Kill Bill Volume 1
Features: Uncompressed (LPCM) English 5.1 audio, Dolby Digital 5.1, a modest featurette, performances by the 5,6,7,8's, and several Tarantino movie trailers.
Distributor: Miramax Films
Movie Release: October 10, 2003
This Release: September 9, 2008
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hr 51 mins
MSRP: $34.99
Current Price: Check Price / Purchase |
Pros
- Video quality is significantly better than the SD DVD
- Uncompressed LPCM English 5.1 is a treat
- Primary colors POP!
- Skin and flesh tones are spot-on gorgeous
Cons / Disadvantages
Observations
- Notice how consistent the filming is when going from outdoors to indoors, and from daylight to nightlight.
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Audio
- The audio on Kill Bill Volume 1 is fantastic. Provided is an English 5.1 Uncompressed 48kHz / 24-bit soundtrack, and with the proper home theater sound system, you're gonna rock and roll, baby. With a typical bandwidth of 4.6Mbps (that's about 8-times as much audio information streaming than a typical compressed DD 5.1 track @640Kbps) the audio just craves a high-end system for complete exploitation. Sound separation is much better than the compressed Dolby Digital 5.1 track, and if you have an HDMI connection to your receiver or separate analog outs on your Blu-ray player, you'll be delighted.
The compressed Dolby Digital soundtrack does pretty well. If you don't have the capability of playing uncompressed (LPCM) audio, you're still in for a rather good mix.
Video
- Kill Bill Volume 1 has one of the best HD transfers I've seen. I was really impressed. I actually expected to see more grain because of Tarantino's style. While there is a little here and there, it's absolutely nothing to complain about. Scenes which occur at night are outright fantastic, and the blacks are extremely deep. Since Kill Bill Volume 1 deals with a lot of primary colors, the HD resolution brings them out in all glory — rich in saturation, but not too much.
What's really impressive, is even with the amount of dynamic scenes (day to night, outdoor to indoor), the amount of detail is still present, with little variation in presentation quality. If you're an avid HD collector, you'll know there are several films where the outdoor scenes are spectacular, but once the scenes go indoors...they get jacked with noise. Well, not so with Kill Bill Volume 1.
Content
- Kill Bill Volume 1 isn't for everyone. But then, what movie is. If you're fan of Tarantino, this is probably considered his best work of art to date, so buying this duology will be instinctive. For those who haven't watched a Tarantino movie but are into HD with a passion, this is a must-have in your HD collection. If female beauties doing amazing stunts with punches, kicks, and swords and blood squirting out of bad guys and gals is not particularly your thing, then you might want to give this a rent. Otherwise, this first installment of Kill Bill will leave you wanting more. And thank the Tarantino Gods, there is more.
The Extras
- The extras on this Blu-ray version of Kill Bill Volume 1 are pretty bare. We have one featurette, a performance by the "5,6,7,8's" and several trailers from other Tarantino movies. I'm kinda surprised, given this is a Blu-ray release, and not to mention we have at least another 15GB of available space on the disc. I'm sure somebody could have cranked out something for the Blu-ray release. Maybe have Uma Thurman dancing around in her yellow suit and Hanzo sword for 30-minutes in HD. Hey, I wouldn't even need audio or a commentary for that.
Conclusion
Kill Bill Volume 1 is certainly an upgrade from your SD DVD version of Kill Bill Volume 1. Colors really do pop out at you, faces are more detailed and vivid, and outfits and attire are more striking. Kill Bill Volume 1 is a Highly Recommended, and would have been rated higher, but the extras were very lacking. Regardless of the extras, the video and audio are reference quality for an HD release. |
