"I am gonna kill Bill".

Rating: 10/10 (1 October 2011)

There's probably no better mission statement for a picture's leading character than the one uttered by Uma Thurman in the opening scene - "I am gonna kill Bill". From there, the story takes us back to the wedding rehearsal at Two Pines, and introduces us to the title character who never even showed up for the first installment except by his off screen presence, and the violence directed at his former Kiddo. Thinking about it now, that was a clever ploy used by director Tarantino. I recall being a bit disappointed that there was no Bill in Volume I when I first saw the picture, but now it comes across as more effective story telling. Of the two films, I prefer this second installment. The over the top violence of the first movie is a take it or leave it sort of proposition for me, it's not the first thing I'm looking for when I go in for a story like this. I'd much rather get into the character development and the motivations for why characters respond the way they do.
It's clear that director Tarantino has a genuine affection for the genres he parodies here - Seventies martial arts flicks, spaghetti Westerns and comic book super-heroes. Bill's (David Carradine) monologue on Superman's identity and alter-ego seemed to come out of nowhere, but perfectly described the dichotomy of Beatrice Kiddo's character - an assassin with no more skin in the game after learning she was pregnant. It also revealed how coldly brutal Bill could be, unwilling to let go of the past to seek a personal revenge on a former lover. There's never a question over who's the more sympathetic character, even after the introduction of four year old B.B. Speaking of which, it became a nagging question to me how Bill would have been able to raise her after the Twin Pines Massacre. There might be the germ of a good sequel in there somewhere.
The picture has more than it's share of surprises. Recalling that The Bride spent four years in a coma, it was shocking to imagine that she would also be buried alive, initially outsmarted by Bill's brother Budd (Michael Madsen). Her return trip to Budd's trailer home gave us that well choreographed, splendidly awesome fight scene against Elle, the California Mountain Snake (Darryl Hannah). It's one of the action highlights of the picture, and you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for it. Of course, the entire Pai Mei training sequence was a trip, with Gordon Liu paying homage to all the Grand Masters of every martial arts film ever made, punctuated by a symbolic 'whoosh' every time he stroked his snow white beard.
In summary, if you like Tarantino's straight come at you style, there's a lot to enjoy with the Kill Bill films. They're stylish, colorful, action packed and violent, and if the characters are more caricature than real, that's OK too, because they were meant to be. Recommended for a unique viewing experience.