A film by Quentin Tarantino
Kill Bill: Volume 2 is a continuation of the story presented in Volume One . It is not a sequel, but rather the second part of one film. Tarantino never originally planned on releasing this in two parts, but when his finished film came in over 3 hours Miramax and Tarantino decide to release it in two parts. The result is two excellent films. Volume One was a high action, stylish film with a lot of energy (and was also one of the better films of last year). Volume Two slows down the pace quite a bit, but it remains just as excellent as the first.
The film opens with a black and white scene with The Bride (Uma Thurman) driving and speaking directly to the camera. She gives a little recap of what has come before, and concludes by telling us that she still plans on killing Bill. Since Tarantino does not work entirely chronologically, it is obvious this scene is set rather late in the film. We know The Bride will make it to Bill (David Carradine), otherwise we don t have much of a movie, but we want to see how she makes it. In the first film The Bride killed O-Ren Ishii and Vernita Green, two members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, but she still has two left. Bill s brother, Budd (Michael Madsen), and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah). I won t be spoiling anything when I say that nothing plays out the way you think it will.
There is one rather important flashback in the middle of the movie that shows The Bride s training with Pai Mei (Gordon Liu). We see a younger Bride, somewhat na ve and less focused (though partially trained by Bill) come into her own as Pai Mei s student. The lessons are brutal, but important both to explain The Bride s skills but also to directly set up a following scene. Perhaps without the training, the following scene will not work.
As good as some of the fight sequences were in Volume One , the fight with Elle Driver in this film is worth the price of admission with a moment that absolutely shocks (I ve never heard a theater audience gasp quite like this before). It is a great fight, highly appropriate for the characters and is a highlight of the movie.
For much of the rest of the movie, the pace is much slower, but it held my interest at all times. The more I think about this movie, the more I like it. I m not sure it is quite as good as Volume One , but it is a satisfying end to the film (counting both movies as one film) and it delivers some great moments. I d imagine that if you liked the first movie you ll see this one, but if you were on the fence, check out the first film and then head out and see Volume Two .