Nothing like the first one

Rating: 4/10 (19 April 2004)

Volume 1 was fantastic. The characters were great, the action sequences were artistically conceived and stylish, and even the editing and pacing of the movie were excellent. Not so with Volume 2. Pai Mei is the only really new character, and while he is the highlight of the movie, his scenes don't last long at all. There is very little action, almost nothing stylish or unique, and the pacing was agonizingly slow. It slowly builds up to a very disappointing ending with almost no pay-off for sitting through some really terrible dialogue coming from Bill and the Bride. Bill especially seems like a mouthpiece for Tarantino's inner monologue, which would be fine if Bill was supposed to be like Tarantino in any way, but that's a little difficult to believe. In short, why on earth would Bill be reading comic-books? Despite all that, there are some things I liked about this movie, such as the interesting characters and director's attention to details and sense of humor. If this were a stand-alone movie I would give it 7 stars. Having seen the first one though, I drop it to 4 out of sheer disappointment.