“I had a little girl, once. She’d be about 4, now.”
The funny thing is: I’d planned to write on Kill Bill JUST before the whole controversy broke out over Uma Thurman’s car crash. As it is, let’s get some facts out of the way. On the crash and its aftermath:
- Quentin’s response details how The New York Times (A Former Newspaper) twisted, redacted, and otherwise chopped up Uma’s words to make him look bad—to the point of claiming Uma said X, without a direct quote.
- Uma herself has gone on record, clarifying that Quentin was one of the HEROES of the aftermath, fighting to get the video to her—which he finally did.
Now, for the Polanski thing:
- Quentin’s apologized for those comments—and NOT with a stupid Kathy-Griffin-esque politician’s non-apology (“I apologize IF…”, “I apologize to anyone who MAY HAVE BEEN…”, “I meant X, and PEOPLE DIDN’T TAKE IT THAT WAY…”, etc.). He went, “I screwed up miserably, what I said was stupid, I didn’t know jack, and I’m sorry.” Thus, just like his statement over Weinstein, Quentin manned up—which is more than I can say for most of the Hollywood Establishment.
- The victim of Polanski has accepted his apology.
Basically, I sort of put this off until all the facts were in. And not that they are…ON WITH THE SHOW!!!
Oh, and, uh…SPOILER ALERT! And a warning for LANGUAGE. It is, after all, a Tarantino film.
Editor’s Note: In April of 2017 writer Eric M. Blake began a series at Western Free Press naming the “Greatest Conservative Films.” The introduction explaining the rules and indexing all films included in the series can be found here. Liberty Island will feature cross-posts of select essays from the series with the aim of encouraging discussion at this cross-roads of cinematic art with political ideology. (Click here to see the original essay. Check out the previously cross-posted entries on Jackie Brown, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Unforgiven, Hail, Caesar!, Apocalypse Now, Fight Club, Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice ULTIMATE EDITION, and Wonder Woman.) If you would like join this dialogue please contact us at submissions [@] libertyislandmag.com.
WHY IT’S A CONSERVATIVE FILM:
As I said in my articles for Inglourious and The Enforcer, I haven’t exactly had Kill Bill on my “to write about” list. But as I’ve said from the beginning, I’m willing to be nudged with a “Go for it!”
In this case, a special thanks to one Esther Rosenfield. In the comments section for my Inglourious article, she suggested thus:
Would you consider “Kill Bill” also a conservative film? I wasn’t thinking about the Bride’s reaction after finding out she was pregnant. But rather, the conviction that she was willing to settle down to a family lifestyle [and] gets ripped apart by her colleagues, so she goes after every single one of them until she gets her child back—that intrigues me.
And…I’m sold! SO…first of all, something I’ve been thinking about at least since writing my Master’s Thesis on the man himself (full disclosure).
REVENGE IS A LIBERTARIAN’ GAME:
That’s right. And it’s why I will NEVER understand why anyone with any sanity at all could possibly call a revenge/vigilante film “fascist”.
Leaving aside, as I’ve pointed out until blue in the face, that Fascism is about government-controlled ECONOMICS, not security…the whole idea of personal revenge is inherentlyindividualistic. Think about it:
The entire premise rides on the fact that the authorities—read, the government—can’t help you solve your problem, or make things right. As such, you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and do it yourself.
To me, you simply don’t get more Libertarian than that. “Don’t trust the government,” such films say—whether the filmmakers realize it or not. “Rather, trust yourself.”
But as I’ve often noted, A, it’s just a theory—and B, just taking this as the only criteria for “Conservative Film” would open the floodgates for countless action flicks to fill up this series. I enjoy those films, of course—but geez!
So…what else qualifies Kill Bill?
FAMILY VALUE:
Pseudo-feminists can be pretty hypocritical. For all their talk about wanting to “empower” women to Choose whatever life they want to lead…they sure love to scoff at and deride any woman who dares to, actually, CHOOSE to lead the life of a mother—a homemaker, who holds her family as her top priority.
And yet…that’s exactly what The Bride wants to do. Upon realizing she’s pregnant, she almost immediately sets out to 1) flee from her Strong, Empowered life as an elite assassin; and 2) settle down with someone, where she can raise her baby in peace.
“It’s gonna be a great environment for my little girl to grow up in.”
“As opposed to jetting around the world, killing human beings, and being paid vast sums of money?”
“Precisely.”
Bill, in the end, confronts her with her decision to disappear without even telling him—let alone not telling him that he’s a father. But as The Bride notes, she didn’t want her daughter to be raised up in that kind of life.
The implication is: In her own way, she wanted to protect her child’s innocence.
PRO-LIFE AND PROUD:
Pay close attention to the page quote above—spoken by The Bride to little Nikki, daughter of Vernita. And then recall this one little detail:
As far as The Bride knows, her baby died before she was even born.
Upon waking up from her coma, one of the first things she realizes is that she’s no longer pregnant—and breaks down in screaming sobs, for “My baby!” And as she goes on her vengeance quest, it’s grounded in the belief that she’s avenging not only herself…but her daughter, who died before she was born.
As far as The Bride is concerned…her daughter was a living being, who deserved life.
That her motivation to avenge her daughter is stronger than her motivation to avenge herself is underlined powerfully by the fact that, upon discovering that her daughter, Bee-Bee, is in fact alive is enough to shake her, and throw her into indecision—now conflicted over whether to follow through on her final act of vengeance.
Again, she’s believed up till that moment that Bee-Bee died before being born.
It’s a small little detail…but sometimes, the smallest voices speak the clearest.
THE COST OF VIOLENCE:
Very tellingly, The Bride’s knock-down, drag-out fight with Vernita comes to a screeching halt upon the arrival of a school bus…dropping off little Nikki. For a time the violence is shelved, and the two ladies have a chat…until Vernita pulls a gun—The Bride pulls a knife—
And Vernita falls, dead….
After a moment of satisfaction, The Bride discovers to her horror that Nikki’s right there, witness to the bloody aftermath.
The Bride makes it clear to Nikki that she’s all too aware of the consequences of her actions…and that, by the basic standards of vengeance, she herself “has it coming”, by Nikki’s hand. And she’ll accept whatever decision Nikki makes, in the future.
To be continued…?
Regardless, the scene at the very beginning of the first film illustrates something Conservatives often overlook about Tarantino: Whatever one may say about the violence in his films…it’s not “desensitizing”. Or at the very least, he makes sure to deconstruct the sort of violence that most films of this kind tend to shrug off as par for the course. And a social Conservative so deeply concerned about that kind of thing in movies today must give him props for that.
Bob Dole, in his attempt to fake Conservatism, targeted Quentin’s stuff as an example of exactly that “problem” of “desensitized” movie violence. Quentin called Dole out on never having watched his movies. At the very least, Dole wasn’t paying attention when he was.
In Tarantino’s films, however “fun” the violence may be…the viewer is all too aware that they never know when a consequence may occur.
Collateral damage…like forcing an innocent little girl to live the rest of her life without her mother. And when Bill confronts The Bride about how good her killings felt…she can’t help breaking down in tears.
THE NECESSITY OF VIOLENCE:
Violence is complicated. Violence is costly. But under specific circumstances, violence is necessary.
While acknowledging the collateral damage she causes, The Bride, prior to discovering the truth about her daughter, never wavers in the certainty that her targets are 100% worthy of death—constantly laying out her justifications to us, the audience. In the case of O-Ren, The Bride’s smashing the most powerful ring of the Yakuza (the Japanese mafia).
And thus, though we’re constantly aware of the complications…we’re still with her, every step of the way.
OPEN-CARRY:
Twice in vol. 1, we see The Bride on a plane…and wouldn’t you know it, right there beside her is her katana (“samurai sword”, For Those Of You In Rio Linda), sheathed and standing up as if stuck in a holster attached to the seat.
Quentin’s explained that this is partly an indication that Kill Bill is set in a hyper-stylized Alternate Universe. Supposedly there’s a scene in an early draft of the script where Bill enters a casino and checks in his katana at the front desk.
That last point bears emphasis. It links the idea of swords to how “our” universe essentially approaches guns.
And in this fictional universe crafted by Quentin*…people can freely Keep And Bear Arms—and what’s more, do it openly, without need for concealment. Even on a plane!
And never once is this frowned upon in the movie. In fact, it’s celebrated as…frankly kinda cool.
Which, of course, it is. And as solid defenders of the 2nd Amendment often note, were airline passengers allowed to arm themselves, terrorist hijackings would be a lot less frequent.
Remember back when Archie Bunker was mocked for suggesting exactly that? Well…cue 9/11. Suddenly, no one’s laughing.
Safe to say The Bride ain’t gonna allow Al-Qaeda to get in her way. Revenge or no.
#METOO—FOR REAL:
It’s almost a running gag how many characters throughout the film—mostly male—shower The Bride with compliments on her looks, or hit on her, or whatever. She smiles and smirks and accepts the showering, no problem. It’s all cool, with her.
What’s not cool, of course, is being pimped out by a corrupt hospital orderly while she was in a coma. And filled with righteous rage, she gives her last “client”, and the orderly himself, a humiliating end.
See…she knows there’s a difference. Intelligence guided by experience.
FOR BONUS POINTS:
A recurring character in films Quentin’s had a hand in is Sheriff Earl McGraw, oftentimes showing up with his son. He’s always a positive character, albeit in a “one-scene wonder” sort of fashion. There’s something John-Wayne-esque about his confident walk—sure about what he has to do, and what he can do. And very observant: Here, he’s the one who discovers that The Bride’s still alive after the massacre.
So who says Quentin hates cops, again…?
Oh, and there’s a cute moment where The Bride partakes in some corporal punishment of a boy who clearly joined O-Ren’s Crazy 88 for the wrong reasons.
“GO HOME TO YOUR MOTHER!!!”
Finally, The Bride conducts some interrogations methods against Sophie Fatale that would make even Jack Bauer roar, “That’s enough!”
Not for The Bride, it isn’t.
WHY IT’S A GREAT FILM:
Okay…as some of you may know by now, I wrote my Master’s Thesis on Quentin Tarantino and his films. I devoted a significant portion of it on exactly what he was doing with Kill Bill—all the genre-blending in particular. So let’s kick off with that, folks. Here goes!
Basically, Kill Bill is Quentin’s massive, epic love-letter to the many film genres that inspired and moved him from childhood—or at least, as many of them he could reasonably fit into a reasonable, cohesive whole. That’s important: In order for a blended drink to actually be good, the ingredients have to actually go well together.
And they certainly do.
(The following two sections are paraphrased from that Thesis of mine…so I apologize for any “academic-speak”.)
THE GENRES—VOL. 1:
Quentin divides the storyline of the two films into “chapters”—and following a pre-credits teaser in both films, wherein The Bride pleads to Bill for her life, each one effectively centers on a different genre:
“2”, where The Bride fights Vernita Greene, invokes the Blaxploitation movement of the 1970s, particularly the films of Pam Grier.
“The Blood-Splattered Bride” takes us back in the film’s timeline to the unconscious Bride, post-massacre, being discovered by the authorities—followed by a near attempt on her life by Elle Driver, then by The Bride awakening four years later to discover the loss of her child, as well as her current predicament as an object of prostitution by a corrupt hospital orderly. This chapter invokes classical psychological thrillers, particularly in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock (even via the use of a Bernard Hermann piece, albeit not one composed for Hitchcock himself), Brian De Palma (the use of split-screen in an otherwise Hitchcockian sequence), etc. This chapter also refers heavily to Italian giallo cinema (which itself is informed a great deal by Hitchcock).
“The Origin of O-Ren” is an anime sequence, detailing the backstory of O-Ren Ishii.
“The Man from Okinawa”—which has The Bride receiving training, wisdom, and a perfectly constructed sword from retired master Hattori Hanzo—invokes classical samurai dramas, particularly those involving a young hero (heroine in this case) receiving such wisdom from an old master.
“Showdown at House of Blue Leaves” (the longest chapter, encompassing the entire latter half of the first film), in which The Bride fights O-Ren, invokes Japanese martial arts cinema—particularly those set in the feudal (“samurai”) period. It also has at the beginning a reference to Japanese mafia (yakuza) films.
THE GENRES—VOL. 2:
Following a “recap” for the beginning of the second film, we see “Massacre at Two Pines”, where Bill’s initial reunion with The Bride leads to the wedding (recital) massacre. The chapter at once invokes film noir (use of black-and-white; the woman with a mysterious past; sins of yesterday resulting in disaster for today) and Spaghetti Westerns (musical cues, along with shots emphasizing the steps of certain characters).
“The Lonely Grave of Paula Shultz”, in which The Bride’s attempted confrontation of Budd results in shocking failure—leading to her being buried alive—begins invoking “modern-day-set” takes on Spaghetti Westerns (particularly involving Budd’s occupation as a bar bouncer), and leads to elements of horror (The Bride being buried alive).
“The Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mei” invokes Chinese/kung-fu martial arts cinema—with a specific nod to the films of the Shaw Brothers.
“Elle and I”, depicting Elle Driver’s cruelties regarding Budd and culminating in The Bride’s battle with her, invokes 1970s action cinema, particularly in the “exploitation” subculture—where “grit” and “dirtiness” reached heights rarely seen.
“Face To Face”—the final chapter—depicts The Bride’s confrontation of Bill…which leads to her being forced to deconstruct herself and her motivations, with his ironic assistance. This is the hardest chapter to classify in terms of genre—except perhaps as “drama”—however, Tarantino’s own references to Apocalypse Now regarding the initial sequences of this chapter would seem to place it within the character-driven dramas of the Hollywood Renaissance.
…Phew!
So, what does all that mean?
Simply that Quentin invites us to share in sampling the pleasure he’s felt from enjoying the very best those genres had to offer. Something like The Oliver Garden’s “Tour Of Italy” plate—a little bit of the best dishes of the restaurant, to begin your ventures of culinary delight.
EPIXPLOITATION:
(Like it? I made it up myself—along with “genre-blender”, apparently….)
The original plan was to make Kill Bill one big movie—perhaps 2 ½ hours, something along the lines of Pulp Fiction’s length. Problem is, Quentin crafted such a rich, intricate plot that…well, what could be cut?
Probably the anime backstory of O-Ren, if anything. Awesome as it is, it’s probably the leastnecessary chapter in the whole thing. Yes, it adds a tragic element of how much O-Ren and The Bride parallel each other. With it, Kill Bill is certainly even better than without it. But still, without it, the movie/movies work just fine.
At any rate, a certain Miramax chief (yep…) gave Quentin the go-ahead to split the film into two—and as such, he didn’t have to cut too much. (He did cut some things—which he put in for a limited screening at a film festival—an as-one-movie version called The Whole Bloody Affair. Sadly, I wasn’t there, and he doesn’t seem to have any plans to release that version. Apparently the anime sequence is longer….)
Quentin was all too happy to oblige, putting an ending montage in vol. 1 to foreshadow some things to come in vol. 2.
Interestingly enough: Watching the two parts back-to-back, the ending of vol. 1 almost comes across as the lead-in to an old-school intermission. The beautiful musical piece “The Lonely Shepherd” works just as well as an end credits piece and as an Entr’acte (the musical suite that plays “between the acts”—during the intermission—of an old-school epic film).
UMA THURMAN AS BEATRIX “THE BLACK MAMBA” KIDDO, AKA THE BRIDE:
With this film/duology, Uma Thurman takes the torch from Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton as quintessential Onscreen Female Bad—s. The Bride is, by all accounts, a Strong Female Character.
And yet, perhaps Uma’s greatest moments in Kill Bill as an actress…are when she conveys weakness.
Waking up from her coma, The Bride finds that her legs are completely numbed—and will take a long time to heal. And we believe it—Uma struggles and strives, and drags herself across the floor, and into a wheelchair, and into the back seat of the orderly-slimeball’s truck (now hers). The fact that the last part takes a lot of struggling is vivid and true. Kudos the Uma and Quentin for that.
And that’s leaving aside the unspeakable grief she conveys upon realizing she’s no longer carrying a child—and the tears of joy welling up in her eyes upon seeing Bee-Bee alive.
And the final tears of relief and gratitude, after it’s all over, and she’s in the bathroom by herself, Bee-Bee in the other room.
Amid all this, Uma gives a deliciously deadpan humor, with some playfulness along the way. The pathos fills out the proof of just what she can really do.
DAVID CARRADINE AS BILL:
Weather-beaten and gently tough, charismatic and cool. And we at once believe him capable of all the cold-blooded things that make Bill worthy of death—and the kindly aura that helps us believe the Bride once loved him.
Throughout vol. 1, we’ve been led to hate Bill (whose face we never see, though we occasionally hear his voice). But from the moment we truly meet him in vol. 2…we somehow find we can’t. There’s something about him that makes it clear: There’s more to this than The Bride told us. We see a flashback into their past at one point, showing just how close they were, how well their chemistry clicked. It all underlines the tragedy ever more.
Eloquent, yet down-to-earth—waxing poetic on his theory about Superman (which he’s dead wrong about, of course—he’d have been far more convincing were he to use Batman as an analogy)…and in his own way, wise, calling The Bride out, bit by bit, on all the pretentions she’s held.
And so, by the end, when The Bride finally does Kill Bill…we can’t help but shed a tear for him, as he accepts his fate with dignity. And neither can she.
The Carradines are something akin to Hollywood royalty, like the Fondas or the Sheens. A Carradine co-starred in Stagecoach as the Southern gambler Hatfield. A Carradine stared in the recent HBO masterpiece Deadwood as Wild Bill Hickok.
As for David, he was Caine in Kung Fu—you know…the role model Jules mentions in Pulp Fiction.
(Funny note: The original plan was for Warren Beatty to play Bill, as a kind of “criminal James Bond” type. When Beatty had to drop out, Quentin cast Carradine, who brought more of an “elder cowboy” aura with just the right amount of flair of the Orient.)
THE REST OF THE SQUAD:
Vivica A. Fox, as Vernita “The Copperhead” Greene, seamlessly goes back and forth between “realistic” talk as a black family woman and “Romantic” warrior-speak in her interaction with The Bride…and its clear from their sharing a brief chuckle over old times that they do miss them—good times….
Lucy Liu is at her most elegant as O-Ren “The Cottonmouth” Ishii. Graceful and charismatic—and considering her backstory (filled with parallels to The Bride’s own revenge story), highlysympathetic…to the point where she and The Bride constantly give each other proper verbal respect, as they fight. Amid the spectacular thrills, there’s an undertone of tragedy in this clash between former clearly close friends.
Michael Madsen brings his full folksy world-weariness and gravel-voiced gravitas as Budd “The Sidewinder”. He’s not unsympathetic himself—upon hearing of The Bride being up and about, and out for vengeance, well…
And in a shocking twist, he’s the only one who beats The Bride in what passes for a fight—by facing her with brains, not brawn. He’s only taken down in a bitterly ironic fashion.
Darryl Hannah brings a chilling menace to Elle “The California Mountain Snake” Driver. Cruel, contemptuous, heartless except for her anger and envy—and completely hypocritical in her pronouncements of codes of honor. Of all the names on The Bride’s list, Elle is the one who doesn’t deserve any tears or nods of respect from us. And doesn’t get any.
Julie Dreyfuss plays the unofficial sixth former member of the Squad, Sofie Fatale. And despite her nonchalance in overseeing the “clean-up” (of evidence) of the massacre against The Bride—which presumably, is why our heroine holds her as a secondary target, herself—we still can’t help pitying her as The Bide conducts her interrogations…and punishments.
THE REST OF THE CAST:
The great Sonny Chiba appears as Hatori Hanzo, master and maker of the highest-quality katanas in the world. He’s retired, and running a tea café—sharing a hilarious dynamic with another fellow who acts lazy, but is strongly implied to be a fellow retired warrior, himself.
At any rate, when The Bride gets down to business…Chiba drops the comedy, bringing the full force of his charisma as a screen legend to bear, in Hanzo’s ultimate consent to her demand for his mentorship. His words power the soul of vol. 1—laying out the theme of keeping one’s head in a quest for vengeance.
Michael Parks has two roles—one in each film. In vol. 1, he plays his recurring Tarantino role of Sheriff Earl McGraw, a nice blend of John Wayne, Randolph Scott, and Tommy Lee Jones. In vol. 2, he disappears into the suave Latino pimp Esteban Vihaio. (Funny note: Originally the magnificent Ricardo Montalban was supposed to play Esteban…but alas, he had to drop out.)
Veteran actor Gordon Liu also has two roles—as Johnny Mo, O-Ren’s chief enforcer, in vol. 1; and as Pai Mei, the harshest—and best—martial arts master in the world, in vol. 2.
Originally, Quentin’s cameo was going to be as Pai Mei—or at least his “bad English dub” (a common Kung Fu Movie trope). Ultimately, he’s a dead body in the wedding massacre aftermath.
Speaking of cameos, the mighty Samuel L. Jackson pops up at the beginning of vol. 2 as the man playing music for the wedding rehersal.
Quick nod to Zoe Bell, Uma’s stunt double. She’d go on to actually act in Death Proof, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight.
THE MUSIC:
A major part of Quentin’s style is how, for the longest time, he never used original scores. As a solid visionary, he hasn’t wanted to take any risks, on that.
Little by little, he’s bent that rule for various reasons—beginning with Kill Bill. For vol. 1, RZA composed a variety of pieces befitting of classic Kung Fu and samurai films—in addition to producing the soundtrack in general.
For vol. 2, Robert Rodriguez, jack-of-all-trades, composed some Spaghetti-Western-style pieces just for fun, which he gave to Quentin to use…for $1 (basically to avoid issues with unions over “free labor”). Quentin would later get that $1 back—for directing that one scene for RR’s own Sin City.
But the films are still filled with pre-established pieces—most famously, Tomoyasu Hotei’s “Battle Without Honor Or Humanity”, otherwise known from that day forth as “The Kill Billtheme” (even though we don’t hear it in vol. 2). Conservatives who live in the Tampa Bay area may recognize it as the theme for a certain local talk radio show.
There’s also “The Lonely Shepherd”, a beautiful, soulful flute piece that struck Quentin as having the perfect thematic blend of “samurai” and “Spaghetti Western”.
Vol. 2, in the meantime, is packed with instantly-recognizable pieces of Il Maestro, Ennio Morricone, he of the Spaghetti Western. Pieces from A Fistful Of Dollars, The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, and other oaters—as if to emphasize a change in tone from vol. 1.
One piece that carries on thematically from one volume to the other is Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang”—the opening theme of vol. 1. Rodriguez uses it as a faint motif of sorts in his compositions for vol. 2.
WILD & CRAZY—AND SERIOUS & SOULFUL:
There’s a very prominent difference between vol. 1 and vol. 2. Vol. 1 is filled with stylistic flourishes at times bordering on the bizarre—such as that oh-so-INSANELY-annoying Ironsidetheme whenever The Bide first locks her gaze on one of her targets (perhaps the one thing I don’t like about the film—I love ya, Quentin, but that was a little precious…).
Or the absurdist gushing out of blood every dang time someone loses a sword fight.
Vol. 2, however, is a night-and-day difference. Far more grounded, and at times “dark and gritty”. Far more often, the second film takes itself seriously. The violence is far less campy—the music far less blaring and big. In a chilling, sequence, we witness The Bride bound and put into a coffin—and then…black screen, as we hear her struggling to keep from panicking…and the rumbling of dirt poured into the hole in the ground, burying her alive….
There are exceptions, of course. Vol. 1, as I noted, has such powerful moments as The Bride’s tearful breakdown upon realizing her womb is now empty…or all things Hanzo once he learns The Bride’s purpose here. And Vol. 2 has the super-stylized “Cruel Tutelage Of Pai Mei”…and a certain trick The Bride learns. And a moment underlining the ultimate revelation of The Bride’s name.
“Here.”
The heights and depths of human emotion. We laugh, and we cry. We smile and we frown.
It’s the three basic genres all rolled into one film: Tragedy, Comedy, and Epic—Drama, Comedy, and Action-Adventure. All culminating in a superbly emotional climax, where all is reconciled—and then, all is complete.
The Lioness has rejoined her cub. And all is right in the jungle.
WHITHER KILL BILL 3?
Well, technically, it wouldn’t be “Kill Bill vol. 3”, for the simple reason that Bill’s kinda dead….
But Quentin’s talked on and off about maybe, eventually, doing a sequel, long enough down the line to allow The Bride and Bee-Bee to live their lives in peace, before…
Well, put it this way: Remember Nikki?
Quentin’s noted he’s got the basic idea down: Sofie Fatale has inherited Bill’s fortune, and becomes the caretaker for Nikki. (What became of her father, “The good Dr. Bell”, is anyone’s guess. Perhaps he killed himself over Vernita’s death…?) And when Nikki’s old enough, she is“raw about it”…and finds a trainer in the blinded Elle. Nikki’s quest leads her into conflict with Bee-Bee, one way or another, before and/or during the final clash with The Bride….
(I personally like the idea of Nikki and Bee-Bee meeting early on and becoming friends, each tragically unaware of the other’s full identity. I’d like to think Quentin has that in mind. And maybe have The Bride paraphrase Budd’s line, explaining to her daughter: “That girl deserves her revenge, Bee-Bee. And I deserve to die….” Bee-Bee won’t have it, and demands to be trained—telling her mom that if The Bride won’t do it, she’ll find someone who will. The Bride, of course, doesn’t trust anyone else to ensure Bee-Bee will be trained well enough to not get herself killed, so…)
REGARDLESS—will it actually happen?
Well…it really depends on how set-in-stone Quentin’s plan is to retire after around 10 films. Hateful Eight makes…eight. His upcoming flick set around the Manson family murders makes 9. And a certain other film he’s planning (see below) makes 10.
Let’s hope and pray he’ll be flexible. Personally, I want to see another crime film from him.
Hope springs eternal.
BY THE WAY…
So much trivia, so little time….
Hatori Hanzo was a real historical figure—a legendary ninja from one of the civil wars of feudal Japan. Immortal, perhaps…? Who knows?
When The Bride and Vernita have their confrontation, The Bride briefly illustrates a point by moving her finger around—a reference to a famous moment in Pulp Fiction. Here, though, a cartoon square doesn’t appear….
The “Feature Presentation” set to Keith Mansfield’s “Funky Fanfare” was very common in theaters of the 1970s. Quentin and his buddy Robert Rodriguez would use it again for their joint project Grindhouse, the Planet Terror and Death Proof double-feature.
Considering the opening text from The Wrath Of Khan, and The Bride’s snark about how Sofie’s dressed, it’s pretty clear Quentin’s a Star Trek fan. Actually, he’s talked about directing a Trekfilm—and thanks to his buddy JJ Abrams, it looks like he’s really going to do it! In the category of things I never knew I wanted…
Finally, there IS a full “as one movie” cut of Kill Bill, which Quentin recently screened at a film festival. Supposedly, the anime sequence is longer, amongst other things.
Buy the movies here. And stay film-friendly, my friends.
*(Yes, Quentin’s movies famously take place in a shared universe. We see proof of this in the constant invoking of fictional brands like Red Apples cigarettes or Jack Rabbit Slim’s Restaurant, in addition to various character names—and in the case of Sheriff McGraw and his son, characters period. This shared universe also includes movies Quentin wrote but didn’t direct, like True Romance and From Dusk Till Dawn—and movies he produced, like Curdled. Supposedly, some movies are in a universe-within-a-universe, as movies people in his “main” universe would go see…or something. Personally, I think that’s a bit too complicated….)
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