Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003)

Writer/director Quentin Tarantino's non-linear, blood-soaked, very violent action and grindhouse film (a revenge fantasy), contained numerous pop cultural references and stylized violence - it was another cinematic homage to the genres he loved most: kung-fu and martial arts (chopsocky) films, crime dramas, Japanese anime, B-movies, blaxploitation, Hong Kong action films, samurai sword epics and 'spaghetti' westerns.

The lengthy, entertaining film (for mostly male viewers, although most of the main characters were female!) was spliced into two parts, chock full of humorous wit (although with minimal dialogue), fight scenes, spurting blood, and a 10-minute anime sequence (to review the backstory of O-Ren Ishii's rise within the Tokyo underworld).

The main character was an action heroine or warrior goddess - an assassinatrix (or hit-woman):

• Beatrix "the Bride" Kiddo (Uma Thurman) (aka code name Black Mamba), a vengeful assassinatrix in a group known as the Deadly Vipers, led by her boss and lover Bill (David Carradine)

The short opening scene in Vol. 1 was deliberately very violent and enigmatic. [Note: The fuller version of the opening scene was revisited in the opening scene of Vol. 2 - see below.] At a wedding, The Bride (with a bridal veil) was viewed with a very cut, bruised, bloody and sweaty face, lying face up on a chapel floor and gasping for air as she heard approaching footsteps (boots viewed in close-up). An unidentified male voice asked: "Do you find me sadistic?" and then the man wiped the Bride's face with his "Bill"-monogrammed white handkerchief. He observed: "I bet I could fry an egg on your head right now. If I wanted to." Bill reminded her that there was nothing "sadistic" in his actions, but that he felt more masochistic. When the seriously-wounded Bride informed Bill that he was the father of her unborn child, "Bill, it's your baby," she was apparently blasted by a gunshot that sprayed blood splatter onto the floor next to the Bride's head.

Brief and Enigmatic Scene in Vol. 1
Bruised and Battered Bride	Monogrammed Handkerchief "Bill"	"Bill, It's Your Baby!" (Blood Splatter and a Gunshot)

To the background tune of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" (lyrics and music by Sonny Bono and sung by Nancy Sinatra), the opening credits listed that there was a Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, composed of five members.

1. Vernita Green (code name Copperhead) (Vivica A. Fox), alias Jeannie Bell, a suburban homemaker and mother
2. O-Ren Ishii (code name Cottonmouth) (Lucy Liu), leader of the Japanese Yakuza, who was being financed by Bill
3. Budd (code name Sidewinder) (Michael Madsen), Bill's brother, a strip-club bouncer in Barstow, CA
4. Elle Driver (code name California Mountain Snake) (Daryl Hannah), wearing an eye patch
5. Bill (David Carradine), the leader of the DiVAS squad

A silhouette of a body seen from a side view provided the backdrop for the remainder of the opening credits. The Bride's pursuit for revenge against the first person on the list, Vernita Green, came immediately after the brief opening credits.

The Bride's first target was suburban housewife Vernita Green / Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox), where they fought in the living room and kitchen of her Pasadena, CA home. In the midst of their fight-to-the-death with punches and kicks and a struggle with a fire poker and large knives, Green's young 4 year-old daughter Nikkia (Ambrosia Kelley) arrived home from school. After Nikki was told to go upstairs, the Bride described her vengeance: "You and I have unfinished business. And not a goddamned f--king thing you've done in the subsequent four years, including getting knocked up, is going to change that."

When Vernita attempted to trick the Bride and shoot her with a concealed handgun through a box of KABOOM breakfast cereal, the Bride retaliated for the betrayal and hurled a knife into her chest, and she died on the floor. As the Bride wiped blood from the blade, she turned and saw the young daughter approach, and explained that it wasn't her intention to openly kill the child's mother:

"It's not my intention to do this in front of you. For that, I'm sorry. But you can take my word for it. Your mother had it coming. When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I'll be waiting."

Her next target was O-Ren Ishii / Cottonmouth (Lucy Liu), a sword-wielding Yakuza leader in Tokyo, Japan. [Note: An anime film surveyed the development of the vengeful O'Ren's rise to leadership of the Yakuza, after at a young age she had witnessed the murder of her parents.] First, the Bride visited Okinawa, Japan, to acquire a forged sword from legendary, retired master swordsmith Hattori Hanzō (Sonny Chiba). At the House of Blue Leaves restaurant-nightclub, O'Ren's club, she fought against O'Ren's French-Japanese lawyer-assistant Sofie Fatale (Julie Dreyfus) (who had formerly worked for Bill), and amputated her left arm. (Later, she spared Sofie's life so that she could live to tell the tale to Bill.)

Then she had to engage in a duel against O-Ren's psychotic, sadistic, mace and chain-swinging 17 year-old schoolgirl-uniformed bodyguard assassin, Go Go Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama), and defeated her by impaling her in the head with embedded nails from a broken table leg. Then, she had to bloodily defeat O'Ren's entire army of elite, black-suited Yakuzas (the Crazy 88 fighters) led by Johnny Mo (Gordon Liu), who was cut in half.

Go Go Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama)

The Bride Against Army of Yakuzas

In a choreographed combat set in the snowy garden of the restaurant, the Bride was finally able to challenge O-Ren Ishii to a test of deathblows: "Attack me with everything you have." Blood dripped down O-Ren Ishii's foot after she was wounded in the leg during their first volley, and she apologized to the Bride: O-Ren Ishii: "For ridiculing you earlier, I apologize." The Bride: "Accepted. (pause) Ready?" O-Ren Ishii: "Come on."

After a quick flurry of additional sword clashes between the two females, there was: a swash of blood across the snow, a view of a scalp with long black hair flying through snowflakes in the air and landing in the snow, a closeup of a dropped samurai sword, and another closeup of the face of O-Ren Ishii. The defeated warrior repeated the name of the legendary sword that had just killed her - Hattori Hanzo: "That really was a Hattori Hanzo sword." As she was dying, the camera slowly pulled back and slightly panned up her face to reveal the top of her flattened, neatly-sliced open head. From a rear view, she sank to her knees, and slowly collapsed dead to her right.

The cliffhanger to Vol. 1 was news from Bill to Sofie in the hospital that the Bride's daughter was alive. The Bride's blood-soaked quest for vengeance ended for the time being - see Vol. 2 below..

The Bride's confrontation and murder of suburban housewife Vernita Green / Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox) in the living room and kitchen of her home.

The Bride's choreographed combat against sword-wielding Yakuza leader O-Ren Ishii / Cottonmouth (Lucy Liu).

Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (2004)

In this sequel, following after Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003) in the previous year, the film opened with the same brief opening from the earlier film.

In the Bride's / Beatrix Kiddo's (Uma Thurman) opening voice-over, she described how she hadn't died from Bill's last gun-shot at the wedding chapel. She had been ambushed 4 years earlier at the Massacre of Two Pines during a wedding dress rehearsal, when she was bloodied on the floor and told her assassin and lover Bill (David Carradine): "Bill, it's your baby." He put her into a coma for 4 years before she awakened, to continue her vengeful killing spree.

"Looked dead, didn't I? Well, I wasn't. But it wasn't from lack of trying, I can tell you that. Actually, Bill's last bullet put me in a coma - a coma I was to lie in for four years. When I woke up, I went on what the movie advertisements refer to as 'a roaring rampage of revenge.' I roared, and I rampaged, and I got bloody satisfaction. I've killed a hell of a lot of people to get to this point, but I've only one more. The last one. The one I'm driving to right now."

In her non-linear description, if she was on her way to her final vengeful killing (of all 5 members of the Viper Squad), she had just done away with Elle Driver, and only had one other individual to kill - Bill.

However, she first reviewed the events of the day when she was shot and others were massacred at the church. In the opening scene of Kill Bill, Vol. 2, the very pregnant Bride (in "a delicate condition") was in the Two Pines Wedding Chapel in El Paso, TX chapel for a "dress rehearsal" wedding day, seated next to her fiancee - Tommy Plympton (Christopher Allen Nelson), a used record store owner in town.

When the Bride excused herself for fresh air and retreated to the outdoor porch, she glimpsed Bill - who greeted her simply: "Hello, Kiddo." She asked: "How did you find me?...What are you doing here?" She described how she had made a decision to leave the killing life of an assassinatrix with Bill, and to drop out of the Vipers and became engaged to be married to Tommy and raise a family, after convincing him he was the father (although she knew Bill had fathered her unborn child).

Vol. 2 - Opening Sequence of Wedding
The Bride With Fiancee Tommy Plympton	Bill on Porch of Chapel: "Hello Kiddo"	Bill Pretending to Be the Bride's Father
Four Viper Assassins Enter the Chapel	(l to r): Elle, Vernita, Budd, O-Ren	The Bride: "Bill, it's your baby."

The jealous and vengeful Bill (who pretended to be the Bride's father during the ceremony) had ordered an attack on the chapel by four members of the DiVAS (the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad - an elite group led by Bill that the Bride had belonged to). They entered the back of the chapel and machine-gunned the participants. It became known as the Massacre at Two Pines, with eight dead bodies. The groom and all members of the bridal party were assumed murdered. The Bride (and her unborn child) were still barely alive, as Bill approached. Seriously wounded and punched to the floor, the Bride informed Bill that he was the father of her unborn child before passing out (and being shot in the head by Bill?).

However, The Bride was not dead, but remained in a 4-year comatose condition in a hospital (where she was repeatedly raped and violated). She was also threatened by lethal injection from one of the Vipers, Elle Driver (Darryl Hannah), Bill's lover, but he called it off by phone because she was defenseless.

Once she revived and was no longer pregnant, she assumed she had lost her unborn child. She vowed to seek killing revenge against the five perpetrators (her former assassin partners each with snake code-names, now arch-enemies), driving a stolen yellow and red pick-up truck marked "Pussy Wagon" and wearing a yellow motocross-style jacket (with black stripes) and leggings. She systematically went after those who had wronged her.

In this sequel, the Bride's third target was Bill's younger redneck, alcoholic brother and strip-club bouncer Budd (Michael Madsen), who lived in recreational vehicle trailer. Bill arrived to warn Budd about the Bride's vicious revenge and deadly pursuit: ("She is coming, and she is coming to kill you. And unless you accept my assistance, I have no doubt she will succeed").

Bill Warning Brother Budd About the Bride's Revenge

Alcoholic Redneck Budd (Michael Madsen)

Budd was unperturbed, and responded that maybe the Bride deserved to kill them ("That woman deserves her revenge. And we deserve to die. But then again, so does she. So, I guess we'll just see, won't we?"). He also told an annoyed Bill that he had "hocked" his gift of a "priceless" rusty samurai sword for $250 dollars in El Paso, TX.

Flashback to Beatrix's Martial Arts Training Under Pai Mei (Gordon Liu)

In Beatrix' back-story seen in flashback, she trained in China under Bill's kung-fu martial arts legend and traditionalist master Pai Mei (Gordon Liu), who was possibly 1,000 years old. The strict and disciplined master reluctantly began to train young Beatrix and often despised or criticized her for many things, including her gender, her ethnicity, her language skills, and her amateurish ability to fight. However, she was instructed on how to punch through a piece of wood, and was the only one to be taught a super-secret lethal technique known as the 'five-point-palm-exploding-heart technique' - important plot points for later.

Budd was anticipating the Bride's attack after being warned by Bill, and aimed his shotgun full of non-lethal rock salt at her chest when she assaulted him. He then injected her with a sedating tranquilizer in the buttocks before burying her alive in a local cemetery in the empty grave of Paula Schultz. He stole the Bride's valuable Hattori Hanzō sword - and called Viper Squad member Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) to offer the "brand spankin' new Hattori Hanzo sword" for sale. Elle promised to be there the next day with the money, and added her wishes for the Bride: "She must suffer to her last breath."

Meanwhile, the Bride miraculously escaped from the coffin by remembering being trained by martial arts master Pai Mei as a young girl with a "punch" technique through thick solid wood. She broke out of the coffin and crawled her way through the dirt to the surface, and then determinedly walked to an empty cafe where she asked the astonished waiter: "May I have a glass of water, please."

She was aided in her quest for revenge when on her way back to Budd's trailer the next day, she watched the arrival of one-eyed, patch-wearing Elle Driver with a red suitcase containing $1 million. She had been invited there to exchange the money for the Bride's Hattori Hanzo samurai sword. But then Elle double-crossed him by placing a Black Mamba snake in the case. When Budd opened the case, the deadly venomous creature bit him in the face and he died within 20 minutes due to asphyxiation. As Budd died on the floor, Elle used her hand-written notes to describe in detail how she had searched on the Internet for a way to quickly and efficiently kill him:

"...a bite to the face or torso can bring death from paralysis within 20 minutes.' Now, you should listen to this, 'cause this concerns you. 'The amount of venom that can be delivered from a single bite can be gargantuan.' You know, I've always liked that word, "gargantuan"... you so rarely have an opportunity to use it in a sentence. 'If not treated quickly with anti-venom, ten to fifteen milligrams can be fatal to human beings. However, the black mamba can deliver as much as 100 to 400 milligrams of venom from a single bite.'"

After Budd's death, Elle stole the Bride's sword and the money, and dishonestly lied to Bill by phone about how the Bride (now using her real name Beatrix) had planted the deadly mamba in the trailer before she (Elle) killed her. [Note: Ironically, 'Black Mamba' was Beatrix's code name.]

In a surprise ambush attack, Elle was confronted by Beatrix, and they began to viciously fight together - each with swords (Budd had earlier lied about pawning off Bill's gift of a priceless samurai sword for $250). During their struggle, Elle admitted that after Pai Mei had plucked out one of her eyes, she sought lethal revenge by poisoning his food. Beatrix plucked out Elle's second eye, and her detached and bloody right eyeball was dropped to the floor, then squished under the Bride's bare and grungy right foot, and ground into the carpet. Elle was left to die (presumably) flailing around in the trailer with the deadly Mamba.

Bride vs. Elle: Fight to the Death With Swords
	Split-Screen

Finally, Beatrix sought to kill Bill, her fifth and final target. In Mexico, she received information about Bill's whereabouts in a villa from retired pimp, Esteban Vihaio (Michael Parks). She located Bill and was shocked to meet their four year old daughter B.B. (Perla Haney-Jardine), who was playing shoot-em-up with Bill.

Beatrix Shocked To See Her Daughter For the First Time

BB (Perla Haney-Jardine) - Their 4 Year Old Daughter

During a peaceful evening together, Bill confessed his 'overreacting' reason for shooting and nearly killing the Bride - he felt abandoned and jealously enraged when she became pregnant and was engaged to another "f--king jerk" fiancee: ("I'm a killer. I'm a murdering bastard, you know that. And there are consequences to breaking the heart of a murdering bastard"). Beatrix was able to put BB to bed. Then outside during another truth-telling sequence, Beatrix explained that she had left Bill because she didn't want her unborn child to grow up and become mixed up with assassins.

During a brief sword fight instigated by Bill, Beatrix was able to deliver fatal blows to Bill's chest and heart, using "the five point palm-exploding heart technique" that she admitted had been taught to her by her martial arts master Pai Mei, but she hadn't informed Bill about it because she was "a bad person." After she applied the forceful blow to his chest, he offered his killer a respectful and calm goodbye:

"You're not a bad person. You're a terrific person. You're my favorite person, but every once in a while, you can be a real c--t." (She painfully giggled)

When he asked: "How do I look?", she paused and then answered: "You look ready." He stood up, buttoned his jacket, slowly walked away about five steps into the backyard, collapsed on the grass, and died. She was finally reunited with her daughter: "The lioness has rejoined her cub, and all is right in the jungle."