Kill Bill - Volume Two | Larry Bishop, Sid Haig

Kill Bill - Volume Two | Larry Bishop, Sid Haig | "You and I have unfinished business."

DVDs:

Kill Bill - Volume...

	Kill Bill - Volume Two Larry Bishop, Sid Haig Miramax Home Entertainment, 2004 average customer review:based on 579 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Bride, a former member the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad continues to seek revenge for the death of her groom and unborn child at the hands of her associates.
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Media Type: DVD
Artist: THURMAN/HANNAH/CARRADINE
Title: KILL BILL-VOL. 2
Street Release Date: 06/07/2005

Better than 1; outstanding!

If you like gross, overly violent, graphic films, then you'll like Kill Bill Vol. 1 more, but this one was way better. I watched the first, and barely could sit through it because it was so gross and sick. However, I found volume 2 much better, with a better story line, and action packed. It completed the story, and thus had more of a story line. If you consider watching people get dismembered and children bleeding out their predators as action and entertainment, you may like 1 better.

I almost didn't watch 2 because of how much I found 1 distasteful, but I was told 2 was less violent, so I watched and I'm glad I did, as this is one of my favorite movies!

I know they are one movie, but if you watch them, you wouldn't think so.

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"You and I have unfinished business."

The Good Things
*Blu-Ray has excellent picture quality. I don't think there's any grainy parts at all; it's completely crisp and clear.
*Great sound quality. Sounds clearer and more balanced than previous DVD release.
*Includes a 26-minute making-of featurette, a deleted scene, and a musical performance. It's not a whole lot of features (in fact, the same as from the DVD), but at least it has something.
*Some good action and fighting.
*Some good visuals. Still a smooth and clear picture.
*Still a good story, with a very good conclusion. Also fills in lots of gaps from the first film.
*Still an excellent group of characters that you can relate to. It is especially interesting to see Bill for the first time, among other things.
*Dialogue is strong and interesting.
*More interesting music.
*Lots of homage to westerns, kung fu, and anime. These elements are blended together to make a very unique picture.

The Bad Things
*It's not the "Wholy Bloody Affair" edition.
*It's longer and there's much less action.
*Still has some absurd, unrealistic parts (but this can be a good thing, because it makes the film stylish and fun).

This is a definite must-see for anybody who has seen the first film. All of the missing story elements are present, and brings everything into clarity. The conclusion is excellent (even if there is no fighting). I don't think this is as stylish or exciting as the first film, but it is definately worthwhile to see the complete story.

Whether or not it is worthy of replacing the DVD is entirely up to you. I liked the movie enough to go for it, and at the very least, I am pleased with the picture/sound quality. I'll still want to grab the "Whole Bloody Affair" edition (you know, unrated director's cut with shedloads of special features and other crud) whenever it comes out, but considering that it never existed in the first place, I am not one to complain. Heck, I might even keep this copy, so I have the theatrical cut. Altogether, I don't agree with the others who complain. It's still a good movie, and it's of good quality.

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Kill Bill Vol. 2: The Bride's Redemption

WARNING: This review contains spoilers!

Note: Before reading this review for Kill Bill Vol. 2, please read my review for Kill Bill Vol. 1 to avoid confusion.

Quentin Tarantino (Jackie Brown and Kill Bill Vol. 1) delivers the second half of his epic revenge melodrama, Kill Bill, with his usual stylistic flare. As with Vol. 1, he gives tribute to the many genres* that have inspired him since his childhood. Unlike Kill Bill Vol. 1, Vol. 2 focuses more on human drama rather than gory action but it still packs a punch. The story is more typical of Tarantino's writing, relying heavily on witty banter between immoral characters who suffer the delusion that they are following some strict code of honor. Another difference between Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 is the tone of the film. Vol. 1 is very much an amalgamation of samurai, blaxploitation, and revenge melodrama. Vol. 2 is more of a spaghetti western/kung fu/dysfunctional family drama.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 continues The Bride's quest for revenge against her former boss/lover, Bill, who four years earlier massacred her husband-to-be and her friends during her wedding rehearsal. But Bill has a secret: the daughter that The Bride was pregnant with, whom she believed to have been killed, is alive and happily living with her father, Bill. And for the first we are shown how The Bride became the killer that she is. We see her cruel tutelage under kung fu master Pai Mei, who takes her past the breaking point and keeps pushing her to excel. We see the day that she realized she was pregnant and decided to leave killing behind her. And we see the day that the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DiVAS) killed her friends before putting her in a coma. With all of these events in mind, The Bride continues down the blood-soaked path to vengeance. #3 on her "Death List" is Bill's younger brother, Budd, who has no intention of becoming just another splatter mark leading to Bill. When The Bride shows up, Budd is waiting with a shotgun and a shovel. He shoots her in the chest and then buries her alive in the desert. Budd plans on selling The Bride's Hattori Hanzo sword to Elle Driver, #4 on The Bride's "Death List" and one of the top members of the Deadly Vipers, but Elle is lethally cunning and she despises Budd for killing The Bride before she had the chance to do it herself. Little does she know that The Bride has escaped from her premature burial site and is on her way to kill Budd (who is already dead thanks to Elle). When The Bride arrives, she and Elle duke it out in an intimately savage fight which ends in an unexpectedly abrupt manner. Without stopping for respite or recovery, The Bride Travels to Acuna Mexico where she looks up an old retired pimp, Esteban Vihaio, who served as a father figure to Bill. It is from Esteban that she finally learns the location of Bill himself. The Bride hits the road once again and it's not long before she reaches her destination where Bill is waiting with their daughter, B.B.. Bill and The Bride hide their vendetta from their daughter but after she's safely tucked into bed they confront one another. After a long discussion about the nature of heroes and dual identities, about leading a double life of mediocrity and intrigue, they fight briefly. In the end Bill is, of course, dead but so is The Bride. She lives on in a new incarnation, not as The Bride, a killer, but as Mommy. Mommy and B.B. drive off into the sunset and live happily ever after.

There have been some critics who have been disappointed with the film's climactic showdown between The Bride and Bill. Most of them complained that either Bill's death was too simple and dignified or that the final duel should have been more of a spectacle like the final battle in the first film. However, upon close examination the ending is entirely appropriate, both emotionally and pragmatically. All this time The Bride has been a stoic and impersonal killer and only when she was with Bill or when she was pregnant was she intimate and human. This duality was necessary in her violent line of work, but when she kills Bill she is released from this shifting imbalance and made whole. Only when he is dead can she become human again and act as a mother to her daughter. It is this removal of evil from the world that gives her the strength to survive and redeem herself. She's no longer The Bride, she's simply Mommy; a woman freed from the cruelties of men, a mother who does not attack but to defend her offspring. It's odd but the film which started off as a tribute to genre films and exploitation is in the end an ironic allegory for feminism and non-violence.
The cast (as always is the case in Tarantino's films) is wonderful especially Uma Thurman as The Bride/Mommy, Michael Madsen as Budd, Daryl Hannah as Elle Driver, David Carradine as Bill, and Gordon Liu as Pai Mei.

Special features include The Making of Kill Bill Vol. 2, a performance by Robert Rodriguez' band Chingon, and a deleted scene.

* Here are some of the films which inspired Q.T. to make Kill Bill:
A Fistful of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
The Wild Bunch - The Original Director's Cut
Duck, You Sucker
Kung Fu - The Complete Series Collection
Five Fingers Of Death
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

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Movie: 4/5 Picture Quality: 4.25~5/5 Sound Quality: 4.5/5 Extras: 1.75/5

Version: U.S.A / Miramax / Region A, B, C
Kill Bill Vol. 2
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50 / High Profile 4.1
Running time: 2:16:57
Movie size: 38,50 GB
Disc size: 42,94 GB
Average video bit rate: 27.26 Mbps

LPCM Audio English 6912 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 24-bit / 6912kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps

Subtitles: English SDH / Chinese / Japanese / French / Korean / Spanish
Number of chapters: 20

* The Making of KILL BILL Volume 2
* Damoe Deleted Scene
* Chingon Musical Performance

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So-so

Despite what many have said about KB2 being better it's not. It's an ok film that narratively stands on its own, but shows the utter superfluity of KB1, which could have had its backstory sliced to a 6 or 7 minute prologue. KB2 opens with the Bride ready to take on Bill's own baby brother- the 3rd member of the Assassins, Budd (Michael Madsen). After stalking him to his trailer home he blows her away with a buckshot of salt. Why he does not kill her with regular bullets is a silly question since this is comic book logic. Additionally, he offers to turn over the Bride's body to Bill's last assassin for $1 million. She's another blonde killer femme, Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), who is missing an eye & wears a patch. Cue classic 1930s serial film villain stupidity: Budd buries the Bride alive. He even gives her a flashlight in her nailed coffin. Flashback: to her training under misogynistic Chinese Kung Fu master Pai Mei (Gordon Liu). This is needless digression because the stereotyped character- similar to KB1's involving the Bride's training with master swordmaker Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba)- adds nothing to the tale that could not have been added in a few casual throwaway references in the script.
Length is also a big problem. The 2 films run 226 minutes, or just a quarter hour shy of 4 hours. They were originally to be a single entity but, having had so few films from Tarantino over the years his company wanted to double the bang for the buck. Thus the mishmash editing. Individual scenes are expertly paced and woven, but there are just reams of scenes that do not advance the essential shark-like plot. This is not just taste speaking- too many scenes with trivial but wannabe colorful characters grind the film to a snail's pace. Trim the 90 minutes of KB1 down to 20 or 30 minutes of action, trim the 136 minutes of the plodding KB2 in half & you would've had a very good 90-100 minute film with all the excellent action and revelatory scenes intact. The KB films are a triumph of box office greed and marketing over potentially good art (-cum-self-indulgent pointlessness). Another thing gained by making the films one would be that the teaser at the end of KB1, where we find out Beatrix has a daughter, could be cut and that revelation unfold to both character and audience when she actually confronts Bill. Not that the emotion would have overwhelmed, but knowing this fact about Beatrix before she does castrates whatever empathy we might feel for her near the film's climax.
That Tarantino did not see these points, or did but gave in to them, seems to support my belief that he has yet to show the maturity of a great director. He seemed to be going in the right direction with Jackie Brown (easily his best & most mature film) but has regressed with the 2 Kill Bills. Of KB2 I'd grade it 65 of 100, & for the duo of films I'd give it a 75. I hope I'm wrong, but he seems destined, and satisfied, to be merely an A director of B films.

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