More Straightforward Than Part One

Rating: 6/10 (6 December 2009)

Volume 2 does indeed tie up the loose ends of Volume 1, but it does so in a rather abrupt and ultimately unsatisfying way. Unlike Part 1, which was mostly guts, gore, and flash, Volume 2 is rather crisp, sticking to the plot in a straightforward manner without going off on tangents. The film sticks to the protagonist, Black Mamba's, quest for vengeance without going into side stories about the antagonists' pasts, nor engaging in 40-minute swordfights with hundreds of henchmen. This is no action movie; really, the murders of the remaining assassins are, compared to Black Mamba's epic sword duel with Cottonmouth in Volume 1, incredibly quick (including *SPOILER ALERT* Bill's, the main antagonist of Volume 2). Black Mamba does not even kill off Sidewinder, a trailer- trash strip joint bouncer who also happens to be Bill's brother! I was hoping Black Mamba would engage in epic sword fights with Mountain Snake (Daryll Hannah of "Splash!" fame) and Bill (the late David Carradine, Grasshopper of "Kung-Fu"). Mountain Snake suffers the fate of the criminal who taunted Jesus at Calvary, also graphically depicted in a film that came out the same year as Volume 2, "Passion of the Christ."
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!
Black Mamba's killing of Bill is so sudden compared to her long, drawn-out trek for the lesser assassin, Cottonmouth, that this film's climax seems hollow. No "Hanzo sword duel" as promised; just quick, sudden revenge. Tarantino deliberately wanted to bum out his audience, who craved the action, clanking swords, and epic battles between killers of equal caliber of the first film by denying Uma from fighting her main antagonist in any satisfying way. This film, compared to the top-heavy first part, was a little *too* focused on plot and not on action. As a result, the villains come off as easy enemies for the "world's greatest assassin" to vanquish. Tarantino wanted to save the best fight first (that with Lucy Liu's Mafia Queen character) and thus let us down by denying us any good fights with the villains, whom we, the audience, would assume are superior fighters to Lucy Liu's character (I was expecting Daryll Hannah's Mountain Snake to kick major butt, but Tarantino utterly ruined what could have been a cool fight scene). Uma ultimately reveals to Bill why she left his elite group of assassins; and, while heart-rending, it does not save this film from the huge disappointment of Tarantino preventing Black Mamba from clanking swords with Bill, the Grand Master of all the assassins, in an epic showdown. Mr T. is Hollywood's biggest letdown artist.
Only Uma Thurman shows plenty of acting skill, compared to the other actors, as the protagonist. Black Mamba is no longer a superhero, as she was in Volume 1, but she is still one of the few characters to show much emotion or to elicit any sympathy from the audience. Bill and his brother Sidewinder are soft-spoken killers, and their understated characterizations are nice to watch, but by no means more interesting than Black Mamba. There is a cool flashback scene where Black Mamba learns the trade of Kung-Fu from a strict sensei; this actor was awesome as the harsh, if spirit-building, martial arts instructor. Daryll Hannah's character is shown to be treacherous and slimy, yet understated like Bill. Still, Hannah's character does not have the backstory or enough meat to her personality to make her as interesting as she deserved to be (she is set up to be a far more interesting villain than Lucy Liu's Cottonmouth, but Tarantino lets us down).
While lean and straightforward to Volume 1, Volume 2 does seem to be style over substance, with an eclectic soundtrack and homages to Kung- Fu and spaghetti western movies that I have never seen. In all, a movie for those "in the know" about cinema, but, with an easy-to-follow plot line, which means that it is far more audience friendly than Volume 1.
In short, Tarantino is grossly overrated as a genius infant terrible of cinema. He should limit his films for a narrow art-house audience, rather than make any attempt to be mainstream---either that, or he should only make his movies for his select group of Hollywood buddies for Sunday-night viewings in his mansion.