Kill Bill Vol. 1

Kill Bill Vol. 1 is a mixture of martial arts film, action film and revenge drama, but it is all style and no substance.

The Bride is a former assassin who was part of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, led by the Bill of the title. In flashback we are shown how her attempt to quit her job and lead a normal family life is thwarted in the bloodiest fashion by Bill and the Bride's colleagues on her wedding day. When the Bride wakes up after 4 years in a coma, she has only one thing on her mind: revenge. One by one she seeks out her former colleagues to kill them. Needless to say, she does not get through the whole list. Otherwise there would be no basis for a sequel.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 has gorgeous images and dynamic fight scenes, but in the film's comic-book universe there is room only for one-dimensional cardboard figures and a plot bordering on the banal with a minimum of dialogue. Strictly speaking, the plot consists of nothing but loosely connected fight scenes. The Bride's quest for revenge leaves you cold and without much desire to find out what happens to her next in "Kill Bill Vol. 2".