The Emperor's New Clothes

Rating: 5/10 (17 June 2009)

Quentin Tarrantino tells us in the documentary which is part of the special features section of the Kill Bill Volume 2 DVD, that Volume 2 is much more an homage to spaghetti westerns than to the martial arts homage of Volume 1. Volume 2 brings us back to the beginning of Volume 1, The Massacre at Two Pines. It's a slow-moving scene where we finally get to meet Bill who ultimately rejects The Bride's deep-seated wish to leave her murderous past behind. Quite fortunately Tarrantino opts not to mimic Peckinpah westerns and show us close-ups of the massacre in slow motion. In fact none of the massacre is shown and by doing so he wisely avoids alienating his audience. Kill Bill Volume 2 ends up being more camp than horror show. Had Tarrantino decided to show the massacre of innocents it wouldn't have worked in his film precisely because the victims (aside from the 'real' people at the wedding rehearsal) are comic book villains who we are not supposed to identify with.
Michael Madsen as Bill's brother, Budd, does an excellent job portraying the former assassin turned bouncer. The portrait of the wise-cracking psychopath features some of Tarrantino's best dialogue. But the whole idea that The Bride (aka Beatrix Kiddo), who has just taken down 100 Samurai swordsman in a space of few minutes in Volume 1 would allow herself to be so easily subdued by a blast of "rock salt" from Budd's rifle is ludicrous. Obviously Tarrantino needed a way to have her overcome an even more impossible challenge than the 100 plus Samurai swordsman—in this case, she now ends up buried alive in a coffin and in Houdini-like fashion, is able to extricate herself from the situation. The absurdity of the scene reaches its apotheosis when Beatrix utilizes her zen-like martial arts training to punch a hole in the coffin with her bare hand and then miraculously levitate through mounds of earth to freedom above ground.
I very much liked how Tarrantino uses Gordon Liu to play different parts in Volume 1 and 2. Liu is the martial arts master Pai Mei in Volume 2 and Beatrix's training at the hands of this gruff instructor prove to be one of the more engaging and streamlined sequences in the film. Tarrantino also uses another actor, Michael Parks, to play two different roles. He's the sheriff in the beginning of Volume 1 and transforms himself into Bill's father figure, an old pimp, Esteban Vihaio, in Volume 2. Parks really shows his mettle as an actor since he is virtually unrecognizable from one part to the next.
Things get even better in the "Elle and I" sequence. Darryl Hannah is perfect as the demented one-eyed assassin who first kills Budd with a Black Mamba poisonous snake and then gets into a fight to the death with Beatrix. The fight scene was so over the top that it can be considered a classic in terms of campy female vs. female fight sequences. It's a scene that perhaps comes closest to being funny out of all the scenes in both Volumes 1 and 2.
Unlike Volume 1 which ends with a bang, Volume 2 ends with a whimper. In a very long-winded and tame confrontation, the late David Carradine (not looking very well at all) finally reveals why he 'overreacted' and went after Beatrix. It was a matter of simple jealousy—he couldn't stand the idea of Beatrix being with another man. So that's it—after one killing after another, the whole reason for Bill's actions rests on irrational jealousy. This is what we've waited for, for the entire movie. Tarrantino doesn't bother explaining who Bill is at all. We find next to nothing about him. He has no history and is merely a flimsy prop, the catalyst to get all the bloody events moving. Bill has no back story and Carradine has no character to mold here.
Tarrantino is probably better served directing movies based on adaptations. As a writer of his own material, Tarrantino is the master of not only style over substance but elevating nastiness to high kitsch. Visually he'll be remembered for some classic scenes but often many of these scenes are too drawn out and need to be edited. Most disappointing is the revelation of the ultimate motivation of the antagonist—in its utter simplicity Tarrantino is revealed to be the Emperor with no clothes, an 'auteur' who puts a premium on 'shock cinema' at the expense of intellect.