finally saw kill bill

[DannyinJapan]

I just finished it.
Man, it is bloody. I like a good swordfight, but this movie actually sacrificed swordfighting to get a higher number of kills per second.
Id have to call it a "swordkilling " movie, as opposed to a swordfighting movie.
I guess the only other complaint I have is the constant hollywood habit of mispronouncing the word "yakuza"
The accent is on the first syllable, not the second.
(In fact, you can hardly hear the "kuza" part when japanese people say it)

If you guys want a good Japanese sword and gangster movie, check out Robert Mitchum and Takakura Ken in "Yakuza"
It is one of my favorites, a 70's classic that inspired an entire genre of japanese gangster films in japan.
(they didnt even make yakuza movies until we did!)


Sonny chiba was great, he is a character.
Uma was great, but that is no surprise.
Chiaki needs a nose job. Most of my students are hotter than she is. They will tell you so!
(My students are mostly japanese 16,17 and 18 year old girls)

 

[Mark Nelson]

I just finished it.
Chiaki needs a nose job. Most of my students are hotter than she is. They will tell you so!
(My students are mostly japanese 16,17 and 18 year old girls)

Never mind.

 

[Daniel Koster]

doh!

 

[Josh Muller]

america is slightly deprived how just how bueatiful japanese women are/can be...

i take it your refering to kill bill 1, have you seen kill bill vol. 2?

as time magazine put it, you get more bill, less kill. the first was show, this is tell.

same goes with the fighting as far as im concerened, the first was a lot of bodies, the second is a lot more skill and camera work. the things i really liked about the volume 2 - even more 70's kung fu tributes, better fights (1 on 1 action through out... i dont actually recall a 3 person fight in the entire film...), and the section of the movie that slows waaaaaaaay down (1/3= superfast, 2/3=slowing down, 3/3=deadpaced (same in killbill 1)) is filled with verbal and acting nuances and subtletees that show off the acting skills of all involved, and the language used is choeriographed excellently - mainly due to david caradeen, and his father figure in the movie's super smooth voices and ability to draw you in like few others... AND GORDON LIU AS PAI MEI!!!!!!! he does SO MUCH justice to the character that lo leih brought to us in the 70s....


it was better then i thought it would be... im a sucker for story lines more so then straight action, and the two volumes are examples of both, 1 being all killing, 2 being almost all story.

i still hold my opinion that samurai x is the best film ever made, in the history of films, in the history of mankind.

 

[Ferrous Wheel]

Yeah. Seth, did you note that how Darryl Hanna's character was writhing on the floor of the trailer was almost the exact moves she used when writhing in Blade Runner? Danny, you'll see what I mean...

Also totally pegged the Shogun Assassin ref in the second one.

Shogun Assassin is perhaps my fave movie of the Genre.

 

[Josh Muller]

(try not to give out anything about what actualy happens in the movie ) i walked into it with absolutely no reference to what it would be like, or what was in it, and it was good because of it...

i know i shouldnt review it at all in order to keep that possibility open for others, but GOD IT SO COOL!!! THE STTYYYLLEEEE!!!!!!!

 

[Don Nelson]

I just finished it.
Man, it is bloody. I like a good swordfight, but this movie actually sacrificed swordfighting to get a higher number of kills per second.
Id have to call it a "swordkilling " movie, as opposed to a swordfighting movie.
I guess the only other complaint I have is the constant hollywood habit of mispronouncing the word "yakuza"
The accent is on the first syllable, not the second.
(In fact, you can hardly hear the "kuza" part when japanese people say it)

If you guys want a good Japanese sword and gangster movie, check out Robert Mitchum and Takakura Ken in "Yakuza"
It is one of my favorites, a 70's classic that inspired an entire genre of japanese gangster films in japan.
(they didnt even make yakuza movies until we did!)


Sonny chiba was great, he is a character.
Uma was great, but that is no surprise.
Chiaki needs a nose job. Most of my students are hotter than she is. They will tell you so!
(My students are mostly japanese 16,17 and 18 year old girls)

Did they also have the now mandatory sound of metal scraping on metal as the sword is drawn from its WOOD scabbard (or Saya to the purists)?

Kinda like nowadays, every time a gun is pointed at someone in a movie you hear the sound of *A* gun being cocked.

I mean, a fellow finds himself surrounded by ten SWAT guys. The SWAT guys raise their guns to cover the surrounded fellow, to the sound of about twenty actions of various types being cycled. That's weird, the actions should have ALREADY been cycled, you know, locked and loaded.

They lower their guns to talk to said suspicious fellow, and when he reaches down to scratch his crotch the ten guns come back up to threaten him with the sound of the same twenty actions being recycled again.

What the heck? Did they all just suddenly unload their firearms using stealth magic in the intervening 15 seconds from when they first pointed their guns at him???

Man, sometimes I really hate the movie industry.

Don

 

[Josh Muller]

i dont think there was to much *sssshiiiing*ing going on when blades were drawn... at least, not in the intimate moments.

i will say that there was plenty of direct blade on blade action, along with power pushes.... everytime i see it i think "i dont care how well that sword is made, your gonna have to spend days working out the dent/totally missing chunk of edge."

and to perry a sword once both edges are dented inward from a power push... ugh... painful to my eyes....

 

[Kismet]

ya just gotta love a forum where in the midst of discussing movies full of blood, gore, killing, and dismemberment, the reviewer takes time to feel sorry for the swords.

Kis

 

[ichor]

Did they also have the now mandatory sound of metal scraping on metal as the sword is drawn from its WOOD scabbard (or Saya to the purists)?

Kinda like nowadays, every time a gun is pointed at someone in a movie you hear the sound of *A* gun being cocked.

I mean, a fellow finds himself surrounded by ten SWAT guys. The SWAT guys raise their guns to cover the surrounded fellow, to the sound of about twenty actions of various types being cycled. That's weird, the actions should have ALREADY been cycled, you know, locked and loaded.

They lower their guns to talk to said suspicious fellow, and when he reaches down to scratch his crotch the ten guns come back up to threaten him with the sound of the same twenty actions being recycled again.

What the heck? Did they all just suddenly unload their firearms using stealth magic in the intervening 15 seconds from when they first pointed their guns at him???

Man, sometimes I really hate the movie industry.

Don

They do this for the same reason they take a double action auto and cock the hammer....because they think it's dramatic. After all, what's more dramatic than a pump shotgun being cycled.......even if, in real life, it would have had a round chambered long ago.

MAN!!......"Yakuza" with Robt. Mitchum, is one my all time favorites. Even if cutting off one's own finger, as a matter of honor, if I remember correctly, seems a little extreme! I can't find that movie.

 

[Ferrous Wheel]

Mebbe they shot a waring shot of imaginary bullets, which are so quiet and low power that they dont cause the blowback operation to recock the weapon.

As for the distressing of the swords--relax man, its only a movie, it's not real...

KEith

 

[Josh Muller]

im going to see kill bill vol. 2 again with my mother this weekend or next....

i'll go just to see uma thurman smile like she does in it....

 

[richardallen]

The movie was the ****, period.

They did a lot of noises though, like when blades were drawn, crossed, whatever. Even the kitchen knives in Vol 1 made those noises. I believe it was Tarantinos intention though too make it that much oer the top. I dont think
he did this just for making it 'more dramatic'. This movie is just like in real life manga in my opinion.

cheez

 

[Josh Muller]

The movie was the ****, period.

They did a lot of noises though, like when blades were drawn, crossed, whatever. Even the kitchen knives in Vol 1 made those noises. I believe it was Tarantinos intention though too make it that much oer the top. I dont think
he did this just for making it 'more dramatic'. This movie is just like in real life manga in my opinion.

cheez

watch fist of the white lotus, the flying guilleteen, return of the deadly venoms, shaolin vs. lama, born invincible or any of the other classic shaw scopes. no blade is without a catchphrase - i think tarantino was paying a little tribute with the sound effects. not just to make it "more dramatic"

 

[richardallen]

that's what I meant. thanks for helping out with the word tribute, I kinda forgot it.

 

[Ferrous Wheel]

..is quite the story teller, and good with the cinematography.

Keith

 

[Don Nelson]

ya just gotta love a forum where in the midst of discussing movies full of blood, gore, killing, and dismemberment, the reviewer takes time to feel sorry for the swords.

Kis

That's because some of us know how much they cost, You won't find many "Blem Specials" among real swords, especially Japanese-style swords (LOL).

I'm having a custom katana crafted for me. The blade by itself is nearly $1,500. Having it polished (sharpened) will cost me at least another $1,500, possibly as much as $2,000. The fittings (tsuba, fuchi, kashira, menuki, seppa, same' and ito wrap) will cost me several hundred more. The actual crafting of the tsuka (hilt) will cost me several hundred more still. And the custom fitted scabbard (saya) will also cost several hundred more.

It's bad enough to damage a blade perhaps beyond repair, without it having been an expensive blade on top of that (ouch).

That's why if I were going to go on a rampage I'd buy a Paul Chen Practical Katana for $200. Yeah, it ain't pretty and has less than perfect fit, and shortcuts taken all through its manufacture. But at least it's only a $200 sword I'd be wrecking.

Don

 

[Don Nelson]

They do this for the same reason they take a double action auto and cock the hammer....because they think it's dramatic. After all, what's more dramatic than a pump shotgun being cycled.......even if, in real life, it would have had a round chambered long ago.

MAN!!......"Yakuza" with Robt. Mitchum, is one my all time favorites. Even if cutting off one's own finger, as a matter of honor, if I remember correctly, seems a little extreme! I can't find that movie.

Saw a similar movie with an undercover cop who cut off his own finger to keep from blowing his cover.

Now that is dedication - or perhaps just self-preservation. (Makes me shudder violently for minutes at a time just thinking about it.)

Don

 

[Diamond Cut II]

I just finished it last night. Makes me want a 22" Kobra...Can a Khuk do all that? Seriously, can it?

"Yakuza" came on a saturday and sunday two weeks ago.

 

[Rusty]

ya just gotta love a forum where in the midst of discussing movies full of blood, gore, killing, and dismemberment, the reviewer takes time to feel sorry for the swords.

Kis

Haven't ya heard, we're a bunch of SENSITIVE guys here!

LOL