Trying to decide what is the most violent Quentin Tarantino movie is no easy task. Tarantino exploded onto the movie scene by having Vic Vega slice Marvin’s ear off in Reservoir Dogs and followed it up by having his brother Vincent accidentally shoot (a different) Marvin in the face in Pulp Fiction. Things did not let up from there, and 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood had a particularly violent finale.
But if we had to settle on Quentin Tarantino‘s most violent movie, we think we’d have to plump for Kill Bill, especially if you cheat and combine the two movies. And today is a cause for celebration because Kill Bill Vol 1 was released 20 years ago – on October 10, 2003. Kill Bill Vol 1 and Vol 2 is a rare example where a movie and its sequel have quite different vibes – but in our humble opinion – they are equally as good.
In the first Kill Bill movie, Tarantino leaned heavily on his influences from some of the best action movies of the 70s, including kung-fu movies and samurai films such as Lady Snowblood. The second had more of a spaghetti western feel, but we’re here to talk about the first, so let’s not get off track.
Kill Bill Vol 1 features Uma Thurman’s unforgettable performance as The Bride of course, but also some of the best movie villains of all time – Lucy Liu’s O-Ren Ishii, her henchwoman Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama), and her squad of elite sword-fighters – the Crazy 88. The film is known for an anime sequence that provides O-Ren’s backstory.
The thriller movie‘s story continued six months later with the release of Kill Bill Vol 2, which provided much more backstory on The Bride’s training with Pai Mei (Gordon Liu). She also sought her vengeance against the rest of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and, ultimately, their leader, Bill (David Carradine).
See if you agree with our list of the best Quentin Tarantino movies. We’re looking forward to seeing more action in Reacher season 2 and more from the crime thriller Western that is Yellowstone season 5 part 2.