Photos courtesy of IMDB.com
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Miramax, 2003
A conclusion best served cold
Kill Bill Vol. 2 continues the Bride’s rip-roaring tale of revenge, and it’s a good ride.
In the second volume, the Bride reveals her name – Beatrix Kiddo – and faces off against the final two members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, Elle Driver and Bud, before finally squaring up against the titular Bill himself.
This is a master class of how to conclude a story that spans multiple volumes, and it’s fraught with the tension of how it all is going to end. Will the Bride get the revenge she seeks upon Bill, who shot her in the head four years earlier? Will she find out about her alive and well child? Those questions are answered and, yes, Bill finally makes an appearance and shows us why he’s Snake Charmer, but the journey to get there sort of drags. We loved the two fights – Elle Driver vs. Beatrix and Bill vs. Beatrix – but some of the surrounding material could have been cut. Bill’s background was important but could have been trimmed as could some of the Pai Mei information. But we digress because ultimately it doesn’t kill the vibe of the film.
Particularly, we greatly enjoyed the reveal of Beatrix and Bill’s history and how the Massacre of Two Pines unfolded. It was so well-written that we could sort of empathize with Bill’s sorrow turned to rage when he realized that Beatrix didn’t die in action and was instead heavily pregnant and about to marry someone else that may have been the father of the baby she was obviously carrying.
Bill is the villain here, make no mistake, because there was no need for violence. Hurt people hurt people, but there’s no excuse for his level of hurt killing innocent people and nearly killing Beatrix. But you can see Bill’s level of pain etched in the face of the excellent late David Carradine. And Uma Thurman is fantastic here as Beatrix. The investment in Beatrix’s unfinished business carries over from the first volume and grows right to the moment that she tells Bill that it’s time to fight. Daryl Hannah as Elle, the unhinged new lover of Bill, and Michael Madsen as Bud, Bill’s trifling assassin brother, are also fantastic.
Excellent, tight writing and great acting mark the second volume, and while there could have been a little more editing done, Kill Bill Vol. 2 is a fun conclusion to the Bride’s journey to reclaim all that she lost. The unfinished business is done.
HOW WE GRADE
We score the properties in three categories: Casting (or voice acting in cases of animated), plot and similarities to its source material. Each category receives points out of the maximum of 10 per category and 30 overall. The percentage is the final score.
Story: 9
Acting: 10
Directing: 7
Total: 26/30 or 8.7
