Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

Yesterday I went with my sister and brother-in-law, the biggest Quentin Tarantino fans in the world, to see Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, which combines Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2 into one movie as Tarantino originally intended, and it was absolutely awesome!  A former assassin known as the Bride (Uma Thurman), code name Black Mamba, awakens from a four year coma after a massacre that killed everyone, including her unborn child, at her wedding rehearsal.  She vows to find and kill Bill (David Carradine), code name Snake Charmer, her jealous former lover and mentor, and four members of his Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, including Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), code name Copperhead, O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), code name Cottonmouth, Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), code name California Mountain Snake, and Budd (Michael Madsen), code name Sidewinder, for betraying her.  This is a brilliant revenge thriller that pays homage to the low-budget exploitation films of the 1970s, particularly martial arts films and spaghetti westerns, and features highly stylized action sequences.  I especially love the fight choreography in the showdown at the House of Blue Leaves in which the Bride battles O-Ren Ishii's second lieutenant Sofia Fatale (Julie Dreyfus), her Japanese schoolgirl bodyguard Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama), the entire Yakuza gang she leads known as the Crazy 88, and then the assassin herself with the samurai sword made for her by Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba) while wearing the iconic yellow tracksuit (inspired by the one worn by Bruce Lee in Game of Death) because it is so hyperviolent with flying limbs and blood gushing everywhere (it is expanded and all of it is shown in glorious color in this version).  I also love the shot composition in the black and white sequence during the massacre at Two Pines (it reminded me of the final shot in The Searchers) and the use of Japanese anime for O-Ren Ishii's backstory (it is also expanded in this version and it is very cool).  All of the music is fantastic but my favorite is "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" by Nancy Sinatra, which is used during the opening credits, because it really sets the tone for the Bride's story.  Thurman gives an epic performance as a woman seeking vengeance and reconciling what was done to her because she is equally adept in the action sequences and in the more emotional scenes with Bill.  Finally, I definitely prefer this version over the two-part one because the pacing is much improved, the deletion of one scene makes a later revelation even more powerful, and the addition of several scenes adds to the context (not to mention the fact that watching this all afternoon was an incredible theatrical experience).  I highly recommend checking this out while it is in theaters (our screening was completely sold out) because it is a blast!