Movie Review
‘Kill Bill 2’ avoids curse
Campus Times
April 23, 2004
There is this weird thing about sequels, almost a curse. They can almost never
keep up with the first part’s brilliance and innovation.
For several reasons, “Kill Bill Vol. 2” is an exception to this concept.
A second part to the first “Kill Bill” was never planned. But as
Quentin Tarantino went through the editing process, he realized that he created
an opus that could not fit into less than four hours, so he split it into two
parts.
Tarantino does not keep his action and blood oriented concept from the first
installment of the films, but he replaces it with dialogue, suspense and artful
color in the second.
The story is fast paced but it is not the star of the movie.
The Bride, played by Uma Thurman, continues her quest for revenge on her former
employer, a killer association, which killed her husband and everyone who attended
their wedding.
In last year’s “Kill Bill Vol. 1,” she already got rid of O-Ren
Ishii, played by Lucy Liu, and Vernita Green, played by Vivica A. Fox, which
leaves her on the hunt for two more assassins before she can take on the head
of their deadly squad, Bill, played to perfection by David Carradine.
But it is not the storyline that will keep the viewer on the edge of his seat
for 136 minutes.
The stars of “Kill Bill Vol. 2” are a genius group, led by the gorgeous
Thurman as The Bride and the deeply evil Carradine as Bill. Directed by a man
on the edge of his brilliance, Tarantino, makes “Kill Bill” an instant
hit.
Thurman acts for awards, as she shows of her whole role repertoire, playing
The Bride cool, furious, funny and full of every single emotion.
Carradine gives the evil role a new dimension. He is not outrageously evil,
but neither is he cold as ice.
Besides the great acting staff, the film has spectacular fight scenes and
special effects.
With “Kill Bill,” Tarantino has reached a new level.
If “Pulp Fiction” was Tarantino’s birth of coolness, “Kill
Bill Vol. 2” is his birth of color and art.
In “Kill Bill Vol.1,” the dominant color was red and came out of
Japanese veins; from all the flying blood, the viewer got the impression that
sushi causes high blood pressure.
In “Kill Bill Vol. 2,” Tarantino uses color as art. He plays with
black and white, puts it together with colorful pictures, it seems like he uses
every filter that fit on the camera lens, but the miracle is – it all makes
perfect sense.
“Kill Bill Vol. 2” has great dialogue, but it would not even need
them to tell the story as Tarantino manages it to transfer emotions from the
screen to the viewer’s head, and this time almost completely without shocking
them with gross violence.
Tarantino dares to enter new territory and experiment with innovative elements
like putting the movie into chapters and scores.
He hits a grand slam, as all his experiments work.
If there is anything to criticize about “Kill Bill Vol. 2,” than
it is that it definitely can not keep up with the first part’s brilliant
soundtrack.
The film is not only a continuation of the first part, but with it’s
direction to perfection a piece of art itself.