A Conclusion to A Masterpiece

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 2004)

It's hard to review Kill Bill, Volume 2 without mentioning Volume 1, since both films make up an entire movie. So instead of just reviewing Volume 2, I shall end up combining the two films and submitting a review of Kill Bill. So let us begin. Kill Bill is Quentin Tarantino's bloody epic masterpiece that pays homage to those 70's Japanese shows, Spaghetti Westerns and Italian Horror Films. He combines the three elements to create a masterful story of revenge, featuring Uma Thurman as The Bride. The Bride is an interesting character who is indeed a woman of the world. She was about to get married and have a baby and ended up being massacred by Bill and The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (composed of Elle Driver, Budd, O-Ren Ishii and Vernita Green) and left in a coma for four years. She wakes up and immediately wants revenge on all those who ruined her lives. What results is approximately 4 hours and 8 minutes (that's what you get if you add the two films together) of action-packed, in-your face drama that can't get any better. Quentin Tarantino is a masterful writer and director that one can compare to Martin Scorsese. He is totally original in what he creates and doesn't hold anything back from the audience. He shoves it in your face and all you can do is squeal when he does it. Uma Thurman delivers quite possibly the best performance of her career (the only one better maybe occurs in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction) and honestly richly deserves a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her work in this epic film. But what is really the centerpiece of this whole entourage of violence and blood is the character of Bill. One would expect bill to be such a hard-ass, a man so violent and so insane that you wouldn't be able to like him at all. Yet Tarantino creates him as an intelligent, sweet, loving man who feels sincere regret for what he did to The Bride. The man who plays him is David Carradine, son of the legendary John Carradine, whom, like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, Tarantino resurrects with this film. Carradine plays Bill so well in Volume 2 that he too deserves a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his work in this film. Tarantino's writing and direction are nearly flawless in this movie, the editing of the film is spectacular, the cinematography is absolutely stunning, all making Kill Bill a vast, beautiful tale that is more than just about revenge. Volume 1 was a bloody masterpiece, Volume 2 was a beautiful masterpiece, Kill Bill is One of the Very Best Films Ever!
Lenny's Grade for Volume 1: A Lenny's Grade for Volume 2: A Lenny's Grade for KILL BILL: A