go with it and it's worth the ride

Rating: Null/10 (26 April 2004)

In many ways this is a cheeky piece of style over substance. But if you can swallow that pill then it's also a masterpiece. And if you've seen the first "volume" then you shouldn't really expect anything else. The opening black and white church scene is shot in such outrageous contrast you'd be forgiven for thinking the projection room had caught fire. The leap back into colour features what could be the most technicolour mud in north america.
Unabashed cliches of dialogue and character will have film nerds giggling like schoolgirls (well that's my excuse). One particular line will have me shaking my head in disbelief for weeks to come. And possibly the cheekiest trick of all: warming up the slasher fetishists with the samurai orgy in volume 1 and then restricting volume 2 to a stifled brawl in a trailer. It's the chop-socky equivalent of showing fourteen year old boys a ten minute blowjob with no money shot. Genius.
It's worth saying too that the characters in this film are almost without exception well-written and well-acted. I've seen several reviewers fuming "fight don't talk". Bollocks to that: "talk don't fight". You want more fighting go and rent Iron Monkey.