Kill Bill: Volume 2 Review
by John Ulmer (johnulmer2003 AT msn DOT com)April 26th, 2004
KILL BILL VOL. 2
Rating: 4/5 stars
REVIEW BY JOHN ULMER (Copyright, 2004)
Notes: I gave the original "Kill Bill" 5/5 stars and named it the second best film of 2002. Here is my review of the second installment, originally intended as one whole film, KILL BILL VOL. 2:
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The opening credits of Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill Vol. 1" roar across the screen with a vengeance, indicating a second installment that may very well be superior in many ways to that of its first. For about the first forty minutes or so, this theory seemed to hold steadfast, but as the clock kept ticking and the dialogue kept on rambling I found myself just a bit under whelmed by a film that, although a fine motion picture, is entirely different from its predecessor -- and not necessarily in a very good way.
I estimated that about forty rather unnecessary minutes could (and should) have been cut by the editor. There's the totally nonessential twenty minutes spent introducing us to Budd (Michael Madsen), a hit man who works for Bill (David Carradine), who in turn is being targeted by hate-filled Bride (Uma Thurman). The flaw of this setup is that it is superfluous and unneeded -- Budd is presented to the audience as a loser, working at a deserted strip joint in Texas, fired from his job and living the life of a bum.
Perhaps Quentin should have saved these scenes for the supposed director's cut of the films being released to DVD some time this year (or next). They don't exactly click with the entirety of his movie -- they simply slow it down. It is as if Quentin is paying his respects to "The Matrix Reloaded" with way far too much empty dialogue. It was great in "Pulp Fiction" because it *wasn't* empty, but here it is, to be frank, rather meaningless. One of many things I loved about the first film was its supremely fast pace with non-stop action -- but in a good way. It was a no-holds-barred revenge story with references ranging from Hideo Gasha to Sergio Leone to Brian DePalma in many literal ways. The first installment was very campy and just good ol' fun -- Quentin best described it as doing for '70s grind house cinema what "Raiders of the Lost Ark" did for the serials of the '30s and '40s. The second installment is just plain different -- not much of an homage, all of the gratuitous style is gone. Also gone is much of the enthusiasm -- hard to explain in a review but very apparent to the viewers.
I also didn't appreciate the ending very much. Throughout the first installment of the series (now rumored to be a trilogy, completed in fifteen years) the goals of The Bride were most important -- nothing stood in her way. From start to finish it was a brutal, stylish ride designed for the movie buff within us all. We didn't feel the need to sympathize with her because she was not a particularly sympathetic character. Many people complained about this. It seems that Quentin has heard their cries -- the audiences who complained about lack of character progression and Tarantinoesque dialogue need not worry -- "Volume 2" has plenty of it. And in my own opinion far too much.
"Volume 2" has too many long gaps that break the non-stop action -- perhaps to compensate for lack of actual storyline. It's a revenge movie. No need for long scenes with metaphorical speeches. When The Bride finally comes face-to-face with her final foe, Quentin puts the story on hold, completely throwing off the audience in a very negative way. Bill's dialogue to The Bride about superhero comic books was embarrassingly Tarantino -- he hinted at his love for comic books in the screenplay for "True Romance," and here it seems oddly out of place.
Quentin tries to make us sympathize with The Bride, as a last-ditch effort at empathy. I didn't need to feel any empathy. In the first film, The Bride told one of the assassins on her hit list that what she lacked was compassion and sympathy. Quentin tries, at the very last moment, to make us feel something for The Bride. This doesn't work for a number of reasons -- mainly because her motives are not just. We all have revenge fantasies but someone could kill your entire family and it doesn't mean that you should do the same in return. Quentin tries to justify the means and that is where he messes up.
He also tries to fill in a lot of plot connections between "Volume 1" and "2." For the most part, perhaps the first volume is more fun because of its frantic chronology. Not everything truly makes sense but especially considering the last words spoken by Bill, we feel everything will be explained. Well, good news and bad news: it's explained, but not very well. Quentin tries to dump everything on the audience at once. It creates a "Matrix Revolutions" effect. Chances are, if you found the first installment to be silly, violent, stupid, and unexplainable, you'll enjoy "Volume 2" much more. For me, Quentin tried to resolve too many open points in the story and also tried to make us find sympathy in one of cinema's most unsympathetic
characters.
As a story it's rather thin to begin with -- perhaps why Tarantino tries to compensate by adding very long and pointless scenes. The Bride continues her "roaring rampage of revenge" after murdering O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox). Her next targets are Budd, Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) and finally "the man" himself, Bill.
As a whole, "Kill Bill Volume 2" is very good. As a sequel to one of the best films of 2003, it is a rather lackluster affair, very different from the original but mostly in rather unfortunate ways. As a whole its predecessor is far superior -- I left "Volume 2" feeling a bit under whelmed and disappointed. Had Tarantino chosen to delete forty minutes of unnecessary balderdash and kept up the style and pace and brutality of the first film, I feel as though I might have left feeling very pleased. Instead I left telling myself that it was, at the very least, a good conclusion to the story -- which may still be open for yet another installment in fifteen years, according to Tarantino, who wants to make it his "Dollars" trilogy. And so we wait...
- John Ulmer
http://www.wiredonmovies.com
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