Kill Bill Vol. 2 Review (2004)

The return of the Bride

As I stated in my Volume 1 review, I wanted to review the two volumes separately due to the fact that I feel the films are completely different to each other. Volume 1 to me feels like an all out action martial arts film, filled with lots of blood, gore and a non-linear narrative. Whilst Volume 2 has a lot of that, it feels more like a Sergio Leon style Spaghetti Western, there is a lot of dialogue, more of a regular structured narrative than its predecessor and there isn't much of a climactic battle, but for some unknown reason, I prefer it.

Tarantino intended for Kill Bill to originally be a singular film, but argued that the film would have a run time of something close to 4 hours so eventually split the movie in two, so its strange and hilarious that they feel so different. James Rolfe of Cinemassacre.com described it best in saying that all of the action fits into Volume 1 whilst Volume 2 has all the dialogue and I couldn't say it any better myself. Something else of note in the differences between the two films is that Volume 1 has an obsession with swords, and is all about the traditional samurai way, and Volume 2 has the same obsession but with firearms, displaying pistols, shotguns and even machine guns as the primary mode of killing this time, again showing the difference between the Martial Arts and Western genre's in the two films.

Michael Madsen as Budd

This film opens with a flashback to the Bride's wedding, where it is revealed that Bill is played by David Carradine and he was romantically involved with the Bride until she became pregnant and tried to leave her life as "The Black Mamba" behind and this is the reason she was "murdered" in the first place. We then move onto Bill seeking out his brother Budd played by Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs another Tarantino flick saw Madsen rise to fame) warning him of the imminent arrival of the Bride. This is the first area of the film that I feel like the style is dramatically different to the first. Where is in Volume 1 we would have probably seen a huge action sequence in which multiple people lost limbs or where stabbed with blood spraying everywhere. Instead there is a quiet confrontation between the Bride and Budd in which she opens a door... only to get shot full of rock salt and buried alive.

Pai Mae cruel to be kind

The film again goes to a flashback in which the Bride is trained by Pai Mae, a Japanese martial artist who is well honed in his skills, teaching the young woman to become the well trained fighter that she is. As the mud and dirt falls on top of the coffin, she delves deep into the past to remember something she was taught long ago. This again pays tribute to the great Bruce Lee with the one inch punch, although not specifically named, its plain to all martial arts lovers what the director is trying to put across. We move through the training, seeing the harrowing and awful ways in which the Bride is trained. Simultaneously this reflects the Bride in the coffin underground, trying to break her way out of her wooden tomb, the music is something to note here, again bringing that true Western feel to it and as you might of guessed it feels like motivation for the Bride to get free.

Ah Daryl Hannah, her character aptly named Elle Driver (she drives around a whole lot in both volumes) is one of my favourites and its her time to shine in volume 2. Meeting with Budd to pick up the Brides Hanzo sword, she instead murders him with the deadly Black Mamba snake in order to keep the sword and the money that Budd requested in exchange for the sword  but is unable to escape the wrath of the bride herself who instead uses an inventive way to get rid of Elle's only remaining working eye.

Having all remaining names crossed off her deathlist, and with her name finally revealed as Beatrix Kiddo (why was this such a huge mystery? I have seen these films so many times and I still don't see why her name was kept such a huge secret.) she finally moves onto the final name on her list. Bill.

The final confrontation with Bill

As revealed at the end of Volume 1, Kiddo still has a child, a young daughter who is also the daughter of Bill, finally sealing the link between the two characters. I'm not going to spoil how this film ends because it really is amazing, there's no huge sword fight and its hardly climactic, but all the suspense and tension from the two films has built towards this point and in my opinion it really does not disappoint.

My final thoughts on these two films is that they are some of the best martial arts films out there. Tarantino shows his adoration for the genre for the genre adding so many Easter Eggs and love into these films and it really shows through. Quentin is a master of his craft, he is able to tell the story of the Bride so well that it is truly captivating. Following Beatrix as she crosses more and more names off her list is great, we root for her, some of the things that she does are despicable (Poor Elle's eye) and she has killed many many people by the end of the saga but that doesn't stop her from becoming one of the most compelling characters in cinema history.
I love these films, as I love much of the work of this truly awesome director, and his fourth and fifth films are simply some of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Check them out.