Tarantino's Homage to the Leone Western Misses a Few Beats

Rating: 6/10 (14 April 2004)

There's probably not a bigger Quentin Tarantino fan than myself. In high school, all I could talk about was Pulp Fiction. We used to analyze that film and quote the dialogue during class. When Jackie Brown came out, some were disappointed, but not me. I saw the clever dialogue, the play with structure and storytelling as it was. Tarantino made the film he wanted to make.
Then when I saw Kill Bill: Volume 1 back in September of last year, three weeks before it opened at an advanced screening that I trekked all the way out of Secaucus, NJ to see, I was in awe for the entire film. With Tarantino's highly stylized homage to Japanese Kung-fu films and Japanimation, Robert Richardson's amazing crisp cinematography, Sally Menke's skillful editing, and RZA's catchy score, Kill Bill: Volume 1 went on to be nominated for 11 Fidelio Film Awards, winning 6.

Were expectations quite high for Kill Bill: Volume 2? Of course they were. Were expectations high for Volume 1? Probably even more so and they were met. Unfortunately, Volume 2 misses a few beats in Tarantino's homage to the Sergio Leone western as he tries to merge both the western with Chinese martial arts films.
Volume 2 almost feels like The Matrix Revolutions compared to the first two. Volume 2 is different in tone, and lacks the style and action scenes of the first one. And while the story is still interesting, I'm not quite sure the structure works as well as in the first one.
**SPOILERS BELOW**
Bill's fight scene with Michael Jai White as Alburt (Da Moe) was deleted. This is a scene which apparently would have shown Bill's kung-fu talent, and was needed. As it stands now, Bill is just a legend. We see him, but we don't see the tyrant that everyone describes. We only know him through what he did to the Bride. We needed to see him in action, to see how deadly he was and why he was so dreaded. We got to see O-Ren in action, as well as Vernita Green and Elle Driver. The only other one we didn't is Budd, but the point is he's a burnt out swordsman, who quit the business. Bill is supposed to be as deadly as ever.
The whole film was like an anti-climax. It worked in Pulp Fiction, in the diner scene at the end because it fit the style of the movie. In Volume 1, it all led up to the House of Blue Leaves Showdown. That was the climax. Here, we really don't get one, and this should be the ultimate one. Instead, Tarantino goes for a gimmick at the end. And it was a predictable one at that.
The main problem with Volume 2 is that there is no consistent style or tone. Tarantino was trying to blend the Sergio Leone western with the Chinese martial arts fighting and because of this, there is no consistent style, like there was in Volume 1.
He makes fun of the old Jackie Chan like Chinese martial arts films throughout the Pei Mei scene, with the hazy old look and Pei Mei constantly stroking his beard. And he pays homage to the Sergio Leone spaghetti western, specifically Once Upon a Time in the West. Bill plays a flute just as Harmonica (Charles Bronson), well, plays a harmonica in West, but it doesn't work as well as it did in West. When we first meet Bill at the chapel, it's used to build tension in the scene and the problem is The Bride knows it's him, but we don't yet. And this is another instance where structure doesn't work.
The thing that does work here, as the homage to the Leone western, is the maliciousness of Elle Driver, and her standoff with The Bride; in the standoff, Tarantino is able to build tension that Leone did so well.
Another thing that takes you out of the film is the scenes with the daughter that are overly sentimental, almost bordering on Kevin Smith Jersey Girl territory. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Tarantino's become a sell-out hack like Smith, it's just that something is off here, what he was trying to accomplish just doesn't work all the time.
There are still some good things though. The Bride vs. Elle scene is great, especially the ending of that scene. Some of the stuff with Pei Mei works, but then I thought it could have been more humorous. There is another homage to Brian De Palma, specifically two scenes to Carrie: Carrie's hand coming out of the grave at the end, and the close up of the blood-ridden Carrie. I won't give away how they are used in the film, but they are there.
While Volume 2 isn't a terrible film by any means, this isn't the film that should have followed up the energy, style and charisma of Volume 1. The clever Tarantino dialogue is supposed to hold this film together, and unfortunately, it falls short here. Whether it's Bill making a Superman analogy to The Bride, or Budd getting reamed by his boss at the bar, it feels as though Tarantino rushed through writing the scenes; they are not as vibrant as in his previous scripts, or even in Volume 1.

Tarantino has already said he's thinking about doing a Volume 3 where Nikki, Vernita Green's daughter, comes after The Bride for revenge. He said he wants to make it in 15 years, but start filming part of it now while the actors are at this age. Let's just hope he spends these 15 years making it as good as the first one.