Search - Kill Bill Vol. 1 on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Graphic Violence, Rape & Sexual Abuse, Not For Children, Profanity, Gore Movie Release: 2003 DVD Release: 04/13/2004 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: Japanese, Korean, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 51 mins Studio: Miramax Total Copies: 7 Genres: Action, Action Thriller, Martial Arts See Also: Kill Bill Vol. 1 [UMD for PSP], Kill Bill, Vol. 1 [Blu-ray]

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 doesn't sit well with her boss, Bill (David Carradine), so he has her former cohorts, played by Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, and Michael Madsen, show up at the nuptials, leaving behind a blood bath. Miraculously, The Bride survives a bullet to the head and, four years later, she sets out for revenge against her four assassins and their employer. The story is concluded in Kill Bill Vol. 2, released six months later. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Uma Thurman - The Bride
Lucy Liu - O-Ren Ishii
Vivica A. Fox - Vernita Green
Daryl Hannah - Elle Driver
Julie Dreyfus - Sophie Fatale
David Carradine - Bill
Michael Madsen - Budd

The first installment of Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino's hyper-violent revenge epic makes its DVD debut courtesy of Miramax Home Entertainment. Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, the image sports even skin tones and bright, vivid colors, offset by deep, solid blacks. Some unfortunate evidence of moderate edge-enhancement seems to be the only drawback to an otherwise near-flawless visual treatment. Sound is presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS, and an alternate French-language track, with optional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish subtitles. It is in regards to sound that this disc truly excels, with Tarantino's exhausting, eclectic soundtrack offering an ideal auditory backdrop to the onscreen mayhem. Limbs are detached and swords clash with resounding fury and clarity, while the roar of motorcycle engines and airplanes push the low-frequency capabilities of one's home-theater system. As The Bride makes her final decent into the House of Blue Leaves, it's hard for viewers not to be seduced by the slick sound editing and driving score that accompanies the eye-popping battle. If there's one aspect of the disc that disappoints, it has to be the lack of extra features. Though the promise of a massive special edition DVD release when Kill Bill Vol. 2 hits the home-video market looms on the horizon before the concluding chapter has even hit theaters, it's hard not to feel slighted with the sparse offerings here. Despite the offering of the occasional interesting tidbit, "The Making of Kill Bill Vol. 1," when all is said and done, is little more than a cog in the ever-present hype machine -- an extended, 20-minute commercial for the film that is similar to the brief previews shown in-between movies on pay cable. A pair of bonus songs by infectious House of Blue Leaves rockers the 5.6.7.8's at least entertains, though it's all-too-brief, and aside from the intriguing "Bootleg Trailer" for the film (also included on the soundtrack CD), the trailers offered here are nothing that Tarantino fans haven't already seen a million times before. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide