Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

Kill Bill: Every Major Performance, Ranked

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In Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Uma Thurman may give a powerhouse performance as the Bride, but she’s joined by a stellar ensemble.

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Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

Quentin Tarantino originally wanted to release Kill Bill as one four-hour movie until marketing concerns forced him to cut it in half and release it as two separate parts, so he still considers it to be one complete piece. To be fair, neither Volume 1 nor Volume 2 tells a full story of its own, and neither can exist without the other.

The movie began as a concept for the lead character that Tarantino conceived with Uma Thurman, which means that the actors are a very important part of the film’s makeup. So, here are all the major performances from both parts of Kill Bill, ranked.

10 Perla Haney-Jardine As B.B.

Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

It’s tough being a child actor. For all intents and purposes, young Perla Haney-Jardine gave a great performance as B.B., the Bride and Bill’s daughter who was raised by Bill while the Bride was in a coma. But by virtue of being a kid, her performance isn’t quite as strong as any of her adult co-stars.

Fun fact about Perla Haney-Jardine: in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, she can be seen selling an acid-laced cigarette to Cliff Booth.

9 Julie Dreyfus As Sofie Fatale

Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

Sofie Fatale was a supporting character in the literal sense, as she was O-Ren Ishii’s closest companion, second lieutenant, and lawyer. So, Julie Dreyfus didn’t have a lot to do with the role.

She nailed her evil smile during the slow-motion walk through the House of Blue Leaves, and was suitably frightened during Volume 1’s final scene in which she’s interrogated by Bill. But on top of that, she didn’t have many scenes in which she could truly stand out.

8 Gordon Liu As Pai Mei

Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

When he was writing Kill Bill, Tarantino had the idea to depict Pai Mei with a bad English dub, and he was going to provide the voice himself. Thankfully, he decided against that idea (which sounds neat on paper, but probably would’ve been very strange in execution), and instead cast Gordon Liu — who had previously played Crazy 88’s leader Johnny Mo in Volume 1 — to play the role.

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Liu played Pai Mei as a total jerk who used tough love and mockery to bring out the Bride’s anger and help her with her training.

7 Michael Madsen As Budd

Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

When we catch up with Budd in his post-Deadly Viper days, he’s a real loser. He’s living in a trailer in the desert and working as a bouncer whose duties also include cleaning toilets.

Michael Madsen’s typically cool line delivery juxtaposes comically with the other characters treating Budd like crap, like when his boss makes fun of his hat. He also provided a perfect stinger for Volume 1’s cliffhanger ending: “That woman deserves her revenge…and we deserve to die.”

6 Vivica A. Fox As Vernita Green

Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

Although she’s the Bride’s second vengeful kill, thanks to a little nonlinear storytelling, Vivica A. Fox’s Vernita Green is the first target that we see her dispatch. Fox slipped effortlessly into delivering Tarantino’s unique style of genre-specific dialogue, and her fight with the Bride instantly hooks the audience.

We’re supposed to view Vernita as a villain, but Fox brings real nuance to the role as she genuinely wants to protect her daughter and stay alive to see her grow up.

5 Sonny Chiba As Hattori Hanzo

Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

Through his avatar Clarence Worley in True Romance, Quentin Tarantino once called Sonny Chiba “bar none, the greatest actor working in martial arts movies today.” So, it was only fitting for Tarantino to cast Chiba as the legendary swordsmith who comes out of retirement to forge a sword for the Bride to use to exact revenge in Kill Bill.

Chiba was tasked with holding the attention of American audiences during an extended subtitled sequence in the middle of a mostly English-language film, and with a bold performance recalling a grizzled, older version of his most iconic characters, he did just that.

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4 Daryl Hannah As Elle Driver

Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

Daryl Hannah reportedly didn’t get along with Uma Thurman on the set of Kill Bill, but this actually worked in the movie’s favor. Hannah’s character, Elle Driver, is supposed to have an intense rivalry with Thurman’s character, the Bride, so their palpable hatred for each other helps to sell that.

Elle Driver is one of the most memorable characters in the Tarantino pantheon of villains, and that’s largely thanks to Hannah’s performance in the role.

3 Lucy Liu As O-Ren Ishii

Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

The look of evil in Lucy Liu’s eyes when she decapitates an insubordinate crime boss sums up the perfection of her performance in the role of O-Ren Ishii. Having grown up as an orphan who started killing at a young age to avenge her parents’ deaths, O-Ren is callous and cold-hearted.

Liu didn’t try to make this yakuza leader come off as sympathetic; instead, she leaned into the character’s malevolence. As the Bride’s first target for revenge — and her former best friend — O-Ren had a pivotal role in Volume 1, and Liu nailed it.

2 David Carradine As Bill

Kill Bill Every Major Performance Ranked

The character of Bill was originally written for Warren Beatty, but due to creative differences, Beatty turned down the part. Tarantino reworked the character to be younger, and cast David Carradine in the role.

Carradine’s well-paced, captivating line delivery created a mystique around Bill in Volume 1 as he remained in unseen character. Then, in Volume 2, when he finally appeared on-screen, he didn’t disappoint. He handled Bill’s pontificating monologues, like the one about Superman’s secret identity, with gusto.

1 Uma Thurman As The Bride

In the end credits of Kill Bill, while the screenplay is credited to Quentin Tarantino, the Bride character is credited to both Tarantino and Uma Thurman. They came up with the character on the set of Pulp Fiction, and the story grew from the character.

The Bride is an archetypal genre character, but Thurman plays her with real humanity. Amidst the highly stylized, Shaw Brothers-inspired aesthetic that Tarantino brings to the table, Thurman plays the real pain of being betrayed by a former lover and losing all your loved ones, including your unborn child.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/kill-bill-every-major-performance-ranked-quentin-tarantino-movie/

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