Kill Bill: Review 2
I think it was the part in Kill Bill: Volume 1 where O-Ren Ishii and her gang were preparing for their final battle with the Bride in a glorious montage that I felt a sort of lump in my throat and glisten in my eye as I was nearly in tears because I never thought I'd love a movie so much (which is apparently how Tarantino felt when he saw Chunking Express, which I can't blame him for). It wasn't so much the ultra violence as it was the story - it was really the whole deal. I was never a huge Quentin Tarantino fan - I rather dislike Reservior Dogs, and I find Pulp Fiction to be slightly overrated - though I was floored by this film. Regardless of what Stephen King said about it, I loved every minute of Kill Bill: Volume 1 and I cannot wait to see it again.
Kill Bill: Volume 2 is a different story. I went to a sneak preview screening of it this evening and I am both satisfied and dissappointed. I am dissappointed as a fan of the first film's visual creativity and extreme violence. On estimate, I'd say that Volume 2 has about 1/3 the violence as the first, with only a handful of real fight scenes. It's about a half-hour into it when you actually see the first martial arts scene and probably just as long until the next.
As a fan of film in general, I am very satisfied. The characters, both old and new, were contstucted very well and the acting was on a much higher calibur than the first, especially on Uma Thurman's part. The soundtrack was very impressive, as expected and the film's visual style was more gritty than the first, most of it taking place in desert-like areas, though it looks good for what it is. What's more rewarding is to see that Tarantino has strayed away in the pretentious, albiet humorous and clever, dialouge that made him so famous in his first two films. Yes, there is one silly monolouge about Superman stuck in there, but I'll forgive him for that because the scene was played well and you could kind of see that Bill had a point in saying all that.
This film also showed a significant amount of heart - and I mean that figuratively (sorry, none get ripped out in this one). The Bride transforms from a flat, dry character to a 3-D human being with - get this - a name! It's not a twist ending in the traditional sense, though who would have expected Kill Bil: Volume 2 to be...tame? Meaningful? And at the same time...good? That's as shocking as it gets.
Alex
Kill Bill: Volume 2 is a different story. I went to a sneak preview screening of it this evening and I am both satisfied and dissappointed. I am dissappointed as a fan of the first film's visual creativity and extreme violence. On estimate, I'd say that Volume 2 has about 1/3 the violence as the first, with only a handful of real fight scenes. It's about a half-hour into it when you actually see the first martial arts scene and probably just as long until the next.
As a fan of film in general, I am very satisfied. The characters, both old and new, were contstucted very well and the acting was on a much higher calibur than the first, especially on Uma Thurman's part. The soundtrack was very impressive, as expected and the film's visual style was more gritty than the first, most of it taking place in desert-like areas, though it looks good for what it is. What's more rewarding is to see that Tarantino has strayed away in the pretentious, albiet humorous and clever, dialouge that made him so famous in his first two films. Yes, there is one silly monolouge about Superman stuck in there, but I'll forgive him for that because the scene was played well and you could kind of see that Bill had a point in saying all that.
This film also showed a significant amount of heart - and I mean that figuratively (sorry, none get ripped out in this one). The Bride transforms from a flat, dry character to a 3-D human being with - get this - a name! It's not a twist ending in the traditional sense, though who would have expected Kill Bil: Volume 2 to be...tame? Meaningful? And at the same time...good? That's as shocking as it gets.
Alex