Friday, May 16, 2008

Thursday's Friday's Ways Not To Die

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"The venom of a black mamba can kill a human in four hours, if, say, bitten on the ankle or the thumb. However, a bite to the face or torso can bring death from paralysis within 20 minutes. Now, you should listen to this, 'cause this concerns you. The amount of venom that can be delivered from a single bite can be gargantuan. You know, I've always liked that word...”gargantuan"... so rarely have an opportunity to use it in a sentence. If not treated quickly with anti-venom, 10 to 15 milligrams can be fatal to human beings. However, the black mamba can deliver as much as 100 to 400 milligrams of venom from a single bite."


"Now in these last agonizing minutes of life you have left, let me answer the question you asked earlier more thoroughly. Right at this moment, the biggest "R" I feel is Regret. Regret that maybe the greatest warrior I have ever known, met her end at the hands of a bushwhackin, scrub, alky piece of shit like you. That woman deserved better."



Not until I went through this scene frame by frame for this did I notice how wittily it's constructed, editing-wise. These are some fantastic shots that play off of each other really well - that whole upside-down conversation between Elle and Budd is hysterical; the shot of the snake slithering towards the Coors box, too. But this is Tarantino we're talking about here, and while he might get all the praise for his snappy scripts - and that certainly plays its part here - I think we saw with that rash of Tarantino-imitators that flooded the market back in the late 90's that, if you don't have a visual artist like Quentin behind the camera, a lot of tough-guy-'tude can add up to a whole lotta not much. His films are beautiful creations, visually alive and playful even during - hell, I should say especially during - these moments of ugliness.

It's also a testament to Daryl Hannah's incredible performance as Elle Driver here that, when I'm supposed to be paying attention to Michael Madsen's Budd writhing on the floor dying for this post, really I just kept wanting to take screen-grabs of her. That's not meant as any offense to Madsen - there's only so much you can do with paralysis, ya know - but this scene goes on for a very, very long time, and QT and DH keep it's juices flowing pretty lively, I'd say.

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Previous Ways Not To Die: Turned Into An Evil Robot -- The Out-Of-Nowhere Careening Vehicle Splat -- "Oh My God... It's Dip!!!" -- Critter Balled -- Stuff'd -- A Hot-Air Balloon Ride... Straight To Hell!!! -- Puppy Betrayal -- High-Heeled By A Girlfriend Impersonator -- Flip-Top Beheaded -- Because I'm Too Goddamned Beautiful To Live -- By Choosing... Poorly... -- Fried Alive Due To Baby Ingenuity -- A Good Old-Fashioned Tentacle Smothering -- Eepa! Eepa! -- Gremlins Ate My Stairlift -- An Icicle Thru The Eye -- Face Carved Off By Ghost Doctor After Lesbian Tryst With Zombie Women -- Electrocuted By Fallen Power-Lines -- A Mouthful Of Flare -- Taken By The TV Lady -- Bitten By A Zombie -- Eaten By Your Mattress -- Stuffed To Splitting -- Face Stuck In Liquid Nitrogen -- Crushed By Crumbling Church Debris -- Bitten By The Jaws Of Life -- A Machete To The Crotch -- Showering With A Chain-Saw -- In A Room Filled With Razor Wire -- Pod People'd With Your Dog -- Force-Fed Art -- Skinned By A Witch -- Beaten With An Oar -- Curbed -- Cape Malfunction -- In The Corner -- Cooked In A Tanning Bed -- Diced -- Punched Through The Head -- Bugs Sucking On Your Head
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8 comments:

Agnes B said...

Would it be inappropriate to request a screen-grab of her in the nurse's get-up, complete with Red Cross eyepatch?

Joe Reid said...

That scene is love. LOVE! The one worthwhile thing Daryl Hannah did in her whole stupid life, Steel Magnolias and JFK Jr. included.

I need to call more people "bushwhackin' alkie scrubs."

Jason Adams said...

ab - Well I wouldn't have thought of ways in which you might use said screen-grabs inappropriately until you brought the word inappropriate into it! ;-)

Anyway, I only have Vol. 2 with me here at work right now; I can make grab some Nurse Elle pics for you when I get home, though.

Joe, I can't believe you just dissed JFR Jr. here! Unwelcome! Unwelcome!

PIPER said...

I should like Kill Bill 2 better than the first because I think it's a much deeper film in respect to relationships and character development, but damn the action in the first is much sweeter. But I would say that Kill Bill 2 has better sequences and this is one of them.

I'm surprised that Daryl Hannah didn't see some kind of resurgence after this because she was fantastic. Perhaps Splash Too?

J.D. said...

Um... I just got this on DVD this afternoon. Um...

Agnes B said...

You make me sound like a perv, JA. But seriously, top 3 representations of (faux) nurses.

Jason Adams said...

Ah, and I forgot to grab that for ya, ab. I promise I'll grab it soon!

zooplah said...

I make it no secret that I was extremely disappointed by Volume 2, but her gargantuan line is just hysterical.