MasterChugs Theater: 'Kill Bill Vol. 2'
Over a year ago, I reviewed Kill Bill, Vol. 1 for the very first ever MasterChugs Theater (which you can read here). Clearly I had at least some fun with doing that as I'm now on MCT edition 26. With that said, I figured that I should reviews it's second eventually, and I'm going to open up this review with an absolutely stunning statement: the second part of Quentin Tarantino’s roaring rampage of revenge, a “western” to the first film’s “eastern”, Kill Bill Vol 2 will split QT’s fans as surely as a Hanzo sword.
And by "stunning statement", I mean "horrible pun that manages to kill at least 8 third world nations."
Though horribly delayed in coming out to theaters, Vol. 2 eventually made it out in 2004, there's quite a bit of evidence that it’s a much better film in terms of drama and performance than the first volume. After the opening sequence, we're taken back to the chapel where the first film began. But this time he takes us back just a bit earlier, to the point right before the Bride and her wedding party were gunned down by Bill's assassination squad in Vol. 1. We see events leading up to the killings, including a pivotal scene between the Bride and Bill. The film then flashes forward to what is now the real beginning of Vol. 2. It's an excellent way of making the second film accessible even if you haven't seen the first.
Much of the second film is taken up with the separate battles between the Bride and her two nemeses, Elle Driver and Budd (Bill's brother) as she picks them off one by one on her way to her main goal: killing Bill, of course. Both confrontations are utterly sensational. They're exciting, innovative, extremely imaginative and pure Tarantino. The cat fight between Thurman and Hannah alone is worth the price of admission. But it's the revelations in the final scenes--and an exquisitely long dialog sequence between Bill and the Bride--that turn this movie into a twisted love story. It also shows Tarantino's genius at work.
What Vol. 1 really lacked was the cracking Tarantino dialog. Nothing in Vol. 2 is as memorable as "a Royale with cheese," but the character’s inveigh their words with mythic weight--The Bride’s revenge quest and indeed, the fate of everyone she slays rendered in stoic, sarcastic lines underscored by heroic, superhuman suffering. Sadism rules with a quick, slick tongue. Also, and quite obvious to those that have seen both, the second movie is less kinetic but more satisfying. Tonally, the two films are different, which may be the result of the split.
Kill Bill Vol. 2 starts off with a black-and-white extreme close-up of Uma Thurman. She's driving a convertible and as her character, the Bride, she speaks directly into the camera. "I've killed a hell of a lot of people to get to this point," she purrs. "I went on what the movie advertisements referred to as a roaring rampage of revenge." Not a bad summation of Kill Bill Vol. 1. But with Kill Bill Vol. 2, Quentin Tarantino has made a rip-roaring, highly entertaining, extremely enjoyable continuation to Vol. 1: a work that flows perfectly from the first film while, at the same time, managing to alter the tone, pacing and even the look of its predecessor. Totally and undoubtedly recommended.
And by "stunning statement", I mean "horrible pun that manages to kill at least 8 third world nations."
Though horribly delayed in coming out to theaters, Vol. 2 eventually made it out in 2004, there's quite a bit of evidence that it’s a much better film in terms of drama and performance than the first volume. After the opening sequence, we're taken back to the chapel where the first film began. But this time he takes us back just a bit earlier, to the point right before the Bride and her wedding party were gunned down by Bill's assassination squad in Vol. 1. We see events leading up to the killings, including a pivotal scene between the Bride and Bill. The film then flashes forward to what is now the real beginning of Vol. 2. It's an excellent way of making the second film accessible even if you haven't seen the first.
Much of the second film is taken up with the separate battles between the Bride and her two nemeses, Elle Driver and Budd (Bill's brother) as she picks them off one by one on her way to her main goal: killing Bill, of course. Both confrontations are utterly sensational. They're exciting, innovative, extremely imaginative and pure Tarantino. The cat fight between Thurman and Hannah alone is worth the price of admission. But it's the revelations in the final scenes--and an exquisitely long dialog sequence between Bill and the Bride--that turn this movie into a twisted love story. It also shows Tarantino's genius at work.
What Vol. 1 really lacked was the cracking Tarantino dialog. Nothing in Vol. 2 is as memorable as "a Royale with cheese," but the character’s inveigh their words with mythic weight--The Bride’s revenge quest and indeed, the fate of everyone she slays rendered in stoic, sarcastic lines underscored by heroic, superhuman suffering. Sadism rules with a quick, slick tongue. Also, and quite obvious to those that have seen both, the second movie is less kinetic but more satisfying. Tonally, the two films are different, which may be the result of the split.
Kill Bill Vol. 2 starts off with a black-and-white extreme close-up of Uma Thurman. She's driving a convertible and as her character, the Bride, she speaks directly into the camera. "I've killed a hell of a lot of people to get to this point," she purrs. "I went on what the movie advertisements referred to as a roaring rampage of revenge." Not a bad summation of Kill Bill Vol. 1. But with Kill Bill Vol. 2, Quentin Tarantino has made a rip-roaring, highly entertaining, extremely enjoyable continuation to Vol. 1: a work that flows perfectly from the first film while, at the same time, managing to alter the tone, pacing and even the look of its predecessor. Totally and undoubtedly recommended.
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