...if you watch the first volume

Rating: 6/10 (16 June 2007)

I still have difficulties to believe that this insipid and ordinary dish is the sequel of the ultra-spicy and tasty "Kill Bill Vol. 1".
With the incredible spectacle shown in the first part of this epic four-hour-plus movie, my expectations were very high for this sequel and conclusion. Perhaps that it's just me, but maybe I've put the bar too high. Or perhaps that Quentin himself did with the blood pool of the first volume.
At the end of the first volume, The Bride (Uma Thurman) already killed Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox) and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu). So there were only Budd (Michael Madsen), Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) and her boss Bill (David Carradine) to annihilate.
The major difference is that director Quentin Tarantino visibly gave a more conventional taste to the second volume. And if there's one character trait that QT doesn't own, it's the fact of being conventional. It's almost like if somebody slapped him on the fingers while lecturing him of calm himself and behave better. Anyway, if it's the case, I'd really like to meet that person and tell him/her my way of thinking.
This section of The Bride's story (who must be called by her real name Beatrix Kiddo) began pretty well however. The black-and-white opening about the church where the initial massacre happened is original and the massacre itself is never really shown, which gives a "Reservoir Dogs" taste (it happens to be the movie in which Madsen plays the greatest role of his career).
The fact that the shootout happened in a church during a wedding repetition acts like some kind of sacrilege. Just like the katana duel in the snow-covered Japanese garden in the first movie.
Like always, Tarantino tries to pay homage to many film genres in the course of the same feature-length film. But here, it doesn't work very well when you compare to his other movies. The first part, which is supposed to pay tribute to the spaghetti westerns from Sergio Leone, falls short. And there's one good reason for that. The word 'spaghetti' hasn't been taken just like that. That precise word is used because of the supposedly huge amount of blood shown on-screen. But it seems that we're running out of currant juice. Moreover, the cinematography is supposed to be minimalistic, which is not the case here either. Images are not elaborated nor especially stylized, but they're not minimalistic either. Tarantino can try to include samples from Ennio Morricone on the soundtrack, it doesn't improve the situation.
There's an obvious reference to the zombie films of George A. Romero which almost becomes a moment of unintentional comedy.
While Volume 1 was definitely based on the presentation, Volume 2 is definitely aimed at character development and at moments of introspection and souvenirs. It's probably that brutal change of tone that is so uncomfortable.
But it nevertheless benefits to some actors. Carradine impresses, not necessarily by his performance by itself, but by his capacity to remember so many lines and so many monologues by heart.
Hannah is the most frightening killer of the group, because of her dirty character, her menacing face and her sinister blindfold above her right eye. Her fight with Thurman is exciting and the scene where Thurman pulls out her remaining eye is very hard to stomach and remains the most powerful image of this portion of movie.
And we know at which point Tarantino is far from being sentimental. However, the scenes where Beatrix appears with her daughter (which Beatrix thought of being dead) are surprising and comforting.
Now I'd like to go back to Carradine's monologues. It's true that the characters talk much more than they fight in this second volume. Some people would even say that it's another Tarantino trademark and that it's the point that made "Pulp Fiction" so interesting. However, here, characters are rather boring and their conversations are not very catchy. Let's say that Bill's superhero speech is far from the level of the famous "Royale with cheese" of Vincent Vega.
On the cinematography level, there are not many things to underline. There's only the first chapter, entirely in black-and-white, and the scene from inside the coffin that are really interesting.
To sum up, almost all of the publicity and the fame of "Kill Bill" are built around the first volume. Volume 2 is good nevertheless, but we could compare the effect to a cold shower poured on a burning body. If both sections are put together, it would enhance the second part, but it would risk to harm the first one. And obviously, because we're so impressed by the first part, we desperately want to watch the second one. But what do you want...