“”Kill Bill: Volume 1″” was an over the top, homage to mid 70’s kung fu flicks. At times it works really well, other times it fails miserably. It is the type of film that you have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy. My major problem with the first one was that it was excessive. Almost every scene went 5 minutes to long, the theme music was too loud and scratchy, and the acting was good in spots, and terrible in others.
That’s what I thought when I first saw it, when I watched the screener at home a few months ago, all of those complaints went away, and I just went with it and absolutely loved it, in spite of it’s flaws. Well “”Kill Bill: Volume 2″” is now upon us, and almost everything that I thought about the first film applies to KB2, only KB2 has the gall to be boring and just plods along.There are numerous “”problems”” with KB2, the main one being the simple fact that it’s too damn “”talky.”” Yes we all know that QT knows his dialog, but where the first film lacked the trademark QT dialogue, KB2 over flows with it, and it just becomes tedious. Almost nothing happens for about the first 50 minutes of KB2. The film immediately put me off when it spent the first 20 minutes (which felt like two hours) rehashing the wedding scene, yet again! There was no reason to open KB2 up the way it did, where KB1 repeatedly shows us “”The Wedding Massacre.”” KB2 shows us what preceded prior, and it’s a conversation with UMA’s character “”The Bride”” (whose name is supposed to be some “”big secret”” so I won’t spoil it for you. Ultimately it’s a pointless revelation) and Bill.Like KB1, KB2 has it’s moments of brilliance, that are few and far between. There’s an amazing sequence where Uma gets buried alive, you can feel her fear and the audio mixing of the dirt hitting her coffin is amazing. There’s also an incredibly cool sword fight sequence between “”The Bride”” (Uma Thurman) and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah). “”The Bride’s”” training sequence, while funny and intense, starts to drag towards the end, and when it does, QT immediately cuts to something else, it’s one of the few times in both films where he actually didn’t let a scene go to long, the only problem is, the entire sequence ends with no real payoff. These three sequences are almost worth the price of admission. The acting in the movie was a mixed bag, Michael Madsen’s slow delivery feels labored, while David Carradine’s “”Bill”” becomes nothing more than a blowhard. Uma’s performance was absolutely amazing she lifts this film up on her shoulders and carries it. You really feel for her plight, and root for her to get her revenge. Her eyes in some scenes speak more volumes than the dialog. It’s truly an award level performance.[pagebreak]At the end of the film when he and “”The Bride”” finally meet up for their final confrontation, he delivers this nonsensical 5 or 10 minute speech about “”Superman,”” and how “”The Bride”” hides behind her identity and true nature like “”Superman”” hides behind Clark Kent. Not only is the speech long and seemingly completely out of left field, but being a comic book fan, I didn’t buy into the basic premise of it. It seemed like QT was trying to show us how hip he is, and how “”with it”” he is, because he’s able to use Pop Cultural Psychology using Comic Books as a reference point, and the entire scene just failed miserably. Just like the film itself, the final confrontation between Bill and “”The Bride”” was incredibly disappointing. Not only do we get the 5 or 10 minute “”Superman”” speech, but then we get a bunch of other ridiculous speeches and moments that brings any forward momentum built up by the Swordfight to an incredible halt. And after all is said and done, Bill is dispatched incredibly easy, and his few moments are hokey at best. This two part film’s parts are better than the whole. Or is it the whole would be better than its parts? Not sure which. The ingredients for one incredible 3 hour kick butt action movie are in KB1 and KB2, but because of the decision to artificially split it in two and a director that didn’t know how to cut his own material turns what could have been one of the best action/kung-fu films of all time into a mediocre frustrating film going experience. Final Grade C-EM Review by Michelle AlexandriaOriginally Posted April 16, 2004