Worthy successor to Volume 1

Rating: Null/10 (18 April 2004)

I have waited anxiously for this. The previous two evenings I watched the newly released Volume 1 DVD just to be sure I had "all" ("some" probably more accurate) of the nuances of Volume 1 before entering the theater for Volume 2. Probably a good idea. There is some recapitulation but not enough to say that Volume 2 could possibly stand alone.
You have to understand that Quentin is a guy who never grew up and is still totally immersed in the magical world of Shaw Bothers movies. That's all you really need to know to get started on any of his movies. The fun is often in simply enjoying the details and then realizing that the big picture is a reflection of all those details, nothing more, not much less.
It is also important to sit in a Tarantino movie with your sensibilities switched down low. He has the ability to shock and horrify the senses. But this is not a problem if you continue to understand that (1) this is a movie and (2) if you are shocked there is nothing wrong with you.
Why pay to be shocked in this way - perhaps because we are indeed human, we all harbor the need to take revenge and we all enjoy talking about it as well as doing it. It is the script which so often makes a Tarantino movie - the Pulp Fiction dialog about Big Macs in France serves my point. This is the case more with Volume 2 than Volume 1 of KB. Mainly because there is more talk and slightly less violence - though the violence can be described as more intense if of shorter duration. The squirmish will say that at least two scenes go over the top - you will have be your own persnal judge of that.
Volume 1 was a hard act to follow but Volume 2 succeeds and makes this a memorable event. I shall enjoy watching the two DVDs back to back in a few months time.