Slower than Vol. 1

Rating: 7/10 (10 April 2013)

The sequel to Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is not nearly as good as the first. The first was excellent: it was quite poignant, it was exciting, fast paced, intriguing, and it had one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard.
The second was not so good in these areas. I didn't find it to be touching at all, as the first was. This one was exciting at times, but it was definitely a slower-moving film than the first one was. Not that being slower-moving than the first is necessarily a bad thing, but this one seemed to have excessive dialogue.
Another area where Vol. 2 fell short is the soundtrack: I found many of the pieces to be unhelpful in setting the tone of certain parts of the movie. The music, instead of drawing you into the moment, drew excessive attention to itself.
Kill Bill Vol. 1 was extremely gory, but chopped off heads and arms didn't really gross me out—at least not as much as the eyeball being squished between someone's toes, and the vitreous humor oozing out that appeared in Vol. 2. Overall though, Kill Bill Vol. 2 wasn't nearly as violent as Vol. 1 was. The entire tone was much sleazier though, especially the beginning of the movie.
Kill Bill Vol. 2 was a competent movie, but it was not the masterpiece that Kill Bill Vol. 1 was.