Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Starring: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, and Michael Madsen.

Directed By: Quentin Tarantino

Plot: The Bride is back, and she's after the rest of the people who contributed to the massacre that put her in a coma for four years.  The next person on her list is Budd, who seems easy enough to kill, having supposedly gotten rusty in the last four years.  Unfortunately, her plan to ambush him is foiled when he shots her in the chest with rock salt and buries her alive.  With no weapons, limited room to move, and a rapidly decreasing supply of air, things look dire for our heroine. However, she remembers the hardships and trials she had to endure in order to become as well trained as she is, and finds the strength to escape.  Luckily for her, Budd called in Ellie Driver, the next person on the list, so now she can kill two birds with one stone.  But they have her sword, and they outnumber her two to one.  Will she be able to overcome one final obstacle before confronting Bill?

Characters: Like the last film, this film contains a great selection of characters, all with unique and memorable personalities.  Unlike the last film, which focused more on making the Bride look badass, this installment concentrates on delving deeper into her character.  It doesn't go too in depth in that she isn't mysterious anymore, but the scenes where she's training with Pai Mei help the audience appreciate the hard work it took for her to get to this point.  The audience gets to see a bit more of her relationship with Bill and why she was able to fall for him in the first place.  When she's being buried alive, instead of staying still and silent, she freaks out and starts crying, which is what a normal person would do.  Scenes like this humanize her, and the audience cares for her more as a result.  Another character who gets significant;y expanded upon is Bill himself, who turns the charm up to eleven in this film.  Despite a significant age difference, it's not too hard to imagine why the Bride fell for him in the first place.  He has this fascinating mix of power and weakness, not looking or sounding intimidating at first glance, but the way he says does everything with a chilling amount of confidence makes him a great antagonist.  Another great performance is Daryl Hannah as Elle Driver, who really emphasizes the sadistic nature of the character.  She almost feels like an evil version of the Bride, pulling off her kills through deception and trickery, rather than combat.  Like Bill, she has a lot of confidence that makes her very entertaining to watch, but she also adds an extra bit of craziness to make her more unique.

Writing: Once again, Tarantino adds a lot of influences from both samurai and western films from the 1970s, though this one emphasizes the western aspects a bit more, due to the fact that a big chunk of the movie takes place in Texas.  The movie also adds aspects of Chinese culture, especially during the scenes with Pei Mei.  It's really cool seeing all these different cultures blend into one cohesive mix, while not feeling too jumbled.  The same level of tongue-in-cheek humor continues in this film, with quotable lines, like when Elle Driver says, "And now I'm gonna kill you too, with your own sword, no less, which in the very near future, will become... my sword."  Unfortunately, none of these moments are quite as memorable as the "Silly rabbit" or "My name is Buck" scenes in Vol. 1,  but they're still pretty good in their own right.  One thing that this film much better than the previous installment, however, is pacing.  This film feels like more of a complete story, since it reviews all of the events that lead up to this moment in greater detail, which creates a better character journey for our heroine.  This might not create as many iconic scenes as the first one, but it leads to a much better story.  I do wish that the in depth information had been present in the first film so both parts could feel like more of a whole.  The scenes flow together more cohesively than Vol. 1, with the longer events, such as the scenes in Texas, being spaced out with flashbacks.  It also helps that it has a much more concrete ending than the first one.  As it stands, this film feels like a much better sequel, in terms of story.

Production: This film has many of the same production values as the first.  The cinematography was amazing in this film.  One particularly great moment is when the Bride is buried inside the coffin.  The camera moves very little, and focuses mostly on the Bride from one side, with the top and bottom of the screen being blacked out.  This creates a very claustrophobic feeling to the scene, and makes the audience worry about how she's going to possibly escape.  The visuals are once again very impressive, with great action scenes and gore effects.  However, this time, the action feels a bit grittier and real, at least when compared to the first one.  There isn't any more blood spewing from limbs or cartoonish deaths.  There are still people doing near impossible feats (such as jumping to absurd heights while in combat), but it feels a bit more serious this time around.  Also, like I mentioned earlier, there aren't as many ionic moments in this film, and that applies to the action.  None of the fights compare to the Bride vs the Crazy 88 in the Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves, but it doesn't seem like it wants to.  I think that Tarantino wanted to focus on the character development in this film, which meant that it couldn't be distracted by a bunch of flashy action scenes.  Similarly, the music is also pretty good, but not as good as the first one.  There are some great tracks, and many of them take inspiration from Mexican culture, like Tu Mirà, which is a beautifully powerful song.  However, none are quite as memorable as the sultry Bang Bang or the repetitive Twisted Nerve.  

Trivia:

• In the original script, Pai Mei was supposed to have his lips move in Cantonese, but speak English, in order to replicate the poor dubbing of old Asian films.  Tarantino would've provided the voice.
• The scene in the Mexican brothel was filmed in an actual Mexican brothel and all of the female extras were real prostitutes who worked there. 
• Robert Rodriguez scored this film for $1.  In return, Tarantino directed a scene in Rodriguez's Sin City for $1.
• Ricardo Montalban was originally going to play Esteban, but Michael Parks impressed Tarantino so much during the test readings that he got the part instead.

Final Verdict: Kill Bill: Vol. 2 presents an interesting conundrum for me.  On the one hand, it gives a much deeper and complex look at the characters and highlights their struggles.  But on the other hand, it's less of a spectacle and has far less iconic moments than the first installment.  So I've come to this conclusion; it's just as good as the first, but in different ways.  Where it lacks in spectacle it gains in a better story, and that just about evens the two films out.  I would recommend you watch the two films as they were intended; back-to-back, so that you can get the action out of your system first, then get invested in the characters in the second half.  But no matter how you watch them, they're still great movies, and I highly recommend them.

  

Next time, we'll find out that in space, no one can hear you scream.

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