Kill Bill vol 2

You can’t talk about a film made by this director without mentioning the man. Quentin Tarentino makes films he wants to watch, films that take from all of his own influences and inspiration. Call it indulgent or dismiss it as genius.

Everyone but the distributors was disappointed to hear that Kill Bill would be split into two movies. The first was a visceral kung fu fest, Uma Thurman, a sword and some of the most stylish and cool action seen on the big screen. It looked cool, it had a cool cast, and it sounded ‘ice cold’.

Part 2 had a lot to live up to.

We pick up the story with Uma ‘The Bride’ driving to Bills house to reap her revenge. We then flash back to see how she got to that point. The chapel where she was all but killed by Bills Deadly Viper Squad, we meet Bill, played by David Carradine, and learn of their relationship. We see how he trained her, how they had a daughter, how it all went wrong.

In the meantime Uma has some other deadly viper members to dispose of, firstly Budd (Michael Madsen) then Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah).

There are some great scenes here, at one point Uma is buried alive. The cinema screen is jet black and we hear the earth falling down on the casket. We are there with Uma and we feel the horror of it.

It is great when we see The Bride training with the Kung fu master Pai Mei (Gordon Liu), for it was he who taught her her hot moves.

There is much less combat in this film compared to the first, the pace is slower and it has whole sections of dialogue. Some of which I felt to be unnecessary. I was disappointed to find the Bill character, neither scary, impressive, cool or slick. Instead he was boring! The dialogue spouting from his mouth, pure Tarentino – indulgent, pop pap. Get this:

"Superman stands alone. Superman did not become Superman...Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he is Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red S is the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears -- the glasses, the business suit -- that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He's weak, unsure of himself...he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race...sort of like Beatrix Kiddo and Mrs. Tommy Plympton."

Still awake?
I was looking forward to Bill dying, we all had, with the title ‘kill bill’ it was bound to happen and when it did I was expecting something special. It was an anticlimax when bill didn’t even get up from the table and he was dead. A drunk old bore – see ya! Even Vincent Vega was cooler that Bill.

The first was great, together they are good. I wouldn’t advise anyone to see volume two unless they have seen part one. It has some good moments, again Uma Thuman is perfect, slicing and dicing with sassy cool. It drags a bit but its worth seeing just so you know how it all ends. I should really give it just 3 stars out of 5, but I so enjoyed the first and together they work, so I will give it 4.

Jamie O'Connell