A cracking double bill

Rating: Null/10 (25 April 2004)

Apparently wunderkid Quentin Tarantino, writer and director of "Kill Bill", conceived it as a single work, but Harvey Weinstein of Miramax, suggested that it be cut in two. Looking at the double bill (sorry!) now, it's hard not to believe that it was always intended to be a two-parter, because the tone of the two parts is so different. If this doesn't sound too perverse for a Tarantino work, Volume 2 is a gentler movie - slower paced, much more character-driven and, in spite of some ugly violence, with a much, much lower body count.
In my review of Volume 1, I concluded: "I don't think that the other squad members (including former lover Bill) will have much of a chance in Volume 2. But I want to see how they meet their well-deserved end and hopefully in the process discover where the bride learned her martial arts, what exactly was her relationship with Bill, and why was her wedding day the subject of such savagery." In this sense, the second part is satisfying: all the questions are answered, all the issues resolved, and all of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad are well and truly eliminated.
Whereas Bill hardly featured in the initial half, he is central to the latter segment and David Carradine - whom I remember from the television series "Kung Fu" - gives a compelling performance in which he has the best lines, notably his apologia for the massacre. Again, though, it is Uma Thurman - as The Bride, Black Mamba, Beatrix Kiddo, and Mommy - who is brilliantly cast in a role which has already become iconic. Her rise from the 'dead' has echoes of Hammer horror "The Fall Of The House Of Usher", while her eye-catching battle sequence with Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) in the constricted confines of a trailer reminds one of the train fight in "From Russia With Love".
If I came out the cinema with a slight sense of disappointment, it was because Bill is dispatched just too quickly, creating a slight sense of anti-climax. The smooth-talking brute deserved to suffer much more...