This epic tale of one woman's quest for justice presented in two installments. In Kill Bill - Vol. 1 the title character, is a sinister figure looming over the story who has organized an elite group called the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (or DiVAS).
All of the Vipers are code-named after poisonous serpents and the deadliest of them all is Black Mamba (Uma Thurman), who is also Bill's former lover.
Early in Vol. 1 a Texas Ranger (Michael Parks) surveys a grisly scene: an entire wedding party slaughtered during a dress rehearsal in a rural chapel. The pregnant woman in the blood-splattered wedding dress is Black Mamba, better known as The Bride.
Bill and The Vipers left The Bride for dead, but unluckily for them she was merely comatose. Four years later, The Bride suddenly awakens and realizes what has been done to her.
Her first target is the Viper known as Cottonmouth, O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) - the first female boss-of-all-bosses of the Japanese yakuza underworld. In Tokyo, O-Ren Ishii lives surrounded by her lethal henchmen in her stronghold, the House of Blue Leaves.
Without hesitation The Bride makes an assault upon the stronghold, fighting her way through hundreds of black clad soldiers, culminating in a snowy standoff between O-Ren Ishii and The Bride.
In Kill Bill - Vol. 2 the emotional momentum that builds throughout Vol. 1 will achieve its cathartic resolution, as The Bride tackles through the remaining Vipers to reach the man himself, and exact her final revenge.
What the critics are saying:
"Kill Bill: Volume 1 shows Quentin Tarantino so effortlessly and brilliantly in command of his technique that he reminds me of a virtuoso violinist racing through Flight of the Bumble Bee ..."
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Volume 1 is merely a build-up, albeit an epic one. It's something like a Tantric orgy of violence that'll leave you panting, but holds back on a satisfying climax."
- Stella Papamichael, BBCi Films
"Kill Bill is one long yakkety-yak about Tarantino's passions. He's the samurai who won't shut up."
- Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com