Kill Bill, vol 2, a review
Dec. 17th, 2004 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akaihyoFinally got around to seeing this on DVD, after being disappointed in Vol 1, I vowed not to see Vol 2 in the theatre. Glad I kept that vow (though I am told that the buried alive sequence is amazing in a theatre with good surround sound).
Good points:
The music, loved the choices.
The titles and end credit, very 60s, a solid homage.
The guest stars, wow, I did not know some of them were still around, a who's who of classic Asian action cinema.
The pacing, solid through most of the film.
Bad points:
The main character "the Bride", unsympathetic, unbelievable as the "super martial artist assassin ultra uber cool chick", just bad . . . and Uma Thurman's acting was barely acceptable. There was only one point in the entirety of Vol 2 where I felt genuine emotion from her.
Inconsistent tone, it could not decide what it was American action or 'chop-socky' martial arts or gritty revenge drama or something else. The convention of one type of film do not work in the other but Tarantino switches between them in mid-scene, destroying the flow of the film and the suspension of disbelief for me.
Dialog, some of the dialog in this film, especially at the end when Bill and the Bride are talking, made me want to cringe.
Bill, for a badass criminal-ninja mastermind he sure talked too much and was far too easily tricked and killed at the end. Totally lame. And I was never convinced by Carradine's acting that Bill was a badass, in the first film, where he was always just out of the frame, perfect, the evil shadowy mastermind, in the second film, he was just this guy, ya know? (Further, for an assassin mastermind, his personal security was lousy, what would he have done if it had been some blond hitter from the Russian Mafia rather then the Bride coming through that door? Thrown a plastic gun at her?)
The final fight and ending, again, totally lame.
But for all of my complaints, it does have some brilliant single scenes, a few solid sequences but as a whole, I give it a C+.
Good points:
The music, loved the choices.
The titles and end credit, very 60s, a solid homage.
The guest stars, wow, I did not know some of them were still around, a who's who of classic Asian action cinema.
The pacing, solid through most of the film.
Bad points:
The main character "the Bride", unsympathetic, unbelievable as the "super martial artist assassin ultra uber cool chick", just bad . . . and Uma Thurman's acting was barely acceptable. There was only one point in the entirety of Vol 2 where I felt genuine emotion from her.
Inconsistent tone, it could not decide what it was American action or 'chop-socky' martial arts or gritty revenge drama or something else. The convention of one type of film do not work in the other but Tarantino switches between them in mid-scene, destroying the flow of the film and the suspension of disbelief for me.
Dialog, some of the dialog in this film, especially at the end when Bill and the Bride are talking, made me want to cringe.
Bill, for a badass criminal-ninja mastermind he sure talked too much and was far too easily tricked and killed at the end. Totally lame. And I was never convinced by Carradine's acting that Bill was a badass, in the first film, where he was always just out of the frame, perfect, the evil shadowy mastermind, in the second film, he was just this guy, ya know? (Further, for an assassin mastermind, his personal security was lousy, what would he have done if it had been some blond hitter from the Russian Mafia rather then the Bride coming through that door? Thrown a plastic gun at her?)
The final fight and ending, again, totally lame.
But for all of my complaints, it does have some brilliant single scenes, a few solid sequences but as a whole, I give it a C+.