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Kill Bill: Vol.2
USA 2004
produced by
Lawrence Bender, Erica Steinberg (executive), E.Bennett Walsh (executive), Harvey Weinstein (executive), Bob Weinstein (executive) for A Band Apart, Super Cool ManChu/Miramax
directed by Quentin Tarantino
starring Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Gordon Liu Chia-Hui, Michael Parks, Bo Svenson, Jeannie Epper, Stephanie L.Moore, Shana Stein, Caitlin Keats, Christopher Allen Nelson, Samuel L.Jackson, Reda Beebe, Sid Haig, Larry Bishop, Clark Middleton, Claire Smithies, Perla Haney-Jardine, Helen Kim, Vanessia Valentino, Thea Rose, Lucy Liu, Vivica A.Fox, William Paul Clark, Victoria Lucai, Stevo Polyi, Al Manuel Douglas, Jorge Silva, Patricia Silva, Maria Del Rosario Gutiérrez, Sonia Angelica Padilla Curiel, Veronica Janet Martinez, Lucia Cruz Marroquin, Citlati Guadalupe Bojorquez, Graciela Salazar Mendoza, Maria de Lourdes Lonmbera
written by Quentin Tarantino, based on a character created by Quentin Tarantino & Uma Thurman, original music by the Robert Rodriguez, martial arts direction by Yuen Woo-Ping, make-up effects by K.N.B.EFX Group, visual effects by Centro Digital Pictures
Kill Bill
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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If you want to know what happened so far, see Kill
Bill Vol.1, but actually, you need not see that film to understand
this one, as Kill Bill Vol.2 starts with the event that started it
all, the Bride's (Uma Thurman) wedding, or rather wedding rehearsal, where
Bill (David Carradine), her old boss from when she was still an assassin,
and his gang - Budd (Michael Madsen), Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), O-Ren
Ishii (Lucy Liu) and Vernita Green (Vivica a.Fox) - show up, and slaughter
everyone in sight ... but for some reason, they fail to kill the Bride,
but somehow manage to steal her unborn child that was fathered by Bill.
After four years in a coma, the Bride has found back to her strength
and is now out for revenge, and after having killed O-Ren Ishii and
Vernita in the first film, she now goes after Budd, who since his days as
an assassin has bcome an alcoholic wreck living in a trailerpark and now
even has to fear for his job as a bouncer at a third rate desert nightclub
...
Somehow though, Budd has expected her and greats her by shooting her
when she tries to surprise him. The shot was not fatal though, and thus he
drugs her, puts her into a coffin and buries her alive. Then he calls Elle
Driver and offers her the Brid's priceless samurai sword for the price of
1 million Dollars - to which Elle even agrees ...
In her coffin 6 feet under, the Bride comes to and soon realizes she's
in a bit of a predicament - but then she remembers her training by Shaolin
priest Pai Mei (Gordon Liu Chiu Hui), who taught her how to pierce wood
with her bare hands, and before you know it she has cracked open her
coffin, and when the coffin fills up with soil, she somehow manages to use
the falling soil to swim up (in a scene that's actually less than
convincing).
Meanwhile Elle has paid Budd his million Dollar, but as a tip, she has
left a black mamba with the money that bites him to death. Then though the
Bride shows up, and before you know it, the two women engage in a sword
duel that ends with the Bride poking out Elle's one eye (she has lost the
other years ago to none other than Pai Mei) - which leaves her blinded in
Budd's trailer ... together with a black mamba.
Finally, the Bride makes it to Bill's place - where he confronts her
with her own daughter B.B. (Perla Haney-Jardine), and she is overcome with
maternal feelings, and instead of killing Bill, she takes some time-out to
finally bond with the girl ... and Bill lets her, being a good father to
B.B.
However, eventually Bill and the Bride fight it out in Bill's living
room, and ultimately the bride wins by delivering a deadly blow that took
Bill by surprise ... and now finally, she can live the life of a happy
mother she has well deserved ...
One thing's for sure, stylistically Kill Bill Vol.2 differs
vastly from its predecessor, while Kill
Bill Vol.1 was primarily influenced by Japanese genre cinema, this
here has more to do with American genre films (and especially its
low-budget variety) and Hong Kong martial arts flicks like The
36th Chamber of Shaolin and similar Shaw
Brothers classics and early Jackie Chan films like Snake in the
Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master (incidently both directed by
Yuen Woo-Ping, this film's action director) - and somehow this weird
combination makes sense in the context of this film.
In all though, Kill Bill Vol.2 is inferior to the first movie,
it lacks its style, its mind-blowing dynamic setpieces, and it loses steam
towards the end inasmuch as the duel between Bill and the Bride is
disappointingly short and unspectacular when it should have been the
ultimate climax of the film.
Still, taken on its own, Kill Bill Vol.2 is by no means without
its merits, there's plenty of excellently staged setpieces, plenty of
unusual plottwists director Quentin Tarantino has become famous for, and
some typical tongue-in-cheek dialogue.
As with the first part, this is probably not the film Quentin Tarantino
will best be remembered for ... but it's one enjoyable action pic that
does not insult the intelligence of its audience !
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find Kill Bill: Vol.2 at adultvideouniverse.com
