Would Be Better As One Film

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2004)

'Kill Bill: Vol. 2' is the second and final part of Quentin Tarantino's tale of revenge. As has been well documented, 'Kill Bill' was supposed to be one film, however studio concerns over a three hour film meant that it was split into two 'volumes'.
This film begins where the last one ended. The Bride (Uma Thurman) having already dispatched Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox) and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) now seeks out the two remaining members of her would be assassination squad - Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) and Budd (Michael Madsen) - along with their leader and her ultimate goal: Bill (David Carradine).
As was the case with Vol. 1, Vol. 2 is told in chapters that do not always occur in chronological order. However, Vol. 2 is more linear than the first part was (scenes that are out of order tend to be flashbacks). The pace of this film is, surprisingly, much slower than Vol. 1. Tarantino wisely eschews the gallons of fake blood and focuses on the story and the development of the characters. The result is that the cast get more of a chance to display their acting talents and they duly oblige with some fine performances. With less action, it also means that this film is more verbose than the first part. Unfortunately, the dialogue is not the classic Quentin Tarantino type (with the exception of Bill who has some great lines), it rather serves to further the plot and fill the back-story of the characters.
Tarantino's direction in this film is not too different from the first part (as it should be since this is really one film). Some scenes are still shot in black and white, but this time it feels like they were done for style rather than to diminish the on screen violence. Tarantino also manages to create a memorable moment by changing the film's aspect ratio during a claustrophobic scene, giving the viewer a better feel for the situation of the character.
Visually, Vol. 2 is quite appealing, but it never reaches the beauty of the first part. This is not the result of the cinematography (which is still excellent), but rather due to the colour palette which is not as broad as in Vol. 1. Thankfully, the fake blood effects of the first part are gone and are replaced with blood that looks more genuine, so that when fight scenes do occur they feel more realistic.
Where Vol. 2 really shines is with its acting performances. Uma Thurman gets to show off a broad range of emotions as The Bride and she does so effectively. The way she shows the suffering of her character is truly award-worthy. The actors that play the two assassins she faces in this film (Hannah and Madsen) are definitely a huge improvement from the actors in the last film (Fox and Liu). Of the two, Madsen's performance is the better as he plays Budd with great restraint, which is a surprising trait of his character. Hannah does her job solidly  although she never really has to do anything other than be a badass. David Carradine (better known for the 'Kung-Fu' series) gives the best performance of this movie as Bill. Carradine does not only have a great on screen presence, but he also delivers his dialogue flawlessly throughout. Michael Parks and Gordon Liu, who both acted in the first film, return as different characters in this part. However, both fit into their roles so well that it is virtually impossible to recognise them.
The original Kill Bill was supposed to be 180 minutes, however after it was split, Vol. 1 was 111 minutes and Vol. 2 was 136 minutes meaning both films are a total of 247 minutes. The fact that some 67 minutes combined were added to both films accounts for most of the faults of Vol. 2 (and to a lesser extent Vol. 1) since too many scenes feel out of place and like they should have been cut from the final version.
Generally, Kill Bill Vol. 2 is a fine motion picture. However, if the original film was not split into two it might have been great.