Brilliant stuff, but confirms my thought that the movie was better served shown as a whole

Rating: Null/10 (7 August 2004)

Quentin Tarantino closes his epic of betrayal and revenge with a slightly more meditative film, a pretty far cry from the action packed bloodbath that comprised Volume 1. Uma Thurman returns as `The Bride' a.k.a. `Black Mamba' a.k.a. but that would be telling. Anyway, she's back from being left for dead at the altar, to take revenge on the trio of killers left on her hit list: Daryl Hannah as Elle Driver (California Mountain Snake), Michael Madsen as Budd (Sidewinder, also Bill's brother), and David Carradine as the titular `Bill.' Along the way, we're treated to a further salute to eastern cinema, in flashbacks to Black Mamba's training under the querulous Pai Mei (thirty year Hong Kong vet Gordon Liu, playing his second role in the Kill Bill story, and reprising yet another classic recurring character from Asian cinema (like Sonny Chiba's Hatori Hanzo in Volume 1)). What emerges from the whole is a story about love, redemption and the possibility of moving on from the ways of violence and war into, perhaps, an uncertain future. And Volume 2 confirms my thought that the movie was better served shown as a whole. Brilliant stuff.