Kill Bill Vol. 2

As the title of the film suggests, this is the second part of the Kill Bill series, and sees The Bride pursue the last two members of the Deadly Vipers before turning her attention to Bill. After the success and enjoyment that the first installment received, the second volume was always going to have a lot to live up to, and in my opinion it just falls short of the mark. It’s very good, but not as good as the first in terms of the engagement in the plot and the intricacies of the way it was presented.

Unlike the first film, Volume 2 takes place pretty much in chronological order. The Bride goes to visit Bill’s brother Buck, who tries to kill her and then calls Elle Driver to sell the Hanzo sword he obtained from The Bride. However, she escapes and confronts Elle, and then moves on to try and find Bill. Apart from a couple of flashbacks to explain the story a bit more, the plot is perfectly linear. However, this isn't necessarily a criticism because it is difficult to see how this film could have been jumbled up. There are a few twists and turns along the way, naturally, and the film is still fairly tongue in cheek. There is one scene where Bill’s daughter (no spoilers) asks to watch Shogun Assassin, which made me laugh. In this respect it is no different from the first volume, but for me it is missing something.

Naturally, things get a little bit more difficult for The Bride during this film as she is buried alive and shot at different points. Her quest for Bill seemed a bit too easy in the first film, and it was good to see that she actually had to struggle to get there in this film. However, when she does get there you are expecting an epic and climactic conclusion. Two films have led up to her facing off against her former lover and the amount of blood that has been spilt just to get to him leaves you expecting something sensational. As it goes, the final ‘battle’ is rather disappointing. I don’t think it was ever going to be as immense as the ending of the first film, and it’s a lot more sentimental. Regardless of her quest for revenge, there is obviously something between The Bride and Bill. There is a chemistry there which comes out perfectly in the interaction between Uma Thurman and the late David Carradine (who was the star of a number of martial arts films).

In terms of the blood and guts element of Kill Bill Vol. 2, there is much more and much less. While the murders that The Bride commits are both much fewer and much less violent, there is a pretty spectacular scene where she pulls out an eye and stamps on it. As with the ‘horrific’ scenes in the first film though, this is much more comical than gruesome. Another (sad) similarity between this and the first installment is the dialogue. During the scene where The Bride and Elle are fighting the conversation between them was so forced it became annoying. There are a few scenes where the dialogue isn't too bad (the scene with Esteban, and the final scene with Bill for example), but when it actually gets down to the fighting I think the delivery could have been a lot better.

David Carradine performs very well in Kill Bill Vol. 2. He makes a couple of appearances in the first film, but really has a major role in the second. He does very well to convey the air of a very powerful man, and despite never coming across as particularly ‘bad’, there is a sense of danger around nearly everything he does. For example, I found myself quite tense when he was making a sandwich in front of The Bride and his daughter and is waving the knife around. He is, in many ways, a very complex character, because although he shot The Bride in the head, he was obviously ‘very sad’, and realises that this is probably worth him being punished for. He could easily have stopped The Bride and had plenty of opportunities to kill her, but holds off. Either out of love or guilt, he realises that she deserves her revenge. This is fantastically put by his brother, played by Michael Madsen. Madsen plays Bill’s brother Budd, who is the bouncer in a strip club. He is a fairly non-descript character, but has a much darker side to him, as we see when he buries her alive. Anyone who has seen Reservoir Dogs will know that Michael Madsen plays ‘insane’ very well, and he does very well in bringing an element of this to Budd in Kill Bill.

Overall, Kill Bill Vol. 2 is a good film, but I didn't think that it was as good as the first film. However, if you have seen the first film then you simply cannot avoid watching it. It is as funny and entertaining as the first film, and brings everything together very nicely. I think that a third instalment has been announced, or at least Tarantino has been reported to be working on it, so it will be interesting to see where they take it from here. Watch the first one before this one, but after watching the first one you should not miss the next part. 

Other Tarantino films:
Reservoir Dogs - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/reservoir-dogs.htmlInglorious Basterds - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/inglorious-basterds.htmlDjango Unchained - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/django-unchained.html
Kill Bill Vol. 1 - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/kill-bill-vol-1.html