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Rating: Null/10 (21 May 2004)

I came to this movie, as I often do with Tarantino movies, somewhat exasperated with his last movie. The first volume left me in a difficult position. I liked the movie as a whole, but couldn't help but get bogged down in the interminable "look at this, and this, AND THIS" sequence of bravura set pieces. OK, so he is clever. But the montage of tableaux makes you just want to have a story, a plot, a coherent set of images, anything to follow in a linear fashion. Maybe I am just too linear a guy.

So the second volume was a nice surprise. Less pirouttes and showy "look Mom I can do this" pieces, more character development and some great character acting. The story moves along at a nice pace, the dialog is wonderfully poignant in places (check out the arrival of Bill at the wedding rehearsal) and the main effort of the director seems to be in the right place, that is to say getting the story from a to b (or b to c I guess since this is part two). I loved the sequences with BB and David Carradine (and he is totally cool by the way). I loved the Mexican pimp. I loved Mother and the wedding chapel. The weaknesses are however glaring. Bill's brother and Daryl Hannah frankly added nothing to plot dynamics.
And to put it clearly, this was not enough to warrant a second movie. It must be annoying to realise that you have made a movie and a half. But between the two of them I reckon there is a three hour opus waiting to get out. Long live the director's cut (yeah, never, never ever have I seen a Directors cut that gives a smaller movie).
Better than the first, and nearly the best movie of the month.