Revenge is never a straight line. It’s a forest. And like a forest it’s easy to lose your way . . . to get lost . . . to forget where you came in. – Hattori Hanzo

​

Do not say, “I will pay back evil!” Wait for the LORD, so that he may vindicate you. – Proverbs 20:22

​

            We rarely want God or anyone else to handle matters of injustice toward us. We would much rather vindicate ourselves in order to have ownership over the matter, to show that we’ve won. We not only want to be there when the tables have turned, but be responsible for “getting even.” The problem is that we rarely make things right when we take vengeance into our own hands. We just don’t have the power to do so or the capacity to see all the variables and effects of our actions. We tend to leave a trail of further destruction and violence behind us as we overcorrect or undercorrect; a proverbial fishtail of devastation as we further lose control.

​

            Even a trained assassin doesn’t have the skill to avenge herself and set things right. She might, however, just have enough to create more damage. Kill Bill Vol. 1 begins with the aftereffects of an injustice. Only known as “The Bride” our protagonist wakes up in a hospital after 4 years in a coma. We soon find out she was a part of group of skilled killers called the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (each member receiving a snake codename). The leader of this cohort is the aforementioned Bill whose mystic, calm charm is undeniable, and makes his violence all that much more intimidating.

​

            As the title suggests, the Bride awakens with a singular focus: Kill Bill and the rest of the assassination squad responsible for her four-year hiatus and the deaths of her unborn child, her soon to be husband, and the wedding party unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire. The Bride has one singular focus, motivated by pure rage, whatever the consequences. Those consequences only continue the cycle of violence.

​

            Upon finding the first of the assassination squad member (Vernita Green aka Copperhead) in a suburban house, The Bride takes no time inflicting her revenge. During the knife fight that breaks out, though, a child returns to the house from school, whereby the two women seem to come to truce. But instead of talking through matters or even finding a suitable time and place to duel it out, they attempt to kill each other once more, leaving Vernita dead in her own kitchen. The four-year-old child witnesses this ordeal which puts the Bride in a compromising moral position. Her defense is that “Your mother had it coming” and that if she still feels the need to come after her when she’s older, then she will be ready. There is no room for repentance, nor opportunity for forgiveness, just the cycle of violence that leaves another dead mother in its wake. The Bride feels that she is justified in taking more lives even though it leaves more orphans. In the end she only answers to herself. “All a person’s ways seem right in her own opinion, but the LORD evaluates the motives” (Proverbs 21:2). The Bride, like us all, are found wanting.

​

            Even after this first stop on the road to revenge, the Bride muses that her actions may even have divine permission. “When fate smiles on something as violent and ugly as revenge it seems proof like no other that not only does God exist, you’re doing his will.” If everything is lining up in such a way that allows me the opportunity to take revenge, then it must be providential for me to do so. This reminds me of David’s men when they are on the run from Saul. King Saul attempted to hunt David down as he has been anointed the new king and Saul saw him as a threat to his authority and lineage. In a turn of events David and his men get the jump on Saul as he enters a cave. The men respond that “This is the day about which the LORD said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hand.’” (1 Samuel 24:4). Obviously, the men think that God approved of David murdering Saul otherwise he would not have been in such a fortuitous position. David chose another path and showed Saul mercy. David is called a “man after God’s own heart”. The Bride is called the Black Mamba, Death Incarnate. Mercy is shown not to be a weakness, but a strength, one that shows allegiance to a greater cause than simply getting even.

​

            This desire for nobility is even found amongst killers of this movie. I found it odd that Bill leaves the Bride alive in the hospital. He has the opportunity to kill her while she is in her coma, but he commands the other assassins to stand down. Bill claims that killing her in that state would “lower us.” Apparently murdering a pregnant woman and nine other people at a wedding rehearsal would not “lower” them. Even Bill has a standard even if it’s one he makes up along the way. We all desire a standard by which to judge. It is actually what makes revenge so appealing. We want the standard to apply to those who have wronged us, and we want to be the ones to apply that standard, sometimes in ferocious and powerful ways. The real question is who gets to supply the standard? If the standard is found in each individual then what we get are the consequences that unfold in this movie, bloody death after bloody death until someone, or no one, is left standing to assert their winning standard. In order for justice to truly be accomplished, the standard cannot originate in me, or you. There must be a standard outside of us all, rooted in something essentially good and powerful enough to ensure its success. Only God fits the bill. 

​

            If we take vengeance into our own hands and the powers of justice are truly up to us, then the bloodshed never stops. The story of O-Ren Ishii (aka Cottonmouth) encapsulates the unending saga of retribution. Her parents are killed when she is eleven. For two years she trains to enact revenge on the Yakuza bosses who took their lives. Then she becomes an assassin further inflicting death until she can gain enough power to become the Yakuza boss herself. Now she kills parents and leaves orphans. The Bride comes to her doorstep to enact her revenge leaving the bloody corpses of her Crazy 88s behind her. One of them will inevitably die continuing the cycle. We know it will not be the Bride because there is a Kill Bill Vol. 2.

 

             We sympathize with the Bride because an unspeakable injustice has been done to her. We understand her desire to get back at those who wronged her. We even want the other assassins to get what’s coming to them. But what is the difference between justice and revenge. The Bride minces no words concerning her objectives. It’s revenge, pure and simple. It is even implied that not everything can be made right. Sins cannot be undone, and they still must be paid for. The distinction lies in the fact that I am not in a position to enact justice, and my revenge only creates more injustice. In fact, I am just as ultimately culpable as those who have wronged me. “For there is not one truly righteous person on the earth who continually does good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

​

             In a completely counterintuitive move, God asks us not only to leave the scales of justice ultimately to him, but to work for the good of those who hurt us. Jesus taught to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you so that “you may be like your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 5:45). God Himself endured the greatest of injustices, becoming a human and dying on a cross for our sake. This movie shows how the desire for justice is so engrained into us that we want it at any cost. But the cost is further injustice. “Our feet are swift to shed blood, ruin and misery are in our paths” (Romans 3:15-16). The cycle can only stop at the greatest injustice in history, the willing death and resurrection of the Author of Life.

​

            The amazing thing is that God wants to prove to us that he is worthy of our trust as Judge. “This is the evidence of God’s righteous judgment, to make you worthy of the kingdom of God” (2 Thessalonians 1:5). Against all odds, God wants to make us worthy of a relationship with him. Kill Bill Vol. 1 is the tragedy of those who desire justice without taking accountability for their own stake in the mess we have made. But there is hope yet, for God can redeem even a people as these.

 

Should I Watch This Movie? – Even for the most ardent Tarantino fans this occupies a middle ground for his work. Feel free to skip this for the sake of avoiding the gruesome effects of misplaced justice and a director who thinks that an artery has the same pressure as a fire hose.

​

Should this Movie be in the Top 250 – No, but you are welcome to read the companion piece concerning Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair to understand why.