See, I told you we had unfinished business

Rating: 9/10 (26 November 2009)

Honestly, I wasn't anticipating Kill Bill Vol. 2 to be better than Vol. 1. In fact, I thought I would be bored since I already knew Tarantino generally cuts back on the action and ups the dialogue in the second half of his story lines.
Of course, I had to see the finale of the seriesso far. (Again, I'm not looking forward to a Vol. 3 – spoiler alert, I don't want to see "The Bride" die, like the future setup movie it's sounds like it might be.) I was NOT disappointed. In fact, Vol. 2 is actually better.
While Thurman still does an excellent job – her best performance (EVER) was in Vol. 1-2, everyone else stepped up their game. Madsen, as always, was great and Hannah was perfect. Even (new to the series, character) Esteban (Parks) was wonderful. But the scene-stealer award goes to the late Carradine, God rest his soul. Honestly, as many things that were masterful about this movie, he was worth the entire admission price.
Plot line: "The Bride" continues down her revenge path and continues to get knocked down in the process. Way down, like 6-feet-under, literally in one scene.
More background is revealed, as well as more subplots. And the obvious final confrontation with Bill and her daughter – no spoiler, since that was foretold in Vol. 1.
While the action is cut down in Vol. 2, the plot, dialogue, suspense and plot moves forward in fast-motion. Tarantino again delivers, but this time, 2-fold. And with the finale speech from Carradine, it ends on a perfect note. (It helps I'm a huge Superman fan.) Not to be redundant from my Vol. 1 review, again, everything works in this movie: Music, score, style, acting, originality, suspense, action, cinematography and dialogue. Everyone should see both Vol. 1 and 2. I loved all the actors in this movie, especially the extended roles of Carradine and Parks.