Kill Bill Vol.2

Review by Clint Morris

‘The Bride’ [Uma Thurman] is still out to get the man who gunned down her family on her wedding day (or rehearsal for the wedding, as you’ll discover), an ominous assassin named Bill [David Carradine].

But first, she’s got a couple of his followers to knock off -- Michael Madsen as rifle-packing trailer-park trash, Bud, and Daryl Hannah as eye-patch adorning vixen, Elle Driver -- which is easier said than done.

When ‘The Bride’ (we’ll learn her name this time around) does catch up with Bill – and yep, we learn why he did pop bullets into ‘The Bride’ and her people – she gets a lot more than she bargained for.

When Miramax head honcho Harvey Weinstein told director Quentin Tarantino to cut his ambitious Kill Bill in half, therefore releasing it as two chapters, it sounded farcical – and much more like a milking ploy for cinemagoers' cash than a strategically sound idea.

Five minutes into the anticipated second chapter it makes sense why Weinstein brother No.1 handed Tarantino a pair of scissors.

And for once folks are actually going to want to see what happens after Kill Bill Vol.1, in contrast to say The Matrix sequels, where there was about a 98% per cent drop off come the second sequel. So not only is Kill Bill Vol.2 a protracted film on its own, but mostly, it’s a different type of film from the first chapter.

Truth of the matter is, Kill Bill Vol.2 could’ve excised the last four words of its title and been released as an individual movie with no correlation to the first. It has such a different feel, tone and subterfuge to its uncontrollably wild chop-suey predecessor.

The pacing is different (much slower), the tone is different (it borderlines more on the ‘real’ than the ‘unreal’ this time as we get to know characters before ‘The Bride’ bumps them off), and most markedly, there’s a heavy slab of plot detail and back-story here.

Kill Bill Vol.2 is such a stand-alone movie that anyone who hasn’t seen the first could easily get the drift of what’s happening within two minutes of the sequel. Actually, sequel seems too strong a word. This seems more content to be a variation or divergent remake of the first.

For instance, the first film was made in the old 70’s Kung-Fu fashion, whilst this new effort is the ‘spaghetti western’. In this one, a material weapon doesn’t seem to be any of the characters strongest arsenals – unlike the first, where a sword or knife prevailed – but an acute stare that the characters give each other seems to be the weapon of choice.

Those who got a huge kick out of the awesome action sequences in Kill Bill Vol.1 will indubitably be a little disappointed with proceedings in Vol.2.

Essentially, all the big battle scenes are beyond us and now we’re finally getting some welcome plot and detail about the characters.

Where the first film had a bloody battle between a couple of Kung-Fu experts, the second has an elongated sit-down scene with a couple of characters – mostly Bill actually, who funnily enough, we didn’t even see in the first film – blabbing about ramification, what if’s and the foreseeable battle they’re apparently going to have.

Had David Carradine not been as good as he is as Bill – giving the man more than simply the element of malevolence, but making him (as strange as it is to say) even likeable – Kill Bill Vol.2 could’ve been quite wearisome.

Not only is the film significantly longer in duration, but you notice it because characters like Bill have dialogue slabs that are about fifteen minutes in length.

But because Carradine’s doing the talking – or even Michael Madsen, who’s also a highlight – and Tarantino’s written the great dialogue, it doesn’t for one minute get yawn-worthy.

In fact, the characters are a tad more intriguing this time around – especially Bill, who’s arguably one of screen’s most interesting screen villains in recent years. The man has more layers than vegetarian Lasagne.

Bottom line, Kill Bill Vol.2 is going to be a slight letdown to many. It doesn’t have those grand fight sequences of the original, and that is a little disappointing. But the second chapter is written so well and has so many juicy characters that it smells of the ultra-talented Tarantino the minute the credits roll.

Most of all, it’s the type of film that’ll grow on viewers after repeated viewings. As long as you walk in expecting chalk to the first film’s cheese, one should enjoy second servings of ‘the Bride’ enough.

Harvey Weinstein seemingly made a good decision to cut this flick in half after all. Not only because we would have been sitting on hard butts for four hours, but because Vol.1 and Vol.2 are as different as Tofu and KY Jelly.

3.5 out of 5

Kill Bill Vol.2
Australian release: Thursday April 22nd
Cast: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Gordon Liu, Samuel L.Jackson.
Director: Quentin Tarantino.
Website: Click here.

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