Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
86%RT Audience Score: 81%
Awards & Nominations: 29 wins & 104 nominations total
Kill Bill is admittedly little more than a stylish revenge thriller — albeit one that benefits from a wildly inventive surfeit of style
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is like a bloody love letter to classic martial arts films, but with Quentin Tarantino’s signature style and flair. It’s a revenge heist with a hit list that will have you on the edge of your seat, and the violence is not for the faint of heart. But if you can handle it, you’ll be rewarded with a visually striking and densely textured work that gets better as it goes along. Plus, who doesn’t love a good globe-trotting romp filled with larger than life characters? It’s a stained glass window of a movie, with shimmering light and fountains of blood. Definitely not one to miss.
Production Company(ies)
Anonymous Britdoc Foundation Final Cut for Real
Distributor
Miramax Films
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content
Year of Release
2003
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:1h 50m
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Language(s):English, Japanese, French
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 10, 2003 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 13, 2004
Genre(s)
Action
Keyword(s)
starring Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, directed by Quentin Tarantino, written by Quentin Tarantino, produced by Lawrence Bender, action, revenge thriller, R-rated, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Geoffrey O’Brien, Candice Frederick, Nell Minow, Todd McCarthy, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Peter Rainer, Cory Woodroof, Howard Gorman, Mike Massie, Fico Cangiano, MPAA rating, Miramax Films, Dolby Stereo, Dolby A, SDDS, DTS, Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR, The Bride, Black Mamba, O-Ren Ishii, Cottonmouth, Vernita Green, Copperhead, Budd, Sidewinder, Elle Driver, California Mountain Snake, Bill, hit list, unspeakable injury, unscrupulous enemies
Worldwide gross: $180,906,076
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $293,225,547
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 513
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 31,976,614
US/Canada gross: $70,099,045
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $113,621,561
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 660
US/Canada opening weekend: $22,200,000
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $35,983,353
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 362
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $30,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $48,626,152
Production budget ranking: 814
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $26,185,183
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $218,414,212
ROI to date (est.): 292%
ROI ranking: 467
Lucy Liu – O-Ren Ishii, Cottonmouth
Vivica A. Fox – Vernita Green, Copperhead
Michael Madsen – Budd, Sidewinder
Daryl Hannah – Elle Driver, California Mountain Snake
David Carradine – Bill
Director(s)
Quentin Tarantino
Writer(s)
Quentin Tarantino
Producer(s)
Lawrence Bender
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
29 wins & 104 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (238) | Top Critics (54) | Fresh (202) | Rotten (36)
… Kill Bill confirms [Quentin Tarantino] as a filmmaker of astonishing invention and aplomb…
March 22, 2018
Geoffrey O’Brien
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
There’s nothing like a good ‘ole revenge heist (complete with a hit list) to make this film one of Tarantino’s best.
September 12, 2017 | Rating: A-
Candice Frederick
Reel Talk Online
TOP CRITIC
Visually striking, but also very violent.
December 24, 2010 | Rating: 3/5
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media
TOP CRITIC
A strange, fun and densely textured work that gets better as it goes along.
May 7, 2008
Todd McCarthy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Even more gory and adolescent than its models, which explains both the fun and the unpleasantness of this globe-trotting romp.
May 7, 2008
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
There is no ironic overlay in Tarantino’s movies, no ‘commenting’ on the pop schlock he’s replicating. He simply wants to remake in his own way the kinds of movies he’s always loved, and he’s about as uncynical as a movie geek can be.
August 7, 2004
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine/Vulture
TOP CRITIC
It’s a stained glass window of a movie — you only know so much, but everything you need is draped over and around you in shimmering light (and, for this film, fountains of blood).
June 23, 2022
Cory Woodroof
Williamson Home Page
The violent set-pieces and bloodshed take more of a “Mr. Orange” backseat – but equally bloody – ride in The Bride’s second outing as Tarantino doubles down on what he does best: emphasising everything that makes his larger than life characters tick.
June 10, 2021
Howard Gorman
NME
For a film that is ultimately just the first piece to a much larger narrative, it does not disappoint.
October 9, 2020 | Rating: 8/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
Tarantino surpasses expectations with this stylish and exciting love letter to other classic genres, while leaving his own bloody mark on them. [Full review in Spanish]
May 29, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Fico Cangiano
CineXpress Podcast
A gleefully ultraviolent homage to the B-movie martial arts films of the 1970s. It’s pure bloody pulp fiction packed into a tightly wound feature.
November 15, 2019
Micheal Compton
Bowling Green Daily News
The better of the two Kill Bill films, and perhaps the last film where Tarantino created a tight, tense and disciplined exercise in film narrative.
August 13, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
PJ Nabarro
Patrick Nabarro…
Plot
The lead character, called ‘The Bride,’ was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, led by her lover ‘Bill.’ Upon realizing she was pregnant with Bill’s child, ‘The Bride’ decided to escape her life as a killer. She fled to Texas, met a young man, who, on the day of their wedding rehearsal was gunned down by an angry and jealous Bill (with the assistance of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad). Four years later, ‘The Bride’ wakes from a coma, and discovers her baby is gone. She, then, decides to seek revenge upon the five people who destroyed her life and killed her baby. The saga of Kill Bill Volume I begins.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels praises Uma Thurman’s performance as The Bride, calling her a “badass mofo” and a standout in the film.
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