The “making of” featurette gives the conception of KB and an in-depth look at the technical aspects of the film.

The DVD is for the impatient, as a well-packaged two-disc edition will likely surface sometime next year.

Contact Pablo Saldanaat oraclepablo@yahoo.com