Friday, August 20, 2004

Kill Bill - The way I want it

If you are one of those who think that Quentin Tarrantino is GOD and can do no wrong, please don't read any further.

I too think he is Godlike director, but with Kill Bill Vol 2 he definitely slipped a notch in my book. I have my reasons. To start off, I LOVED Kill Bill Vol 1. I loved the characters, the music, the fight choreography, the storyline and the little ways Q paid tribute to those legends who walked the roads he is treading on now. I came out of the film with a feeling that I don't think I can describe here. So I watched the film four times in the theatre and then a million times (especially "The man from Okinawa" chapter) on DivX. Then I waited with bated breath for Vol 2. Me and Sambar even joked that the only reason the world did not end after LOTR was because of Vol 2 (I now have other reasons why it should not end now :-) ). Ran to see the movie as soon as it was released...only to be disappointed. I was left with this sense of loss. I felt Q had done great disservice to the memory of Hanzo san and Vol 1. But not knowing how to fix it, I let it go and tried to forget Vol 2.

I was recently talking about Vol 1 with a person (Deb, this one's for you) who had just seen Vol 1 and it struck me as to how Kill Bill could have been salvaged. For starters it should have been made into one big 3.5 hour film. I would leave most of Vol 1 as it is and only take out the "I am Buck and I am here to F***" scene. Moving on to Vol 2. I would strip out most of the film but leave in the "Monk Pai Mei" chapter. The Bride would find Budd in a remorseful state regretting having moved away from Bushido. Knowing that the only way he can redeem himself would be to request the Bride to be his kaishakunin and commit sepukku. Elle Driver walks in as the Bride slices Budd's head off (but leaving it attached to the body with a thin strip of skin as seppuku etiquette demands). They have the cat fight and the Bride leaves Elle blinded. This gives Q, the opportunity to come up with another film, where Elle would become a blind masseur and try to take revenge on the Bride, a la Zatoichi. The Bride would then find out where Bill is from his godfather and then confront Bill. They would be no sappy "why did you try to kill me / do you still love me" dialogue. They would then have a half hour fight on beach at sunset at the end of which the Bride would kill Bill with Pai Mei's Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. While walking the five steps before he dies, Bill tells the Bride, "Our daughter is still alive" and drops dead. The final scene is the Bride driving away with her daughter...

4 comments:

Aslan said...

Well.. I think Vol. 1 is trash.. Hyped-up crap.

sambar42 said...

Kuts,
KB Vol 1. is not overhyped crap. The parts that seem slightly weird are meant to be that way.

KK,
the links dont work.

Dev said...

What is DivX?

I didn't see Kill Bill Vol. 2, but while we are on the subject of Quentin Tarantino, did you guys ever notice that QT has a huge foot fetish?

I knew this guy who had a foot fetish and he told me about the QT-foot-fetish-theory. So I revisited all the QT movies I have seen before and it is true! Every QT movie that I remember had at least one foot scene.

Example:
1) Pulp Fiction- Mia Wallace tells Vincent Vega about the man that Marsal wanted to kill for massaging Mia's feet.
2) Jackie Brown- Lots of close ups of Bridget Fonda's feet with the toe ring.
3) From Dusk till Dawn- Salma Hayek shoves her bare foot in QT's mouth and spills tequila down her leg.
4) Kill Bill Vol. 1- When Uma Thurman gets out of the hospital and is paralyzed from the waist down, there is a really long scene with her in the car telling herself "move your big toe" as she looks at her feet.

That's all I can think of right now. Can anyone else add? Or think of a QT movie that DOES NOT have a foot scene?

Rama Rama said...

http://www.divx.com/divx/whatisdivx.php

I don't think "Reservoir Dogs" has a foot scene...