So much worse than Vol. 1

Rating: 3/10 (16 April 2004)

I really liked Kill Bill Vol. 1, so it's even more of a disappointment that Vol. 2 is QT's worst movie ever. It's as disappointing as Matrix: Revolutions.
Nothing is really added to the story. The beginning of Vol. 2 is slow, and the end is slower. Even after "Final Chapter" pops on the screen, the movie won't end.
Here are some good quotes from Ebert's review:
"There is a lot of explaining in the film."
"Such speeches function in Tarantino not as long-winded detours, but as a way of setting up characters and situations with dimensions it would be difficult to establish dramatically."
"One of the achievements of 'Vol. 2' is that the story is filled in... which consists not of nonstop action but of more hypnotic dialogue..."
The speeches are so excessive that I can't help think QT should've just written a book. There's an expectation you have after seeing Vol. 1, which had the most gratuitous violence of any film I've seen. Vol. 2 is much longer and has almost no action. I'm not complaining that Vol. 2 is missing the the gallons of spraying blood; I mean the movie is entirely stagnant. The Pai Mei scene was great, but most of the rest is just monotone dialogue. Carradine is interesting at first, but you quickly get sick of him talking, and by the end of the movie you really wish Uma would just walk in and shoot him instead of talk to him.
I don't suppose it's actually as bad as I'm pretending, but it's a complete 180 turnaround from the first movie. Every scene is 10 minutes of dialogue followed by 10 seconds of killing.
Maybe Ebert's right that it's one of the best films of the year, when compared with masterpieces like You Got Served, Scooby-Doo 2 and Torque.