Awesome unique story told in a fascinating East meets West vision

Rating: 10/10 (17 April 2004)

Spoiler Alert! I agree with the comments already posted, about the first movie being more Asian Kung Fu and rampage action killing scenes, and the second movie giving more characterization and explaining the entire story.
This movie kept me riveted on my seat the whole time, whether an action fight scene broke out, or the characters just kept talking. Each actor is fleshed out as an interesting, complex individual, including Budd, Elle, Pai-Mei, and most of all, Beatrix and Bill.
This is a very complex movie with many layers and elements and I am still digesting and processing the scenes. What did I like? What did I not like or not understand? What do I remember as striking?
Well, there is an ongoing sense of razor-sharp, never yielding cold-steel purpose portrayed by Uma Thurman's heroine. Not just the self-dialogue voice-over as she drives to meet her final targets. The intense fury in her eyes as she is caught in a death trap and her violent struggles; the endurance she demonstrates as she undergoes the tough physical training (think of Demi Moore as a soldier, it's even more intense) and most importantly, her mental acknowledgment of the superior master; her focused calm while she tries to get out of the death trap; in her exhausted state, her drive to hike back many miles in the desert to find the killer (Madsen). This is a woman who will never ever give up. I like this determination as portrayed in the movie. That's guts! One striking scene is the heroine striding across the street to the diner, dirt flying off her in the dim lighting, and her superhuman determination to keep herself together and to keep going.
The mental submission and acknowledgment of the grand master is a key to Asian Kung Fu movies. Beatrix's mental toughness and ability to endure any impossibly tough circumstances gave her the edge in every life and death situations she meets. Beatrix's submission and respect of the grand old master is what gives her the edge over the other assassin, Elle. Elle lost her temper and lost first one eye, now the second. And finally, Beatrix is the only student of Pai-Mei's who earns his respect and learns the famous death punch. So, the serious determined good student wins at the end. I kind of like that ending. If you will recall, the central theme in Hidden Tiger Crouching Dragon was the female warrior girl who could not accept anyone being her master and ended wreaking havoc on everyone's life.
However, I found several scenes a little confusing. For example, how come the gun shot from Budd took her out in one volley, stunned her, but there was no visible gun shot wounds or after effects? How is that possible? Also, the shirt and jacket she was wearing showed no wounds in the back, so I was very confused about her ability to bounce back from that incident. Even with her kind of determination, how did she overcome serious bleeding wounds? If she was such a good assassin, why was it so easy for a man with a gun to take her out in one shot? The other scene in the hotel room where the Asian female assassin tries to shoot her shows that Beatrix is very fast and not that easy to kill. So I find it difficult to understand how she gets toppled over in one try by Budd. That was an anticlimax for me.
Why does Budd turn into a "modern" loser, when he seems to have the same assassin skills as Bill? Budd says that he deserves to die for participating in Beatrix's execution, yet he has no wish to let that happen and he takes care to execute Beatrix again, in revenge for breaking his brother's heart. Why does Budd keep the samurai sword inscribed with Bill's loving caption but tells his brother that it was pawned off? He seems very ambivalent about his life and his relationship with Bill. Clearly a complex kind of man.
Why is the scene at the Two Pines Chapel shot in black and white? Apart from the fact that it's a different technical style and look. I was wondering if it was meant to cast that entire episode of Beatrix's life as a scene that is almost surreal, or unreal in her mind, not part of the existing colorful intensity of her current life.
At the end, when Beatrix tries to reach the sword and gets a couple of warning shots from Bill, it seems incongruous that Beatrix, a well-trained assassin, is not be able to get at a weapon on the first try. It seems that anyone with a gun can easily gain the upper hand on the sword and knife style of killing.
On the other hand, Beatrix demonstrates that at close range and in a tight spot, she does not need weapons, she has awesome powers with her FINGERS! alone. So the old school fist fighting skills still triumph over the gun shooting style, that's the secret power.
What does the scene in the classroom flashing Beatrix Kiddo as a school pupil mean? The only thing I got is that her last name is Kiddo, it is not an affectionate nickname from Bill as we might have thought earlier.
I had a little trouble understanding every single word said by David Carradine so I will have to see the movie again. His acting is very compelling in this movie, the best I have ever seen. He comes across as courteous and guarded, then relaxed and playful, then intellectual and tender, that's awesome. Yes, the scene between the two of them is very powerful. The death scene is very different from most final scenes in a revenge story. There is a feeling of deep respect (of each other's killing skills) and love between the two antagonists, almost like in a Samurai fight. When he realizes he is dying, she touches him with a final gentle pat. He gets up and meets his death in a gentlemanly, courtly manner, with great courage, very "old school" as his character says.
As a woman, I had difficulty understanding why Beatrix felt she had to kill Bill at the very end. Yes, Bill executed her and her friends in a fit of passionate hatred at the beginning of the story But Bill also kept the baby alive and raised her tenderly. So could this act of love be his redemption, and could the heroine forgive him, and why not let them live happily ever after? Then I realized that his parenting style was very strange, he discussed the child's stomping of the goldfish like some of us exclaim in delight at a child mastering the ABC's and he lets the child watch assassination movies at bedtime. That's why Beatrix rejected him and his lifestyle, she could not allow him to live, it had become a choice of zero sum game, a life and death choice between his twisted lifestyle and the innocent child. It reminds me of the Samurai execution in Tom Cruise's 2003 movie, where the winner Samurai watches the loser and helps him die, but with deep respect, dignity and love.
The scene with the Mexican octogenarian was very interesting. At first, it was not too clear why there was such a consummate conversation going on when the director might have used a voice over saying that Beatrix obtained Bill's address by looking up an old acquaintance. I had to think about this scene for a while to ponder the significance. The meaning is this is Bill's background, his childhood parent figure and this explains the kind of person he is. A murderer, a man who uses other women and men for his business income, a man who is used to lording it over women and who will not take no (rejection) as an answer and will abuse, maim and kill at the drop of a hat. See the shot of the serving woman with the grotesquely split lip, that's what happens to those who do not comply in that world Bill knows best.
Anyway, what are the hallmarks of a good movie, in my mind? that it should be technically excellent, visually compelling, and the story should not only entertain but also give me plenty to think about after the movie ends, and this is one of very few movies that meet my standard.