Kill Bill Review: Vol.2

Rating: 10/10 (7 April 2006)

Tarantino has done it again. Vol.2 answers all of Vol.1's questions and then some. But you must be warned: If you are hoping to see a spectacular action film like Vol.1, then just don't watch this.
So, here it goes.
In the end of the first film, we learn that The Bride's daughter is alive. But she doesn't know this... Which raises another question: How will this effect/distract her when it comes time to "Kill Bill"?
This is the film I prefer of the 2. It is because, well, it is brilliant. This film answers questions that were never even asked. Tarantino just let his imagination go to work and we got this. I didn't see it coming. I thought I was in for an exhilarating action experience, and I got an engrossing finish to what was before a some what zany story. It all comes full circle. And it does so flawlessly.
In this one, her first target is Budd. In one of the best parts of the film, which is "Chapter 7: The Lonely Grave of Paula Shultz" Budd goes to work, and he is a bouncer. He is late (as always, we learn) and is called back to his cocaine-fueled boss's office. He is fired and told by his boss to not where his hat to work. And that's the beauty of it. We see that underneath this character, a murderer though he once was, he is human. He once got paid a lot to kill people, and now is bossed around by some jerk getting paid bum cash and living in a trailer.
So, he goes home, sits in his camper and puts a Johnny Cash record on. The Bride creeps from underneath his trailer and swings the door open, but instead of a getting quick kill, she gets shot. This is a point of confusion for all viewers. She survives because she was shot in the chest, and her breasts acted as a shield, absorbing the rock salt from the shotgun shells.
We learn how the Bride got so good at killing. She is trained by quite possibly the most dangerous man alive, Pai Mei. We watch her harsh training.
Finally, she reaches Bill and, in another touching moment, sees her daughter for the first time.
This was one of Tarantino's most daring moves. The Bride and Bill don't have their showdown for a great deal of time after she arrives at his home.
But it gets there. And when it does, it is one of the best scenes ever in film history, not for the violence (because there hardly is any), but because of the emotion. Bill is dying, they say their final words to each over, and he dies. But the Bride is not triumphantly howling now that she's done. She is sad. She is sad because she once loved Bill. The film manages to stay realistic in the human aspects of its characters. Though he had done wrong to her, she had forgiven him. And it's because she's done that that she is able to grieve for him, not as the man who shot her, but as the man who was once very near and dear to her. And when you think about it, it is very touching.
Vol.2 is pure genius.