Review: Kill Bill, Vol. 2
April 17, 2004; Loew’s Boston Common #2
* * * ¾ (out of four)
Anyone wanna argue that Quentin Tarantino has officially become “the man?” If you do, I may just have to hurt you. After seeing this movie, the Kill Bill pair has taken its place as the best pair of films that I can remember since Toy Story and Toy Story 2. And this wasn’t even intended to be two movies.
Kill Bill, Vol. 2 picks up where the first film left off: former professional assassin The Bride (Uma Thurman) is knee-deep in her quest for revenge against her former coworkers and boss after they massacred her wedding party, killing everyone she was close to. Having already killed O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), she now has her sights and her Hattori Hanzo sword set on Budd (Michael Madsen), Elle (Daryl Hannah), and eventually on Bill himself (David Carradine). Along the way, we get a full explanation of exactly what occurred at the El Paso chapel, along with more information on how the Bride became as deadly as she is, in the form of a training session with her mentor, Pai Mei (Gordon Liu). As the movie draws closer to the end, the focus shifts back to the subject of the brilliant cliffhanger from the end of Volume 1: the Bride’s daughter, now four years old and in Bill’s custody.
That is where the beauty in this movie lies. This is a wildly different film from the first; where the first thrived and thrilled in its nonstop action, Tarantino slows down and builds his characters, primarily The Bride and Bill. It was obvious from the first film that their relationship was much more than one of purely business, and we’re allowed to see that, initially through flashbacks but also through direct interaction, once The Bride has finally tracked him down.
What held this relationship together is David Carradine’s Bill. It was almost difficult at times near the end of the film to see the Bride interacting with her daughter in such a loving way, because it is such a radical change from everything we’d seen in the first. Bill is that necessary middle step. Where all through the first, the Bride was a violent entity, Bill was almost nothing… we knew he existed, but it almost didn’t matter, because it wasn’t about him yet. This movie shows us a Bill that is drastically different from the murdering bastard that we had been led to believe he was. That’s an aspect of him, but so is the father standing in the kitchen making a sandwich for the little girl (Perla Haney-Jardine, who is beyond precious) he so obviously adores. This is the much more interesting side of Bill, and it’s explored much more thoroughly in this film.
Also of note is the relationship between the Bride and Bill. The only relationships we’ve seen the Bride involved in to this point had been burned bridges with her former coworkers. It puts a lot of things into perspective when we come to realize that the Bride doesn’t hate Bill; she certainly hates what he’s done, but she may very well love the man himself – she did before. It puts her on a playing field of doing what she must, not what she really wants.
Tarantino’s directing is amazing… any surprise here? From the opening black-and-white sequences, it’s clear this installment is as well heavily influenced by the genres he grew up loving, and that he loves this piece in turn. Kung fu reference is heavy (I’m told the Shaw brothers, though I admit I’ve never seen one to compare), and the battle sequences are all spaghetti westerns, over in a flash of tension that had been building for a time before. That’s the only place where I can find a… well, I can’t even call it a fault. It is a slight irregularity. There is nothing in this movie to compare to the pure exhilaration of the showdown at House of Blue Leaf from the first film, and I think I would have to see the film as he intended it to judge whether it is as jarring as I think it might be. For all I know, it may be a perfect balance and transition between the two styles, but for the time being, I think Tarantino benefited from being forced to produce two separate films. It allowed ample time for people to forget just how crazy and fast the first was (unless you’re like me, and watched it three times in the week before you saw the second).
The only detractor from this film is also a product of the slicing in half. There are some scenes that were obviously added to in order to increase the length, and some of these go on just a bit too long. The entire sequence in Budd’s trailer involving him, Elle, and the Bride seemed like it took a huge chunk of the movie, and then didn’t even involve what the film was really trying to get to: the relationships between Bill, the Bride, and her daughter.
It’s not quite a perfect end, but it’s damn close. I think this solidifies Tarantino as one of the best directors working today, and I enthusiastically add his name to the list of people who will get me into almost anything. Uma Thurman continues her excellence, and David Carradine delivers exactly how he needs to – I’ve heard some say reclaiming his career in the process (accurate, I’d say, seeing as IMDb has him involved in three more films being released this year). See this movie. Don’t argue, just see it.
April 17, 2004; Loew’s Boston Common #2
* * * ¾ (out of four)
Anyone wanna argue that Quentin Tarantino has officially become “the man?” If you do, I may just have to hurt you. After seeing this movie, the Kill Bill pair has taken its place as the best pair of films that I can remember since Toy Story and Toy Story 2. And this wasn’t even intended to be two movies.
Kill Bill, Vol. 2 picks up where the first film left off: former professional assassin The Bride (Uma Thurman) is knee-deep in her quest for revenge against her former coworkers and boss after they massacred her wedding party, killing everyone she was close to. Having already killed O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), she now has her sights and her Hattori Hanzo sword set on Budd (Michael Madsen), Elle (Daryl Hannah), and eventually on Bill himself (David Carradine). Along the way, we get a full explanation of exactly what occurred at the El Paso chapel, along with more information on how the Bride became as deadly as she is, in the form of a training session with her mentor, Pai Mei (Gordon Liu). As the movie draws closer to the end, the focus shifts back to the subject of the brilliant cliffhanger from the end of Volume 1: the Bride’s daughter, now four years old and in Bill’s custody.
That is where the beauty in this movie lies. This is a wildly different film from the first; where the first thrived and thrilled in its nonstop action, Tarantino slows down and builds his characters, primarily The Bride and Bill. It was obvious from the first film that their relationship was much more than one of purely business, and we’re allowed to see that, initially through flashbacks but also through direct interaction, once The Bride has finally tracked him down.
What held this relationship together is David Carradine’s Bill. It was almost difficult at times near the end of the film to see the Bride interacting with her daughter in such a loving way, because it is such a radical change from everything we’d seen in the first. Bill is that necessary middle step. Where all through the first, the Bride was a violent entity, Bill was almost nothing… we knew he existed, but it almost didn’t matter, because it wasn’t about him yet. This movie shows us a Bill that is drastically different from the murdering bastard that we had been led to believe he was. That’s an aspect of him, but so is the father standing in the kitchen making a sandwich for the little girl (Perla Haney-Jardine, who is beyond precious) he so obviously adores. This is the much more interesting side of Bill, and it’s explored much more thoroughly in this film.
Also of note is the relationship between the Bride and Bill. The only relationships we’ve seen the Bride involved in to this point had been burned bridges with her former coworkers. It puts a lot of things into perspective when we come to realize that the Bride doesn’t hate Bill; she certainly hates what he’s done, but she may very well love the man himself – she did before. It puts her on a playing field of doing what she must, not what she really wants.
Tarantino’s directing is amazing… any surprise here? From the opening black-and-white sequences, it’s clear this installment is as well heavily influenced by the genres he grew up loving, and that he loves this piece in turn. Kung fu reference is heavy (I’m told the Shaw brothers, though I admit I’ve never seen one to compare), and the battle sequences are all spaghetti westerns, over in a flash of tension that had been building for a time before. That’s the only place where I can find a… well, I can’t even call it a fault. It is a slight irregularity. There is nothing in this movie to compare to the pure exhilaration of the showdown at House of Blue Leaf from the first film, and I think I would have to see the film as he intended it to judge whether it is as jarring as I think it might be. For all I know, it may be a perfect balance and transition between the two styles, but for the time being, I think Tarantino benefited from being forced to produce two separate films. It allowed ample time for people to forget just how crazy and fast the first was (unless you’re like me, and watched it three times in the week before you saw the second).
The only detractor from this film is also a product of the slicing in half. There are some scenes that were obviously added to in order to increase the length, and some of these go on just a bit too long. The entire sequence in Budd’s trailer involving him, Elle, and the Bride seemed like it took a huge chunk of the movie, and then didn’t even involve what the film was really trying to get to: the relationships between Bill, the Bride, and her daughter.
It’s not quite a perfect end, but it’s damn close. I think this solidifies Tarantino as one of the best directors working today, and I enthusiastically add his name to the list of people who will get me into almost anything. Uma Thurman continues her excellence, and David Carradine delivers exactly how he needs to – I’ve heard some say reclaiming his career in the process (accurate, I’d say, seeing as IMDb has him involved in three more films being released this year). See this movie. Don’t argue, just see it.
posted by Matt S. at
8:18 PM
