disappointing

Rating: 6/10 (6 February 2005)

Vol. 2 is disappointing, a big contrast to vol. 1. I would give vol.1 9 out of 10, but vol.2 6 out of 10.
If you have ever been exposed to Hong Kong kung. fu movies, you cannot but say that the fights are too short and superficial, with no real kung fu inside. The way director QT portrays Master Pai Mei is even laughable. I'm afraid it can only appeal to those Americans who are not familiar with kung fu movies.
It's supposed to be an action movie about vengeance. Then, what's the point to add so much story-telling in vol. 2? I don't mean it's not needed, but it's just too much, slowing down the pace of the movie. It's just not cool. I think more than 10 minutes of the story-telling in the movie should be cut away. And there is just too little action. After the boring Budd's dealing with Black Mamma (it's boring because there is strictly speaking no fight at all), I expect a fierce fight between Black Mamma and Elle Drive. But it is very short, and there is no real fighting with swords between them, just American beating, punching, and throwing. These two characters are supposed to be students of Pai Mei and they fight like those drunk people in bars without any skill or tactics!
Rearding the plot, getting out of the coffin underground is too unbelievable. She has previously learned how to punch through a piece of wood. Fine. But there is a whole lot of stone and soil behind that piece of wood in the coffin.
The weakest point of the plot is the last moment, when Black Mamma retold why she left Bill. How incredible is it to give up a whole career (though it's a career of assassin) and a lover just because you find that you are pregnant? OK, it's not impossible. But it's surely not a nice thing to do to Bill, who is the boss of the assassin group and the lover, and there is no wonder that he would get mad. So, come on, Black Mamma, why are you so mad as if everybody owes you their lives? (Actually Bill raised similar question to her and she just said she couldn't imagine that Bill would do that to her. What an answer!) Yes, I know, I know, action movie about vengeance does not have to be reasonable in this kind of thing. But if director QT know that it's not that reasonable, why doesn't he just drop that part or shorten it to a minute?
No stylistic fight, no thrilling music, and lots of unnecessary and unreasonable story-telling make this movie much worse than the first. I really don't understand why it gets so high a score in IMDb. Maybe there are something too particular about QT that people vote for QT but not the movie.