Kill Bill, Volume 2
First off, if you didn’t like “Kill Bill, Volume 1,” then move along. There’s nothing to see here. Skip on down and find a DVD to watch.
If there’s one thing we learned in “Kill Bill, Volume 1,” you can’t assassinate a bride’s wedding party, shoot her in the head, steal her unborn baby girl, and leave her in a perpetual vegetative state hooked up to tubes and machines that go ping without expecting some sort of payback. Especially if the victim is The Bride (Uma Thurman), one of a group of elite assassins who report to charismatic leader Bill (David Carradine).
Trained in several deadly arts, The Bride is like a Timex Watch: she takes a licking and keeps on ticking. She doesn’t let small details like being shot in the head and being left in a coma for four years get in the way of her plan for revenge. God help those who get in her way, and may the devil have mercy when she sends those who did her wrong straight to hell.
Wickedly dark and playfully irreverent, “Kill Bill, Volume 1” was just Quentin Tarantino’s warm- up for “Kill Bill, Volume 2,” a decidedly different beast still capable of doing some major damage. Once upon a time, “Kill Bill” was one film, but length forced Tarantino to chop it into two parts. What at first seemed like a marketing ploy was actually a way for the writer-director to distinguish between the two very different experiences.
“Volume 1” and “Volume 2” work perfectly as a whole or as two separate tales, a brilliant bit of showmanship on Tarantino’s behalf. Whereas “Volume 1” was wall-to-wall action, “Volume 2” is more cerebral. Characters spend more time talking to rather than killing each other, giving Tarantino plenty of opportunity to mine his unlimited knowledge of current and nostalgic pop culture. If you pay close attention to Tarantino’s films, you can see his life flash before his character’s eyes.
Tarantino doesn’t disappoint with “Volume 2.” When his characters sit around and hash our life’s problems, they actually have something interesting to say. Every now and then it’s obvious Tarantino is in love with his own words, but at least his words are never boring. When a character succumbs to the bite of a poisonous snake, Tarantino allows another character to make a point out of every little detail of information of what the victim is experiencing. It reminded me of a freckled-faced kid toasting ants with a magnifying glass, the smile on his face widening with each direct hit.
Using various film stocks and techniques, Tarantino gives each chapter of “Volume 2” a unique look. The character of The Bride is what connects the chapters, and Uma Thurman is even better in “Volume 2” than she was in the first film. Her character is given more opportunities to open up and express emotions beyond hate and vengeance. The more we learn about The Bride and how she arrived at this point in her life, the more we embrace Thurman. This lady gets the crap kicked out of her and still comes back for more, and even though it’s just movie magic, Thurman makes us believe the danger is real and imminent.
Most enjoyable among her adversaries is Elle Driver, the one-eyed blonde vixen who gives as good as she gets. We only got a brief taste of Driver in “Volume 1,” but it was enough of a tease to make us want more. With her leather eye-patch and bitch-in-heels outfit, Daryl Hannah struts on the screen like a sadomasochist’s wet dream, a woman who is as sexy as she is deadly. Hannah has never been better, a villain for the ages, a woman capable of making you beg before she breaks you in little pieces.
Michael Madsen has a lot of fun with the over-confident Budd, who believes just because he buried The Bride alive she’s really dead. Some people never learn, and Madsen succeeds in making Budd a real “character.” Then there’s Bill, the final proving ground for The Bride, the man of her nightmares, and as she learns, the keeper of the flame. That flame happens to be their daughter, whom Bill has raised since she was snatched from The Bride after her unfortunate accident.
What I like most about Tarantino’s dialogue is how complex and meaningful his words are. He creates moral dilemmas that haunt the characters, especially The Bride, who finds herself in the unfortunate position of having to kill the parent of a small child, not once but twice. Tarantino likes to fill his characters with honor, and give them motives that he can explain away with a five page speech on the differences between comic book super heroes. Until The Bride finally comes face to face with Bill, she’s working on impulse. She does what she has to do. Bill is another story.
There’s history between the two, plus a blood connection, which makes The Bride’s final mission more about divorce than revenge. She wants Bill out of her life once and for all, and if that includes making the ultimate sacrifice, then she’s willing to make it.
With it’s stylized look, captivating music and narrative, and a cast that isn’t afraid to get down and dirty, both emotionally and physically, “Kill Bill, Volume 2” is one hell of a movie.
Killer Sequel
Quentin Tarantino picks up the Bill
KILL BILL, VOLUME 2
Uma Thurmond, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Michael Parks, Gordon Liu. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Rated R. 126 Minutes.
LARSEN RATING: $8.00
