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The Beauty in the Kill Bill Endings

Kill Bill is the fourth movie in the highly-praised filmography of director Quentin Tarantino. The film is divided into two volumes, due to its plus four hours of run time. In the next blogpost we will analyse why the endings on both Volume 1 and 2 are so terrificly written, crafted and are an excellent example of how to finish a film.

This will of course contain spoilers for both Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2

Kill Bill Volume I

Kill Bill Volume 1 has to accomplish the amazingly challenging task of being a solid follow up to the next chapter in the Bride’s journey of revenge AKA hooking you enough so you go watch Kill Bill Vol. 2 AND having to be a solid film by itself and not feel like it’s lacking. Tarantino not only succeeds, but surpassed expectations in this story. The character of the Bride is someone that you sympathise completely with right from the beginning.

Chapter One introduces us to a female warrior that goes balls out in her battle against her second name on her death list, Vernita Green. It’s just a kick-ass fight sequence. We don’t get why these girls are fighting, but we love it.

We do understand why the Bride is in this rampage on Chapter Two, her heartbreaking motivation. After awakening from the coma, she goes straight into action by killing a trucker and bashing Buck’s skull. And as she enters the Pussy Wagon, she starts crafting her revenge plan.

From Chapter Three to Chapter Five we get the first part of Beatrix’s revenge. Chapter Three gives us the origin story of the first name on her death list in a beautifully drawn anime sequence, in Chapter Four we meet the famous Hattori Hanzo played by legendary actor Sonny Chiba and to end off the movie, Tarantino displays a plus 50 minute chapter filled with eye candy for every fan of good old Tarantino violence. A gore fest that starts with the showdown between our protagonist and the crazy maniac Gogo Yubari, followed by a war between Thurman and the Crazy 88 and ends with a Katana clash between Beatrix and perhaps the most interesting antagonist besides Bill himself, O-Ren Ishii. In facts many fans have stated that she was more interesting than Beatrix and claimed a movie made just about her.

Understanding The Kill Bill Volume I Ending

There are three crucial parts about the Kill Bill ending we have to understand. We will dive deep into the meaning of each and why it’s simply glorious

Part One - The Snowy House of Blue Leaves: After the fantastic bloodshed that The Bride has unleashed, she has one final enemy to face. And that is O-Ren. Contrary to the multi-man battle against the Crazy 88, Liu and Thurman give top notch performances as they demonstrate the level of mutual respect that the two warriors have for each other. Even though O-Ren starts with a cocky attituded, as the battle progresses she realizes that Kiddo is not here to play around and gets to the point of apologising to her for the pain that she has caused her. This entire sequence is gold firstly because of the tension, a thing that Tarantino knows how to hold well. The fight is drawn out and cruel. The girls pause as Quentin gives a shot from behind a pond that fills with water. Each time the water is filled and the mechanism activates you just beg for the action to happen. You want to know the resolution to the fight. The song played in the background is also top notch. Tarantino has a natural talent for picking the right music and he knocks it out of the park with the tune “Don’t let me be misunderstood”. The visceral end to the battle’s and O-Ren’s last words are crucial. The cinematography is beautiful as the camera pans away once Beatrix gets a rest in a bench filled with white snow.

Part Two - The Hook to Volume 2: Between the last dialogue in the film, held between Sophie and Bill, we get to receive some clips of the upcoming movie and boy does Tarantino nail the selection of this themes. Budd’s monologue about revenge, Elle Driver asking for the suffering of her biggest enemy. It just makes you want to see Volume II as soon as you finish this movie

Part Three - The Last Line: It’s crucial for a movie that wants to sell its sequel to have a glorious last line. Tell me, who in all hells remembers the last line in Mockingjay Part one? The Deathly Hallows Part one? No? Of course not. Because it’s not memorable. Kill Bill’s last line makes your jaw fall to the floor. I wish I was 8 years old again so I could be surprised of the huge shocker. Remember what I said about perfect background music? Well it happens here again and maybe even better than with Don’t let me be misunderstood. With the sound of the Lonely Sheperd, Bill reveals to the audience that Beatrix’s daughter is still alive. Gorgeous.

Kill Bill Volume II

The first chapter in Kill Bill Volume 2 is a well crafted exposition into the relationship between Bill and The Bride. How is his shown? In Kiddo’s wedding rehearsal, the day the massacred happened. This chapters sets the tone for the entire film, a more slow placed film that gives priority to the character development.

After the beginning of our bloody tale is shown to us we jump to chapter seven, where Beatrix is trying to cross the third name in her list, Budd. However, the only thing she faces are two bullets directly in her chest. The chapter ends with Il Mercenario playing on the background, as we see the Bride being vulnerable and lost for the first time after she awoke from the coma. Budd is burying her alive.

How does she overcome this obstacle? Thanks to the Cruel Tutelage Of Pai Mai, shown in Chapter Eight. The gritty training that our hero had to go through.

Chapter Nine is starred by the most cruel and evil character in the movie, Elle Driver. After killing Budd thinking she won in this story of revenge, Beatrix denies that with a dropkick right to her chest and we can see that this battle is not a honorable sword fight like the one in Chapter Five. These bitches are here to fight. They hate each other. Beatrix doesn’t kill Elle, but boy does she suffer. Being now completely blind, Kiddo leaves her blind and alone, in the middle of nowhere.

And then we jump to the heart-breaking conclusion

Understanding the Kill Bill Volume II Ending

Right in the first chapter of Kill Bill Volume 2 we know how much Beatrix loved Bill.

“I was a woman, I was your woman. I was a killer who’d killed for you”

Beatrix is doing the hardest thing on her life by murdering her true love. But she has to. It’s a heart-breaking end to the tale of two lovers. It’s an ending that always makes me cry. It’s an ending that makes me stay to watch the entire credits.

Both Carradine (RIP) and Thurman are one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema and they really show. Uma’s shock by finding out her daughter is alive is relieving, is filled with love. Even though we already knew she was alive, we feel for her. She is an amazingly written character. And then there’s David, with his final scene being just a huge memorable sequence filled with amazing quotes and a tear-jerking conclusion to my favourite movie of all time.

The Bigger Picture

I love every part about Kill Bill. Both films. But the endings are, in my opinion, what makes them masterpieces. It’s my favourite Tarantino movie and my favourite movie overall. I don’t even think this is Tarantino’s best. That honour goes to Inglorious Basterds. However, it’s still my favourite movie. Vol. 2’s ending makes me cry every single time I watch it.

You can tell that Tarantino had this movie in his mind since he aspired making movies. It’s a work that screams Quentin. And it’s a movie that he loved making. This film is an entire homage to everything that Tarantino enjoys.

From classic Kung-Fu movies...

To Spaghetti Westerns...

And even an anime sequence

And isn’t that the goal of filmmaking?

Creating something that you love with the purpose of sharing and introducing more people to the things you enjoy.

This is how the essay ends. A goodbye from the master himself

#movies #film #kill bill #quentin tarantino

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