Its cool in a whole different way to Part 1 - but why split?

Rating: 9/10 (24 April 2004)

Lets be honest, Kill Bill should not have been split into two separate movies. It's plainly obvious from the start that the piece was meant to be whole and therefore we the movie going public were forced into a 6 month intermission between films. Call me cynical but the fact that this movie came out 5 days after the DVD release of part 1 just smacks of a blatant attempt to rake in more cash from the consumer. That said I really enjoyed the movie, in a different way to part 1. The dialogue is more prolonged here, there are no massive fight sequences and no manga cartoons that cry out 'Hey, look at me, I'm QT and I've done something no other director has - worship my coolness!'. Taking away my cynical streak the movie was very enjoyable. I enjoyed the fleshing out of the characters and the anticipation of how each one would meet their end. The fact that I revisited Part 1 just before helped me to get straight into the plot(another reason I am annoyed at the split) and there are plenty of clever, funny and striking scenes to make even the most cynical movie-goer appreciate Tarantino at his best. Every one of the main cast are on top form, and Carradine's Bill dominates every scene in which he appears, including his ending, which unfortunately did come across as a little far fetched. But that is one of the main appeals in these movies. They are set in an unreal world where people can kill at will and not get arrested. And where humans can act like superheroes and still have very human emotions. Tarantino drags you into his world, grabs your interest, and makes you believe what he is doing is cool - and fun. I appreciated this movie as a very entertaining work, and to that end I can just about forgive the self indulgent splitting of the two movies.HIghlights for me were Daryl Hannah reading to Budd about snake venom, and Uma's training with her master, Pai Mei. The guy was just great - I love the way he screamed at her and how he was prone to stroking his beard! All in all this movie is great, and I would just prefer it to Part 1, merely because I like the characterisation. But to be honest both parts should be viewed as one movie, as I am sure they were originally intended.