Why oh why

Rating: 4/10 (4 June 2004)

As I feel it, Tarantino got away with Volume 1 of his revenge saga, as there were some elements in it most people (like me) not so much adore or find absolutely fantastic, but at least it was a movie you can like, laugh at and even admire (in particular the effects). Too bad you can do none of the above with Volume 2, as this conclusion must be one of the biggest let-downs in cinema-history.
'The Bride' (Uma Thurman), as we learnt from Vol. 1, is on a killing spree after 'Bill' and his assasins killed her soon-to-be husband, family and friends on her wedding (or, as we know now, her wedding rehearsel, but never mind that). In part one she killed of Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox) and Cottontooth (Lucy Liu), now the time has come for Elle (Daryll Hannah) and Budd (Michael Madsen). And the inevitable Bill, of course.
She starts of with Budd, who apparently traded his 'killer-life' for a trailer in the desert, working as a bouncer/toilet cleaner in a local bar. But Budd knows The Bride is coming for revenge, so when The Bride is planning to surprise him, he's way ahead of her, shoots her down and buries her 6 feet under. But this movie wouldn't be called 'Kill Bill' if, well, Bill wasn't killed, so the Bride gets out (in the best scene of the movie), remembering a trick she learnt from Pai Mei. So we have a flashback to Pai Mei, training The Bride for her life as a killer. Think The Karate Kid. This scene has so little to do with the movie and is so silly, it's right here where the movie takes a downfall.
Back to the story then. The Bride gets out of her grave and kills Budd and Elle (who happened to be in Budds trailer as well), and goes out to find Bill. But not before she has an encounter with Esteban Vihaio, some pimp who knows Bill. So we hear the whole story with Esteban etc. etc. etc. Throwing in some interesting characters who have nothing to do with your movie doesn't mean the movie is getting more interesting, you know...
When The Bride finally meets Bill there's a surprise for her: her kid (of which Bill is the father) wasn't killed at the massacre but has now turned into a 4 year old girl. The 'end fight' of The Bride and Bill should've been the highlight of this saga, but turns out to be so dull it's beyond belief.
As this whole 'Volume' is boring, useless, and in the end really unsatisfying.
4/10 for the OK first hour I guess.