Kill Bill - Volume 2

In my brief, initial review of 'Kill Bill Vol. 1.' I made the regrettable mistake of dismissing it as exceedingly pleasing yet unsubstantial stylistic masturbation, lacking the profundity and characterizations of Tarantino's previous works. Rarely have I been happier to be proven wrong.

What once seemed like somewhat incoherent cinematic recklessness has, after viewing the second part of Mr. Tarantino's saga, revealed itself to be wild, imaginative and brilliant filmmaking. As a whole, 'Kill Bill' is utterly unified (not despite but because of the radical shift in tone), possesses a strong, dramatic ark, and, above all, stands as quite possibly the most passionate, loving tribute to cinema I have ever seen. While part one pays homage to Brian De Palma, Dario Argento and the Shaw Brothers, part two cites, among many others, Jean-Luc Godard, Sergio Leone, and Robert Siodmark.

But that's far from all.

In his critical essay 'The Cinema of the Cool', Kevin Murphy suggests that Tarantino must move on and grow up to fully realize his potential as a filmmaker. In my opinion, with this piece, he has done so. Those merely seeking the blood-splattered, broken-bone action of Vol. 1 will be severely disappointed by Vol. 2, which is infinitely more thoughtful, pondering the nature of violence, both in cause and effect. While the action in the first installment was great, comic book fun, here it becomes severely unpleasant, cringe inducing, and never without consequence. If anything, it reminded me of the great Akira Kurosawa's work. Remarkable.

The second half to Tarantino's Kill Bill movie, Volume 2 gives us an adequate ending to The Bride's quest for vengeance. I'm not blown away by Vol. 2 and it feels like a weaker version of the first Volume. Gone is the caliber of character and flair that blessed the first volume. Gone is the sense of mystery carefully cultivated in the first volume, replaced by backstory that's wholly acceptable but ultimately uninspired. The dialogue is fine as well, it's Tarantino dialogue, but still not as good as the first volume. Soundtrack is fine, but definitely not as iconic as the soundtrack of Vol. 1.

Volume 2 doesn't take itself seriously, a continuation of the same signature demeanor of the first Volume, but while Vol. 1 pulled it off in an irreverent manner, Vol. 2 comes across as goofy and slightly overdone, and not goofy in a positive way.

It's an OK movie, my critique sounds overly negative but 7/10 really isn't a terrible film. I just don't think this lives up to the preceding volume. I'm sure there's some deep film-lover layers of meaning that flew over my head, I saw another review waxing poetic about how this was the best thing Tarantino's ever done and talked about all the homages to other film inspiration layered into the film that I very much did not pick up on. So if that's your demographic, this might be the movie for you.

Vol. 1 is blood and fun, Vol. 2 is a memorable piece of art.

When I first heard that this film was going to be split into two movies instead of being presented as one as originally planned, I was angry. I accused the powers that be of trying to squeeze two box office triumphs out of a single project. But after having seen both 'Kill Bill' and 'Kill Bill Vol.2', I am glad because both films are extremely different even though the stories are tied together with primarily the same actors and having the same director. Containing less action than 'Kill Bill', volume 2 is intelligent, bizarre and extremely engrossing. It absorbs all of its elements equally and David Carradine's performance as Bill is the best thing to happen in movie villain history since, well, I'll leave that up to individual interpretation.

The sentimental showdown

Kill Bill Vol. 2 deserves to be another film than Kill Bill Vol. 1, not only the fact that the film would then run 4 hours + if it had been shown in one piece, but more because showing both films in one run might come across somewhat odd. The reason I'm saying this, is because Kill Bill Vol. 2 is very different in tone and feeling than was Vol. 1. The first part was more anger driven and brutal, whereas Kill Bill Vol. 2 is more about love and disappointment. Where the first part is bloody and ruthless, the second one is tender and sore. This does not mean that there is no brutality in this film, but rather that the tone of the film is totally different.

I must admit that it took me some getting used to in the first 20 or so minutes of the film, because I'd expected the film to go on as brutally and furious as the first one finished. It didn't happen. What I got instead was a more story and character driven film, that was filled with emotion, explanations and some good and original fighting scenes.

I have no negative comments on this film I guess. I think the acting was good to very good, with the extra kudos going to Daryl Hannah, who'd let some people to believe that she as just a tall blond who couldn't act in the last couple of years. With this film she manages to show us though, that she just has not been given the right offers. This I must say seems to be some kind of quality of Tarantino, to get ‘discarded' actors and actresses and give them an opportunity to shine once again. Speaking of Tarantino, although I do realize that with Kill Bill he was an 'hommage' to many of his influences, I just have to say that he is a great director and screenwriter. I mean, the way he directs, the music he chooses to accompany the scenes and the dialog. It's just all top notch. This does not mean that this is the best film I've ever seen, but that it is a good film, which fulfilled it's promises. I mean let us ALL be honest. Who can pull off filming a revenge movie lasting more than 4 hours without it getting dull and boring? NOBODY but Tarantino. Hell, most people can't make complete a good 90 minute flick with this amount of story.

7,5 out of 10