Review Detail

The Killer Bride (2012)

It has been many years since I sat down and Watched Kill Bill. I had done a fan edit of this movie in the past and haven't really felt the urge to watch the movie, much like the way one doesn't often feel the urge to look at the contents of a storage locker. I tell you this because any comparisons I make to the original film in this review will be purely from my less than perfect mental construct and I will be trying to focus on this as it's own film for the most part.

With the exception of the final scene, This is an excellent abridgment of the two films. The last scene of the film felt a bit dry, rushed, and disjointed. It felt like the editor was crunching at the end of a very tedious edit. It is never a good idea to look at the end of a movie when your over the time budget. But all in all, the various visual styles of the kill bill movies are well represented and it is a complete and whole story. And thank you for not bleeping her name!

This next edit is a very minor issue and I only raise it to be constructive. I would have cut the shots of the bride pulling up in truck for the first fight scene. I would have gone strait to the door bell ring. We don't need to know it's Pasadena, California, or that she has a sweet ride. I was glad he cut the shot of her driving off in the "Pussy Wagon", but seeing the truck in the beginning of the scene distracted me because all I could think about is whether or not Leeroy was going to cut the "pussy wagon" stuff out or not when the suspense should have been on the fight scene. Not seeing the truck in the beginning would have immediately let me know and allowed my brain to focus else wise. But if the viewer had never seen the original kill bill, this would not be an issue.

One cut that was really jarring was the talk with Bill and Bud in the next scene. I was flustered by it because I wasn't aware it was a flashback until after the scene was over. It could have been done in black and white, or simply as a Voice Over on the existing scene. I also wished the sword was talked about a bit before the scene so we feel the importance of it before he picks it up and makes the phone call. I do believe that Bill and Bud talk about the sword in that scene being cut short with out having to get into the whole japan thing. But with those exceptions, over all this scene is excellent and my favorite of the edit. The pacing is terrific. I love the music and the 4:3 aspect. I don't know how much of that was Leeroy and what was the original film, but I loved it.

All of the fight scenes were great and I loved the addition of "the next day" scene, although I don't think it was necessary to tell the audience it was the next day since the film is chronological. I think cutting the Japan sequence was a good call for this film. The scenes selected in the Killer Bride are all vital to the main story arc and Japan is pretty much a tangent that focuses on the story of the sword, and two Asian master scenes is really too much for one movie that has other things going on in it.

I would be more than happy to show this film to someone who has never seen Kill Bill. Too many times have I heard people refuse to watch it because of the extreme length or they find Tarantino too confusing. This film is a great fit for those people or for someone like me who has just seen Kill Bill way too many times. This is one of Leeroy's early works and I look forward to seeing the rest of his cuts.