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Kill Bill: Volume 1

Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)

tomatometer

85

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Reviews Counted: 222
Fresh: 188 | Rotten: 34

Kill Bill is nothing more than a highly stylized revenge flick. But what style!

78

Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 41
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 9

Kill Bill is nothing more than a highly stylized revenge flick. But what style!

audience

76

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 31,044,074

My Rating

Movie Info

Perhaps the most highly anticipated film of 2003, Kill Bill Vol. 1 marked the return of renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino after a six-year hiatus. Re-teaming the director with Uma Thurman for the first time since 1994's Pulp Fiction, the film was originally the first half of what was to be a three-hour-plus movie before being split into two films. Thurman stars as The Bride, one-fifth of a team of assassins called DiVAS. When The Bride opts to leave the outfit for a life of marital bliss, it

Apr 13, 2004

$70.0M

Miramax Films

Cast

All Critics (222) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (200) | Rotten (34) | DVD (55)

A strange, fun and densely textured work that gets better as it goes along.

May 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop 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 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comments (5)
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop 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 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comment
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I would argue that, in a bizarre way, Mr. Tarantino empowers women as no action-genre director before him ever has.

October 16, 2003 Comment
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Simultaneously a spectacular act of movie-making and a slight movie.

October 12, 2003 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Kill Bill is one long yakkety-yak about Tarantino's passions. He's the samurai who won't shut up.

October 11, 2003 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comments (8)
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Visually striking, but also very violent.

December 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment (1)
Common Sense Media

A head-spinning dream project of extraordinarily bi-polar, nutso invention, Vol. 1 is a candy store rampage, cheering on Tarantino's fetishes as he built a colorful war machine of ideal double-feature dementia.

December 28, 2009 Full Review Source: Modamag.com | Comments (2)
Modamag.com

Quentin Tarantino's long awaited fourth film finds the pop culture carnivore of filmmaking reinvigorating cinema a second time over with a single-plot-trajectory revenge movie that utilizes samurai sword action with a shifting score of infectious guitar d

April 19, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comment
ColeSmithey.com

With its eclectic use of music and inventive mix of genres, Kill Bill is a striking and enigmatic revenge film visually and culturally rich and relentless in its action.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

Something borrowed, something bloody. [Blu-ray]

September 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | Comment
Groucho Reviews

Visually, this is probably the definitive Kill Bill: Vol. 1. Those without top-notch entertainment systems, however, may be better off sticking with the version they already own.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

It's not my taste, but I can appreciate what Tarantino is trying to do.

September 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

Tarantino instead relies on delirious, high-octane, imaginative camera work; an anime sequence; and an exhilarating musical soundtrack to punch up a story that loses its intoxicating magnetism well before the final credits roll.

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comment
Sacramento News & Review

I didn't leave the cinema aching to see Volume Two (out in February), though I'm interested to learn how things work out.

May 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | Comment
Observer [UK]

Kill Bill is a temple of worship -- a devout hymn of praise to crap cinema (which isn't always crappy).

August 4, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Kill Bill is pretty stupid, but there are also moments of beauty and brilliance.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comment
Big Picture Big Sound

Unfolding as a book the film is conceived in chapters, each boasting the look and pulse of a specific genre; as expected of Tarantino, there are references to music, literature, fashion, and above all movies and pop culture, both American and foreign.

December 20, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

It's all bang, bang; no kiss, kiss. But this is still bravura film-making from a prodigious talent, and Thurman may yet prove its saving grace.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

One of the best films of the year, and, when it's all said and done, probably the decade.

July 5, 2005 Full Review Source: Bullz-Eye.com | Comment
Bullz-Eye.com

Tarantino is back with his most polished and yet slightly empty effort yet.

April 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | Comment
Dark Horizons
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Kill Bill: Volume 1

The fight scene a the end of this movie was just amazing, The Bride versus the Crazy 88's. What a great film.

March 20, 2007
jmanard52

Super Reviewer

As far as mainstream martial arts movies go, Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1 is easily one of the most original and stylish ones i've ever seen. However, Quentin Tarantino does work better when he tries to appeal primarily to the mature gorehound audience as opposed to what he does here in which he tries to expand

May 17, 2012
Directors Cat
Directors Cat

Super Reviewer

    1. O-Ren Ishii: Silly rabbit...
    2. The Bride: Tricks are for...
    3. O-Ren Ishii: Kids.
    – Submitted by Courtney E (8 hours ago)
    1. Hattori Hanzo: Funny, you like samurai swords... I like baseball.
    – Submitted by Lucas M (10 days ago)
    1. O-Ren Ishii: That really was a Hattori Hanzo sword.
    – Submitted by Lucas M (10 days ago)
    1. Elle Driver: I might never have liked you. Point of fact, I despise you. But that doesn't suggest I don't respect you. Dying in our sleep is a luxury our kind is rarely afforded. My gift to you.
    – Submitted by Lucas M (10 days ago)
    1. Elle Driver: Thought that was pretty fuckin' funny didn't you? Word of advice, shithead - don't you ever wake up.
    – Submitted by Lucas M (10 days ago)

Movies Like Kill Bill: Volume 1

Latest News for Kill Bill: Volume 1

February 28, 2011:
Kill Bill: Together At Last, As Nature Intended
For one week in March, patrons of the New Beverly Cinema will be able to watch both volumes of "Kill...

October 2, 2009:
Weekly Ketchup: Threequels for Kill Bill, Transformers
This week's Ketchup includes new movies for Leonardo DiCaprio and Hugh Jackman, sequel news for Kill...

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Foreign Titles

  • Kill Bill Vol. 1 (DE)
  • Kill Bill Vol I and II (UK)
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