Kill Bill: Vol. 2

While the first movie was just a showcase of Tarantino the director, this time the story gets a word in. Uma no longer has to strut her kung fu stuff, so she no longer looks like a paddle come to life and, most importantly, Quentin has moved closer to Sergio Leone. Which greatly benefits the movie (and Tarantino). A massive benefit! ♫ OST score: 4/5 (21/04/2022)

Lawrence Bender is said to have regretted cutting even a minute of the material Tarantino shot. I don’t believe a word of it. As a seasoned businessman, he must have made the calculations that a film like Kill Bill could only make money if it was released in two parts. As it is, we have "only" two highly above-average films that would have made the best Tarantino movie by combining the wild and entertaining first part and the slowed down and sometimes too talkative second. The master once again proved that he has ideas to spare, although visually the second part is poorer than the previous one. He also proves again that he can write dialogues that are a joy to listen to, but some of them are too drawn out and some situations and characters are unnecessary (the pimp, Budd's boss and the scene with him). And Quentin also proved again that he can squeeze the best out of actors who are past the zenith of their careers, David Carradine is a class act. But alas, we could have enjoyed a brilliant piece of cinema, instead we watched two successful parts, thanks to the interference of the producers, or perhaps Quentin's overconfidence. Who knows. (23/05/2004)

It’s amazing how this revenge feels different all of a sudden; more physical, more human, more patient. I believe Volume 1 and 2 would probably work better as one opulent three-hour movie, because I still don’t quite get the point of dividing it into two such formally different parts, but the second one is closer to the screenwriting exhibition of an adored dude able to turn a simple premise into an unpredictable but also somewhat bizarre and deeply human story. If I called the first one porn for geeks, this one would be geek for porn. Quentin takes traditions from western, kung-fu and revenge movies and other well-known narrative tropes and enriches them with his inimitable moment of surprise, which here is absolutely sudden and shocking, foreshadowed in very carefully built dialogues. This time he lets the heroine suffer without putting her against fighting machines, but against people who are probably blaming their past. It’s a pity that Tarantino doesn’t work with human emotions very well – one of the key twists is revealed at the end of the first volume, which weakens the brilliant game with the surprise, and the dialogues with Bill, one of the most interesting characters, are written mostly for the viewers and not for an inner climax. Volume 2 is better than Volume 1 for its more thoughtful arrangement of the episodes and how it works with the characters, whose fates are beautifully intertwined, without needing to remember the first part, but it’s still too deep into its own self-awareness to make you fall on your ass and shed a tear when the closing credits start rolling. 85% (29/10/2018)

A star better than Vol 1. It has more good dialogues (which is where Tarantino traditionally excels), the story is told in a more interesting way (the first part is pretty straightforward, unlike the second) and there’s less action (which I don’t think it’s bad). The scene with Pai Mei, who loves to constantly fix his moustache, is hilarious. (17/06/2010)

I rate both parts of Kill Bill highly. They are a pure pleasure for me, as they fully satisfy my cravings as a movie fan. However, I don’t like the fact that the saga as a whole is divided into two films. That’s partly because there is a spoiler at the end of the first one solely for commercial reasons, which kills the main point of the entire 200-minute saga. And also because the individual parts are stylistically incongruous. After watching the first one, I wanted the second one to have the same brisk pace and eccentric style. And when watching the second one, I longed to experience the events of the first one in the same crystal-clear Tarantino form (slower pace, intense dialogue) that the second one has. (17/05/2004)