Kill Bill: Vol. 2

Year: 2004

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Tarantino

Review

the first half of the two film opus is the hook. it’s full of panache, style, humor and action. it references depalma, kung-fu films, yakuza films, samurai films, exploitation films, leone films, and everything in between. the more of these films you’ve seen the more you’ll like it. if you’ve seen the master of the flying guillotine or cowboy bebop or any number of films that tarantino “quotes” then you’ll be even more invested in both these films. the second film changes tone and pace from the first. it dwells much more on the characters and their relationships. it fills in the history of the bride and her training, as well as fleshing out bill’s character. as a result it’s slower and, if viewed as one film, probably would appear to be too much of a shift. it has a fair amount of action, but isn’t as much of a ride as the first installment is. the ending is more serious than most of the film seemed to warrant and that threw me off a bit. it’s not that it’s not earned, but it changed the tone of the entire work. the first film had me thinking i was along for a fun ride through the history of film, and the ending was contrary to that. i think that when he reedits it, tarantino will make some adjustments to allow the film to flow a little more evenly than if you watch volume one and then volume two back to back. let me make it clear that the second film is very well done. he continues to experiment (though the only time shifts are flashbacks) with the craft, the characters grow deeper and the dialogue still has snap. it’s tough to make a film like this. i wish the producers would have let him just make a four hour film since that’s what it really is. together they are a bit awkward, so i’ll grade them separately….volume one . volume two .

Watched in theater