Kill Bill Volume 2

Synopsis: The Bride continues to wreak revenge on the remnants of Bill’s Assassination Squad. [Quentin Tarantino, 2004, USA, Rating MA, Running time 130 minutes]

Kill Bill: Volume One was an extravagant, indulgent assault on the senses. Volume Two begins with a deep breath to recap the story so far, and in a long exhalation completes Tarantino’s epic with a welcome dose of dialogue and story.

Violence is no longer the main order of the day. Vol. Two is about relationships – about how the Bride came to be gunned down at her wedding; the rivalries and loyalties of the Assassination Squad; the history between the Bride and Bill. The visual and sound-track style is still distinct, but this time there’s something behind it which was lacking in Vol. One.

The film’s chronology is once more sliced and diced as the story is fleshed out with love, betrayal and revenge. There are more terrific set-pieces, and the film cuts between two of the best to great effect. In one, the Bride is trapped and her fear and anger pushes you back in your seat; even though the biggest impact of the scene takes place in lengthy moments of total darkness. This is intercut with flashbacks to the Bride’s martial arts training under Pai Mei (played by venerated Kung Fu star Gordon Liu). While Vol. Two owes much to Westerns (especially those of John Ford and Sergio Leone), the scenes with Pai Mei are solid kung fu, infused with comedy and insight into the Bride’s strength of character.

Tarantino couldn’t have pulled off this risky project without the help of real power under the hood. Uma Thurman’s performance is even more spectacular as she’s given room to breath emotional character into her previously mainly physical performance. David Carradine’s Bill tracks an interesting line between the outwardly philosophical, and the apparently inwardly psychopathic. Darryl Hannah adds a crazily glamorous touch to proceedings. And Michael Madsen plays a retired sword fighter eking out an existence in slow dissolution.

Vol. Two could stand as a complete movie in itself, with Vol. One as the super-stylin’ prologue. While tge second film doesn’t have the pacing and stylistic coherence of the first, it does have the story and emotional weight that was previously missing. The two halves of Kill Bill might have connected more successfully in a tightly edited three or even four hour film; but that would undermine the points of difference. As it is, they present a great, if occasionally indulgent, joy-ride through Tarantino’s favourite kind of cinema.

4 flims.