Kill Bill Vol.2

April 22, 2004 | 1 Comments

I'm glad to see that this turns out to be a really good film that wraps up its plot neatly while leaving some nice trails of possible future storyline behind. I really like that there are so many unpredictable moments happening throughout the second film. I thought things will go as they were in the first one but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the experience of watching the second film was not the same as watching the first one. Having said that, I have to admit that I missed the cool-looking action scenes of the first film when I saw the second volume. I think some of the action scenes in the first volume were drop dead beautiful and I can't find something similar in this second volume. The neat plot and storyline presented in this film, however, are good substitutes for the cool action scenes. Especially since the first film itself was rather light on plot and storyline.

Some of the memorable scenes from the second volume of Kill Bill includes the Pai Mei training scene. This is such a hilarious segment that reminds me of old kung-fu film, and according to some people, this segment even comes complete with wrong subtitles that makes the entire scene funnier. I also like the way Budd 'handles' the Bride when he finally gets to face her in the middle part of the film. I didn't expect that and it surprised me. I supposed it's only fitting that the Bride got careless after successfully getting rid of so many enemies prior to this particular incident. I also find it neat that Tarantino decided to show the connection between Elle and Pai Mei so that the Bride's reason for getting revenge on Elle becomes more personal. I do wish that he had given some additional background information on Elle. As it is now, Elle comes off looking like a typical evil villainess: cool-looking but without any depth.

I apprecciate that Tarantino decided not to use the blood hose again on this particular volume because I think if he had done this, it'll lessen the impact of the massacre that the Bride performed in the first volume. That does not mean that the gore is completely gone. There is one particular scene from the film which made me wince and actually reminded me of a particular scene from the Japanese version of Vol.1 (it's one of the scenes in the screencaps that I put up). I am also glad to see that as the film progresses, the Bride quickly realises that she can no longer relies only on her samurai sword skill in order to face her opponents. The stake is higher now and it's good to see her using every resources that she has in order to get herself out of her problem. Although it would have been cool to see some major fight scenes, I can understand why Tarantino chose to resolve some of the confrontation differently this time around.

Story-wise, I think the film was successfull in showing the characters' stories and motivations. The motivations also turned out to be quite realistic when I really think about it. I think this is because you have to take in the fact that these are basically a bunch of 'not-so-nice' people. Everyone from the Bride, Bill, Elle and even Pai Mei have, in one form or another, physically hurt other people with their powers. As cruel as what happened to the Bride was, this second film doesn't missed the opportunity to suggest that given different circumstances, the Bride may have been the one who performs similar assassination attempt on other pregnant woman or innocent bystanders. And when I look at the two film as a whole, I can't help but think that one day some of the things that she's done in this story will come back to haunt her.

© memento 2003