History Film / KillBill

* DeathByIrony: Budd, while escaping from death from the Bride, codenamed "Black Mamba" as one of the [=DiVAS=], is killed by the venom of an actual black mamba.

* Music from ''Film/TheEightDiagramPoleFighter'' was used in volume 2, specifically a stinger for when the Bride finally meets [[spoiler: BB, her daughter]] and the villain's theme for when [[spoiler: the Bride finally kills Bill]].

* Double Knockout: When The Bride fights Elle in Budd's trailer, there's a part where they kick each other and get thrown at the same time with [[SplitScreenReaction split screen]].

* JerkassHasAPoint:
** Larry is overly hostile towards Budd for being just 20 minutes late for his job as the stripclub's bouncer, but Budd's saying that there is no one for him to bounce due to a complete lack of clientele is not a good excuse or reason for Larry to keep him employed.
--->'''Larry:''' You're saying that the reason... that you're not doing the job... that I'm... paying you to do... is, that you don't have a job to do? Is that what you're saying? What are you trying to convince me of, exactly? That you're as useless as an asshole right here? ''[points at his elbow]'' Well guess what, Buddy. I think, you just fucking convinced me!
** When the Bride gets angry over Bill's DisproportionateRetribution, Bill points out that she knew full well he was a cold-blooded murdering bastard and there would be consequences if she betrayed him.

* VillainHasAPoint: "That woman deserves her revenge. And we deserve to die. But then again... so does she." Hard to argue with any of these statements unless you're affected by ProtagonistCenteredMorality.

** All of the [=DiVAS=], in their way, are pleasant enough right up until they try to kill you. Except for Elle, who notably remains ice cold throughout.

* AmazonBrigade: The Deadly Vipers are predominantly female, and even then Bill rarely dirties his hands during conflict and Budd never displays anything close to the fighting ability that the women possess (although we never truly see him in action).

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Pai Mei, but [[EyeScream don't tell him that]].

* {{Catchphrase}}: "You and I have unfinished business."

* CuteAndPsycho: Gogo, a schoolgirl who'll smile brightly as she puts a sword through your gut or hurls a bladed metal ball at you on a chain.

* DeceptiveDisciple: Elle Driver.

* DiscOneFinalBoss: O-Ren Ishii.

* DressedAllInRubber: The Bride's iconic yellow PVC racing jumpsuit.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Pai Mei, and how. Disrespect most drill sergeant types, and they will yell at you until their throat is raw and/or send you to be punished. Pai Mei will [[spoiler:''blind you''.]]

* DumbBlonde: A defiant Sofie Fatale calls the Bride this, even after having a limb hacked off.

* EliteFour: The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad originally consisted of five members, the Bride being one of them, but by the time the events of the movies kick off, she has been ousted, leaving the team as an elite foursome of assassins, plus their leader, Bill. They are Elle Driver, Budd, O-Ren Ishii, and Vernita Green.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Bill considers his brother Budd the only man he ever loved. His past relationship with the Bride was genuinely romantic; the Bride making him think she was dead and breaking his heart is the reason he went on his rampage in the first place. [[spoiler:And he's a doting father to BB.]]

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Uma Thurman's character is known only as "the Bride." Several characters do call her by name, but they're bleeped out until midway through Vol. 2.

* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: Gogo Yubari and her deadly chain iron meteor hammer.

* GracefulLoser: O-Ren expresses admiration for the Bride's sword and admits that it is a true Hanzo sword (after previously refusing to believe that it was) after [[spoiler:the Bride scalps her]].

* HelloAttorney: Sofie Fatale, as the name suggests, is a very attractive woman, and her role is to be a lawyer for O-Ren Ishii.
* HermitGuru: Pai Mei lives alone on a mountain and rarely takes on students.
* HeroicComedicSociopath[=/=]SociopathicHero: The Bride can be either, depending on her mood. When she's under a truth serum from Bill, she admits that she genuinely enjoys killing and maiming people. In fact, what stops her from being a downright VillainProtagonist (she was, after all, a contract killer for most of her life) is the relative HeelFaceTurn she went through upon [[spoiler:finding out she was pregnant]], and her very deserved revenge.
* HiddenVillain: Bill, for the first half's entirety. However, TheReveal happens early in ''Vol. 2'' -- or earlier, if you [[SpoilerOpening bothered to read the ending credits]] of ''Vol. 1''.

* IconicOutfit: The Bride's famous jumpsuit, which is itself a reference to a similar outfit worn by Creator/BruceLee.

* ImplacableMan:
** In this case, an implacable woman. The Bride will travel to the ends of the earth, get grievously injured multiple times, and even [[spoiler:rise from a grave]] if necessary to get her revenge.
** Pai Mei, according to Bill's account of his alleged massacre of the Shaolin temple over an unreturned gesture:
--->'''Bill:''' The abbot, at first, tried to console Pai Mei — only to find Pai Mei was... inconsolable.

%% * KimonoFanservice: O-Ren Ishii from seems to be a type A when she's a Japanese ganglord.

* LadyOfWar: O-Ren Ishii, the current page image. She's a graceful assassin dressed in an elegant white kimono who managed to become the head of all yakuza in Tokyo in only four years, and is highly skilled in the art of swordfighting.
* LargeHam:
** Old-school martial arts stars Sonny Chiba as Hattori Hanzo (especially his English dialogue), and Gordon/Chia Hui Liu in both his roles.
** The Bride herself in Volume 2. While normally reserved, she hams it up when [[spoiler:pretending to be shot by B.B. with a toy gun]].

* LivingLegend: Bill introduces both the audience and the Bride to Pai Mei as a Living Legend, possibly immortal.
* LivingMacGuffin: Bill is the final objective of the plot and the Bride's revenge.

* MadeOfIron: All of the [=DiVAS=], but the Bride in particular deserves credit for surviving the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown at the wedding, followed by a bullet to the head.

* MamaBear: The reason why the Bride left the [=DiVAS=] was to raise her soon-to-be-born baby away from bloodshed. When the bloodshed comes to her, putting her in a four-year coma from which she awakes without her daughter, she goes out to get her revenge, and she sheds much blood along the way.

* MeaningfulName:
** The Bride is known as the "Black Mamba" as one of the [=DiVAS=]. The Black Mamba is generally considered the world's deadliest snake (Elle's description is spot on).
** Subverted with Budd being "Sidewinder." The sidewinder, a type of rattlesnake, while venomous, is rather shy, and is also one of the smallest venomous snakes in the world. The copperhead (Vernita Green) is also rather timid and has a relatively mild venom which is almost never fatal to a healthy adult.

* MemeticBadass: InUniverse example; Pai Mei seems to have achieved this status so much that legends of his badassery are said to date back to the 11th century.

* MundaneMacGuffinPerson: Finding Bill so she can kill him is the entire focus of the Bride's RoaringRampageOfRevenge... well, that and revenging herself on everyone else involved with the massacre at the wedding chapel.

* OldMaster: Pai Mei is the quintessential version of this (if an evil or at very least {{Jerkass}} variety), being a legendarily deadly martial arts master who is said to be over a thousand years old at least, and taught the Bride [[spoiler:and Elle]] everything they know about martial arts. Bill himself is also one for the Bride as the leader of the [=DiVAS=].
** Though arguably Pai Mei might be a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype of one. He's a racist, sexist and deeply unpleasant old coot who teaches lethal combat techniques to whackjobs and aspiring assassins. His [[TrainingFromHell training methods amount to attempted murder]], and [[spoiler:[[MentorOccupationalHazard his death motivates the hero]] but rather than pulling a HeroicSacrifice or something noble, he was killed years ago because he [[EyeScream went too far]] on a student who was even more of a psycho than he was.]]

* PsychoExGirlfriend: It's never stated outright, but Elle's hatred for the Bride likely comes from being displaced as Bill's lover (given the familiar way Elle speaks to him on the phone, plus Bill's liking for blondes) by her younger rival.
* PsychoForHire: Gogo, a murderous schoolgirl who works as the personal bodyguard to boss of all Tokyo yakuza bosses O-Ren Ishii.

* RenownedSelectiveMentor: Pai Mei. Apparently, he only rarely accepts students, and is a (maybe) thousand-year-old renowned recluse.

* SailorFuku: Gogo. Never has this trope been [[CuteAndPsycho so terrifying]] as this [[EpicFlail meteor hammer]]-wielding girl.

* SmugSnake: Elle Driver is confident enough to waste time in her fight with the Bride when she gloats about [[spoiler:killing Pai Mei]].

* UnkemptBeauty: The Bride. She's spectacularly gorgeous even when she spends most of her time covered in sweat, mud and blood.

* WesternSamurai: O-Ren Ishii is a half-Japanese, half-Chinese-American woman that is also one of [[BigBad Bill]]'s assassins and has become the leader of all the Yakuza in Japan. Boss Tanaka despises her origins (his assertion that it makes her unworthy to be a leader or even considered a Japanese pushes her BerserkButton... and you'll die for that). She usually dresses in elegant kimonos, and [[IaijutsuPractitioner uses Iaijutsu as her main technique]].

* WouldntHurtAChild: Aside from what happened with her own unborn child, the Bride ''hates'' when children get involved with violence.
** She's very unhappy when [[spoiler:Nikki witnesses Vernita's death at her hands]], apologizes to the girl, and tells her that vengeance is hers if, after she grows up, she still wants it.
** At the House of Blue Leaves, she attempts to dissuade Gogo from fighting her and later spares a frightened teenaged Crazy 88 mook; she spanks the boy with the flat side of her katana for "fucking around with Yakuzas" before sending him home.
** Towards the end of Part 2, [[spoiler:the Bride decides to put her revenge aside for a moment, rather than have B.B. see her mommy and daddy fight to the death.]]

* OldMaster: Pai Mei is the quintessential version of this (if an evil or at very least {{Jerkass}} variety), being a legendarily deadly martial arts master who is said to be over a thousand years old at least, and taught the Bride [[spoiler: and Elle]] everything they know about martial arts. Bill himself is also one for the Bride as the leader of the [=DiVAS=].

** Gogo Yubari in her [[{{Joshikousei}} school uniform]], despite being a [[GirlWithPsychoWeapon girl with a psycho weapon]], or [[DropTheHammer two]].

** Tomoyasu Hotei's "Battle Without Honor Or Humanity" began showing up all over the place (in movie trailers, at sporting events, in other movies like ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', which used it to punctuate Bumblebee's "makeover") after Tarantino's usage of the song made it famous. Covers of the famous bass riff also show up routinely on television in scenes that homage or spoof its usage in Vol. 1. (Examples include ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'''s parody ''Kill Bunny,'' as well as a scene in ''Film/ScoobyDooTheMysteryBegins'' involving Mystery Inc. sneaking onto a school campus in disguise.)

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The Five Point Palm Exploding Heart technique is the most dangerous fighting technique since it could [[spoiler:slowly-but-surely kill the victims without them realized it]] that Pai Mei refused to teach it to anyone (including Bill). That’s why, Bill is so surprised upon learning that the Bride is revealed to [[spoiler: be [[TheChosenOne the only one]] who inherits this top secret technique when using this technique to kill him]].

Tarantino has toyed with ideas for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Bill:_Volume_2#Possible_sequels a sequel]], but as of 2022, it seems to be off the table. However, actors have expressed interest in the idea of daughters of the Bride's victims taking revenge for their mothers, especially Nikki, the daughter of Vernita Green.

* VillainOfAnotherStory: Both the Bride's EvilMentor Pai Mei and RetiredMonster Esteban Vihaio are very evil people by most standards, but they only exist in the film as part of Bill's sinister background. Both actually aid the Bride in going after Bill. To drive the trope home, the film's version of Pai Mei is directly modeled on Pai Mei's HistoricalVillainUpgrade appearances as the BigBad of ''Executioners from Shaolin'' -- that's where the story of the temple massacre comes from -- and as a minor villain in ''Clan of the White Lotus'', making him quite literally the villain of another story.

* BookEnds: As a duology, ''Film/KillBill'' begins and ends with the Bride [[spoiler:hesitating to kill someone with their child present, sending the child away, planning to fight in an alternate location away from the child, and finally being forced to kill them in a relative anticlimax because they forced her hand by trying to attack her with her guard down]].

* BreastAttack: Budd opens his 'duel' with the Bride by shooting her in the chest with rock salt. (He specifically says he was aiming for her breasts.) This attack, more than any other across both films, incapacitates the Bride; she spends the next two minutes writhing feebly and moaning in pain, especially after Budd rolls her over onto her wounded front.

* BrickJoke: When the Bride says to Nikki that "It was not my intention to do this [killing Vernita, her mother] in front of you. For that I'm sorry. But you can take my word for it, your mother had it comin'. When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I'll be waiting."

* ConversationalTroping: When the Bride finally confronts Bill, he monologues about the nature of the SecretIdentity in superhero comics. Bill points out that whereas most heroes have to put on the costume to become their alter egos, since Superman was born as the alien Kal-El, his alter ego is in fact Clark Kent. Bill theorizes that Clark Kent is Superman's critique of humanity, comparing him to the Bride trying to blend in when she was really born to be a killer.