Overall Rating
 Awesome: 50.38%
Worth A Look: 20.83%
Average: 15.53%
Pretty Bad: 6.82%
Total Crap: 6.44%
14 reviews, 180 user ratings
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| Kill Bill: Vol. 2 |
by MP Bartley
"A Roaring Rampage of Mediocrity"
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I was one of the few people who wasn't blown away by Volume 1. Whilst everyone else raved on about its hyper-kinetic style, and thousands of references to obscure kung-fu flicks, I found it badly structured, generally silly and pointless. The 'Kill Bill' experience was like going to a restaurant and having to wait 6 months between your starter and main course, with the only reason being to get more money out of you because you'd be forced to buy some drinks inbetween. I compared Volume 1 to a garlic bread - tasty, but insubstabtial. Volume 2 is the steak that I ordered: it's the main course, but it's dry and they left the sauce off. All the questions I had at the end of Volume 1 were answered, but at the end of this I have just one more question remaining: is it officially time we can stop getting excited about Quentin Tarantino movies now?Since 'Pulp Fiction' has he done anything to defend his reputation? 'Jackie Brown' was a bore and I've already made my views known on Volume 1. So with his third film since his Cannes and Oscar glory, Tarantino stalls yet again.
Volume 2 is where the backstory starts to get filled in. We learn what the Bride's name is, why she was shot and what happened to her daughter. And of course she's getting closer to hacking Bill to tiny little pieces. So this is where the emotional pay-off should be, the mother of all climaxes as the trailer would have it.
But it's not. Instead there's just the shrugging feeling of 'what was the point of that?'. Although Tarantino would have you believe that Volume 2 is miles apart from Volume 1, it's not. It still has its good points (an occasional kick-ass sequence, great bits in a sea of mediocrity), but it doesn't improve on them. The great bits remain 'bits' and never develop into a cohesive whole. And ultimately the flaws remain the same: obscure and pointless references that just hinder the film and give it an amateur feel. Take a flashback where we see the Bride in training from the ancient mentor Pei-Mei. Shot brilliantly, with some dazzling footwork, it's ultimately undermined by some atrocious crash-zooms and over-the-top music. And you can forget the whining fan-boy excuse of "you don't understand, it's like that in Shogun Assassin 5", because simply put it looks shit. And if it references some obscure fan-boy flick, fine. It probably looks shit in that as well. So the self-indulgence that peppered and undermined Volume 1 is still here (including that terrible wailing klaxon whenever the Bride gets near her enemies). Reams of dialogue are wasted on debating the merits of a Hounzo sword, when it could have moved the plot forward.
There are certainly great moments here. Thurman is still superb, giving the script far more serious treatment than it deserves. And it's certainly worth the wait to meet Bill as Carradine gives a great, gravelly performance. You are instantly convinced that this man could have you dead with the click of his fingers.
The rest of the characters are as cardboard thin as those in Volume 1 however. Michael Madsen's Bud is just a Mr. White-lite despite Madsen's assertions to the contrary and Daryl Hannah's Elle is just like a less-deadly version of the Bride. But with an eye-patch. For all that Tarantino tries to build these characters up as lethal assasins and flawed people, they're just not very threatening and come across as some minor henchman of a Bond villain. They don't seem particularly difficult to dispose of and you feel that James Bond could have got rid of them within 45 minutes, let alone dragging it out over 4 hours of 2 films.
Because ultimately, these characters aren't anywhere near as memorable as Tarantino would have us believe. Yes, we learn the Bride's name, but so what? It's not a surprise, it's not linked to the plot or any other character in anyway so why is it buzzed out for the most part? Oh I get it...it's a reference. Likewise, we learn the reasons why she was shot, but they're nowhere near as earth-shattering as we thought they would be.
Read any interview with Tarantino, and he'd have you believe that Volume 2 was for the 'Pulp Fiction' purists, that there'd be quotable dialogue a-plenty. Turns out he was telling a big fat lie. The dialogue is turgid and uninteresting, and sounds like someone trying to copy Tarantino. Whereas previously his dialogue fizzed and buzzed with vigour, here it sounds like he's trying too hard to write what people would expect him to write, and it feels flat and forced. A lengthy speech by Bill on Superman is particularly embarassing and serves no point. It's jarring and predictable for Tarantino to write about these things now.
And where was the Tarantino that made 'Pulp Fiction' such a sleek, jet-black pleasure? The Tarantino that could edit together so many stories and characters with such verve and style? Volume 2 sags considerably and never builds up pace. The ending is particularly drawn-out and takes an age to get to, rendering its emotional impact nil. Anyone expecting the mother of all smackdowns between the Bride and Bill had better keep their eyes peeled for a 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' climax. Likewise, the brawls with the other two on their list. Yes, they're pretty good...but didn't the Bride want to have more than 'pretty good' satisfaction?
This flabby pace isn't helped by the introduction of the Bride's daughter which threatens to turn Volume 2 into 'Stepmom 2'. Remember the old saying "never work with animals or children"? That applies to Quentin too. I never thought 'schmaltzy' would be a word I'd associate with a Tarantino film.I would be a fool to deny that there's some great acting in Volume 2 and the coffin sequence is nearly worth the price of admission alone. Nearly, but not quite. Forget all of Tarantino's assertions that he had to split it into two because of the two differing styles, he did it for money, pure and simple. There's nothing here that couldn't have been told in a single two-hour plus film. But then, that wouldn't give Quentin the time and space to indulge himself at the expense of the story would it? Neither volume of 'Kill Bill' is as hard, funny or as cool as it thinks it is. It's more wankery for geeky fan-boys and is only sometimes marginally interesting or effective. Although Volume 2 answered all my questions from Volume 1, I have one question left: when is Quentin Tarantino going to start making proper movies again?
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=9241&reviewer=293
originally posted: 04/27/04 00:40:09
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This film is available for download or online viewing at CinemaNow.com For more in the CinemaNow.com series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. For more in the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival series, click here.
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USA
16-Apr-2004 (R)
DVD: 10-Aug-2004
UK
N/A
Australia
22-Apr-2004 (MA)
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