Kill Bill - Volume Two
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Movie Reviews of Kill Bill - Volume Two
Movie Review: Epic Cinema From QT
Summary: 5 Stars
The announcement that Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" was to be shown in two parts instead of one instigated an evident wave of anxiety amongst fans of the young auteur. Some suspected that it was Harvey "Miramax" Weinstein's scheme to gather twice the profit. Others thought that Q.T. overdid himself, and made an overlong motion picture which now had to be extended into two volumes. And EVERYone marveled at the highly uncommon strategy: the release of "Vol. II" a couple of months after the first one may have flopped at the box-office... As it turns out, splitting "Kill Bill" into two parts was a premeditated move by the film's skillful director Q. Tarantino - as a four-hour spectacle the grand revenge/ exploitation/ samurai saga could have worked perhaps, but "Kill Bill" would have surely lost some of its elegance under the weight of an overwhelming variety of genres that Q.T. juggles. Fans can now breathe easily - the strategy worked. Less violent and action-packed than its successful predecessor, "Vol. II" astonishes by delving into more back-story and emotional depth, sustaining the feel of Q.T.'s patent love for cinema. The director often bluntly brags in interviews about his film knowledge. This is Q.T.'s abundant cinematic narcissism, personified. "Vol. I"'s excesses left no room for subtlety. We were too flabbergasted to care. We did wonder whether "Vol. II" would keep flabbergasting us with such ruthlessness. We were obviously to remain spectators rather than participants - while hard to relate to, the events in "Vol. I" were beautifully made to admire. There is subtlety in "Vol. II" - it resonates off the grandiose locations on which the camera lingers, off the pathos of the characters' revealed history, and off a more contemplative - and, in a way, epic - approach. The subtlety is there, but we are still to merely admire instead of mentally partake. It's for the better - there was no way, for a film that ponders on such an epic scale, to embrace its audiences entirely. "Vol. II" 's authenticity comes from its devotion to the subjects it pays respect to (including the audience). If "Vol. I" was Q.T.'s "The Wild Bunch", then "Vol. II" is his "The Searchers".
Swiftly, "Kill Bill Vol. II" `s plot involves: The long-awaited reuniting of Q.T. and Michael Madsen (aka Mr Blonde, the most malicious of "Reservoir Dogs" (1992)), who plays Budd (aka Sidewinder); despite winning our sympathy, Budd follows Bill's instructions and buries Uma Thurman's Kiddo (aka The Bride, aka Black Mamba) in a coffin under several feet of dirt, with the plan to sell her priceless sword to Daryl Hannah's Elle Driver (aka California Mountain Snake). In a terrifyingly claustrophobic sequence, Kiddo, trapped in the coffin, has a desperate flashback to her training with master Pai Mei (Chia Hui Liu), where she learned to "make the WOOD afraid of her fist", and as a result brutally punches her way out. One of the film's highlights, the training scene has humor (marvel at the extreme zoom-ins), sadness (The Bride's willpower devastates), wisdom (in its adequate mythological tone) and style. After a brutal battle with Elle Driver (expect to shriek at one point), Kiddo finally encounters Bill. As played by David Carradine, Bill is not just a simple villain - he is both magnetic and appalling, conceited and affectionate, jealous and proud, with a whole mythology built around him and the resounding flute he plays. The culmination includes a lot of dialogue, and a richly quiet finale.
"Vol. I" made it instantly clear that the film's intelligence was not in 'what' the plot was but 'how' it was. The film - in the vein of "Pulp Fiction" (1994) but much more copiously - excelled at keeping a tone of its own while delighting film geeks with endless homages to Q.T.'s numerous influences, such as Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa and Sonny Chiba (who is in the film himself). The relentless pace, extreme embellishments, dexterous dialogue and evident enthusiasm of the creator made it clear, even for non-aficionados, that "Kill Bill" was more than just an action film. If action movies sometimes include sly winks, Q.T.'s "Kill Bill", as "Vol. II" verifies with its retro-title-credits and score alone, IS an elaborate wink. Will surely become a classic.
PS - Check out Sam Jackson's hilarious cameo as a wedding piano player.
PPS Michael Parks is exceptional as Bill's quirky friend Esteban, a hustler whom Kiddo confronts about Bill's whereabouts.
Movie Review: Greatest Action Flick(s) of All Time.
Summary: 5 Stars
Practically everybody who saw "Kill Bill Vol. 1" last year was blown away by it - at least, those who weren't revolted by the frequent limb-severings, and why were those people seeing a Tarantino flick anyways? Even if most or all of the references went over your head, it kicked along as an action flick in its own right. And if you got every last nuance, so much the better - most genre dorks I've talked to agree that it wasn't just rote scene-copying, but respectful and contextually sound "homage." Speaking from my lowly position of ignorance ("Kung-Fu" and the rest were before my time), I can only say I had a good time.
Of course, "Kill Bill" was originally conceived as a single movie, but Tarantino & Co. found it impossible to whittle the massive amount of material down to a reasonable 2 or 3 hours. Rather than editing all sense out of it, they wisely broke it up into 2 "volumes." The chronology was rather crunchy in Vol. 1, jumping back and forth in time between duels and backstory, but leaving off with our protagonist The Bride (Beatrix Kiddo, alias Black Mamba, a.k.a. Arlene Machiavelli, etc etc) halfway through her death list and on her way to finish it off. Vol. 2 actually begins at the beginning, with a full account of the wedding chapel massacre briefly glimpsed in 1. We get to learn a little about Bill's motives in attempting to slaughter his former protege, pregnant with his child yet marrying another man. But since we've already seen how she miraculously survived, recovered, and immediately initiated a counter-campaign of revenge for what she believes is the lost life of her daughter, we're then shot ahead in time once more to arrive at the next unlucky item on the list: Bill's brother Budd. From that point on the sequence of events is relatively straightforward, although we get some long flashback sequences as Beatrix reminisces on her earlier training under the venerable master Pei Mei.
It ought to go without saying, but Uma Thurman is absolutely amazing in these films. She is perhaps the most likable hot-blooded assassin ever to grace the screen, and she always knows exactly how to pitch it. This film does NOT take place in any world I've ever inhabited (and I've been to Tokyo and Texas, lol), but Uma's performance, supported by that of every other actor in the film, makes it seem real in its bits and pieces. The way she arrives at a particular situation may defy every common-sense objection, the way she handles it may imply she's superhuman, but her all-too-human emotional reactions hit home in spite of everything. You can understand her pain, and you can equally enjoy the way she uses it as a flimsy excuse to cleave limbs and pluck out eyeballs.
Michael Madsen likewise hits the nail on the head with Budd, a typically Quentinian trailer trash archetype (cowboy hat, wife beater, the inevitable "chaw," cleans toilets at a topless joint, the whole nine), and Darryl Hannah returns in her surprisingly nimble portrayal of Elle Driver. And if David Carradine as Bill was practically absent from Vol. 1, you won't miss him in 2. His scenes with Uma - in which, as with the rest of 2 generally, there is a lot more conversation than katana-clashing - are the real meat of the film as a whole. The basic philosophical dilemma of vengeance is explored without over-philosophizing it, and the thin line between love and hate is tread right up to the final minute. Had these not been first-rate actors, and the perfect first-rate actors for these parts, they could never have pulled it off.
Not to make it sound like Vol. 2 is all emoting and flavored coffee. When the action needs to happen, it happens in a big way, and the fighting scenes in both these films are short (with the exception of blue leaves) but extremely sweet. Again, there are tons of references that I don't really get, but they're entertaining in their own right - e.g. obviously Pei Mei is a valentine to Kung Fu flicks I've never seen, but it's totally hilarious anyway. This is one of those films that you want to go see when it first opens, so you can sit in the packed theatre and listen to the way everybody reacts to it for the first time. "Kill Bill" in its entirety is just a lot of fun - enough said. Go see it! And Quentin better do a commentary when he releases the deluxe 2-disc boxed set.
Movie Review: Great action, powerful drama.
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay. If you want to know what this film is all about (for those living under a rock for the last year), then please read the absolutely stirring review by musicfan232 above. Actually, it's a damn good review and one of the best I've seen on Amazon. Congratulations man. However, I offer a little taste on why you should see this film IMMEDIATELY if you haven't already.
Those who know me at all know that I love movies. I love good, thought-provoking, but still entertaining films that I can waste way too much money on at Best Buy and see again and again. However, trilogies and quadriligies, and whatever else they come up with, seem to grab my attention the most. The story is established in the first, expanded in the second, and climaxes in the third or fourth or whatever. Then again, I also enjoy especially longer films, the big epics where so much happens that you may literally spend all day with your butt glued and your eyes glazed. Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, Seven Samurai, all longer than John Holmes' unmentionable on lady's night, but with the right kind of movie watching endurance, one could even sit through the full edition of Das Boot. The point of all this vast avalanche of b******* is that the movie was originally supposed to be one full film that may have very well been the next Pulp Fiction, but there was the marketing and I have finally forgiven Miramax for it, but watch this film as one big one. Don't watch the credits until the VERY end, and forget about Vol. 2's introduction. It's one hell of a movie experience. (Granted, most people who say they don't like it say so because it was a big disappointment. I can see why, especially when in the original screenplay Bill and the Bride DO have a swordfight on the very beautiful moon-lit beach. That would've tied this off as an instant classic, but Tarantino was under a lot of pressure.)
Yet as fun and amazingly cool as the fight sequences are (especially with Elle in the camper and O-Ren in the garden), I am very much looking forward to a Director's Cut DVD edition, complete with ALL of the trailers, maybe some extended interviews, maybe a commentary but I wouldn't count on it, and a collector's edition case with stunning art work. Now while this is just wishful thinking, Tarantino of all people deserves at least one Director's Cut of something. (...)
That, and this is Tarantino's work. Come on, who can't love the guy? This is technically only the fourth film he's done and anything else he's sold off has turned to crap, but in his own hands Tarantino can sculpt a masterpiece. In case you don't know him, here are his own works (and please, don't settle for anything other than these):
Reservoir Dogs: His first "feature", a little Independent film but still a cool Crime Drama that will never let you look at your own ears the same way again.
Pulp Fiction: The one film that secured Quentin as a legend. Still his best work and, in my opinion, one of the best films ever made.
Jackie Brown: A follow-up piece to Fiction with Blaxploitation written all over it.
Kill Bill: Well, you know.
Inglorious Bastards: Tarantino's next project, should be coming out in a couple of years, he's VERY serious about making this one. From Tarantino.info, he says that this will be to WWII what The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was to the Civil War. Wow.
Kill Bill Vol. 3: When I first heard about this, I thought he was joking. Instead, he says that if he was backed well enough, then he may do it. HOW? Well, obviously a slightly different route would be taken, but who knows.
You can take this as a continuation, you can take it as a sequel (but shame on you), or you can do the right thing and take this as a complete four-and-a-half hour epic. Now that Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 are available for sale, you can see both in their theatrical entirety. I'd highly recommend that you find some time to clear your busy schedule, spend around forty dollars for the set, (I'd recommend Best Buy, but it's your choice, and Amazon.com works good too) and see one of the best Action/Drama films ever made.
Movie Review: The End to Tarantino's Spaghetti Kung-Fu Western
Summary: 5 Stars
In a telling moment of "Kill Bill Volume 2" Bill's brother, Budd, played in a wonderful understated performance by Michael Madsen, is listening to a recounting of events we saw in Volume 1 - specifically when Uma Thuman's Bride single-handedly destroy Lucy Liu's O-Ren Shii and her bodyguard platoon, the "Crazy 88".
Budd asks "You're telling me she cut through eighty-eight bodyguards before she got to O-Ren?"
Brother Bill replies "Nah, there weren't really eighty-eight of them. They just called themselves "The Crazy 88."
Budd asks "How come?"
Bill answers "I don't know. I guess they thought it sounded cool."
There is a LOT in Quentin Tarantino movies that happens because it looks or sounds cool. I'm reminded in "Pulp Fiction" of the dialogue-less scene in the Pawn shop where Bruce Willis is upstairs selecting a weapon to use on the psychotic murdering rapists downstairs. He considers a few lethal clubs and even a chain-saw before settling on the Samurai sword and in the audience I was thinking "YEAH! Get the samurai sword! That'll get 'em!" Plus - it's cool.
There is a scene where one of the characters sicks a deadly Black Mamba on another character, then whips out a notebook with pages of hand-written notes about how god-awful deadly the Black Mamba is. The character sits down, flips open the notebook, and delivers an almost pharmacologic description of the lethal venom, along with "'In the bush,' the saying goes, 'a lion can kill you, a leopard can kill you, and the black mamba can kill you. However, only with the mamba is death certain.' Hence its handle, 'Death Incarnate.'" Pretty cool, huh?"
Tarantino's movies are cool, and the characters in them know it. The smallest touches are added, sometimes for no apparent reason other than to add a "cool" factor. All of the members of Bill's Assassination team are called the "Deadly Viper Assassination Squad" and they all have "Snake" Code-names. Why? 'Cuz it's cool, of course.
In the beginning, at the wedding rehearsal of the bride, we get to see Samuel Jackson portraying the piano player for the wedding, and is there anyone cooler than Mr. Jackson in the movies? He asserts his coolness by telling how he sat in with practically every R&B group that came through his little town over 2 decades.
The Bride is standing at the alter of her wedding rehearsal when she hears a flute playing a familiar refrain. She follows the notes outside where she finds her old boss and lover, Bill, playing the familiar notes on his old flute. Bill is played by David Carradine, and if movies gave out "comeback of the year" awards like sports does, Mr. Carradine would have earned it in this role, courtesy of Mr. Tarantino. For extra "coolness", the flute that Bill is playing for the Bride is the same one that Carradine played back 30 years ago in his iconic role as Caine in the wildly popular tv series "Kung Fu".
The "Wedding Chapel Massacre" that we're told about in a roundabout way in Volume 1 is set up perfectly in Volume 2, then executed with a single swooping crane shot that backs from the wedding party at the altar, all the way back through the church, down the steps, straight back through the gravel parking lot where the other members of the Assassination Squad are approaching with cool strides and lethal weapons. The crane swoops the camera up overhead and we see the flashes in the church and hear the shots and screams - and we KNOW what is happening in there without being shown in gory detail. I can think of no single camera shot as virtuoso since Orson Welles' virtuoso opening to "Touch of Evil".
I haven't told you ANYTHING about the plot, but if you watched Volume 1 you KNOW where the plot is going. There's a surprise or two, but there's delight in every scene. I've read Roger Ebert say that movies aren't as important in "what they're about" as in "how they're about it".
Kill Bill is about Kung-Fu movies and westerns, and the way it's about it is..... cool.
Movie Review: A Brilliant Second Chapter
Summary: 5 Stars
Quentin Tarantino is a taste that I have had some difficulty acquiring over the years. I greatly admire his ability to populate a film with twisted, quirky but strangely compelling characters and fill their mouths with the snappiest, most sardonic dialogue this side of Raymond Chandler. Still, his compulsive desire to portray graphic violence on the screen has sometimes left me overwhelmed and sickened, creative though the carnage may be. Tarantino's love of blood was readily apparent in Kill Bill: Volume 1, a gratuitously brutal homage to Eastern martial arts films that premiered last November. Uma Thurman starred as the Bride, a retired assassin who seeks vengeance when her former colleagues, led by her mentor Bill, murder the assembled guests at her wedding rehearsal and leave her for dead. Thurman did an admirable job of capturing the determination and unbridled rage of an individual obsessed with destroying those who have wronged her, but Tarantino seemed more interested in placing his leading characters into frenetic, over-the top ninja battles than developing their personalities and motivations. Nevertheless, he has redeemed himself with the surprisingly stunning Kill Bill: Volume 2, a film that is as entertaining and moving as any second chapter ever placed on celluloid.
Tarantino has corrected the lack of character analysis that pervaded the first film by fashioning several powerful flashback sequences that finally reveal the histories, priorities and values of many of the characters. In the first portion of the movie we are taken back to the moments before the wedding massacre, when Bill (a brilliant David Carradine) comes to pay a final visit to the woman who abandoned him. There is a sense of wistfulness and nostalgia that pervades the air (captured beautifully by Tarantino's black and white cinematography) as Carradine and the Thurman reminisce about old times and discuss current anxieties. It suddenly becomes apparent that the murders to ensure are not crimes of hatred, but symbols of the heartbreak felt by a sociopath who has lost the only woman he ever cared for. Kill Bill has developed into a unique and touching love story, and the passion Bill and the Bride still feel toward each other adds complexity and shading to their continuing battles.
In later scenes, we see more enthralling flashbacks of Bill teaching his young protégé about how the power of vengeance compelled a high priest to kill an entire order of monks and the Bride pushing herself to the limit as she perfects her martial arts abilities under the imperious instruction of Pei Mei (a great performance from Gordon Lui). These sequences finally give the audience a clear idea of the ideals and memories that compel Thurman to kill, and her mission now has an air of nobility and grandeur. It becomes a pleasure to watch the Bride overcome the tawdry traps and dirty tricks of opponents like the gleefully evil Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) and the quietly sadistic Budd (Michael Masden) because it is clear that she has achieved a level of mental and physical maturity that they can't even aspire to. The battle sequence between the Bride and Elle stands out in particular as a wonderfully staged and scripted struggle between two women who represent everything the other loathes.
The movie climaxes with a brilliant thirty minute confrontation between Bill and the Bride that surpassed the highest expectations of the audience. A description of these final scenes could not do them justice; suffice it to say they include the most perceptive and poignant dialogue Tarantino has written since Pulp Fiction, riveting and nuanced work from Carradine and Thurman, and a dramatically and emotionally satisfying conclusion to the saga.