Review: Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (**)

KILL BILL: VOL. 2
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): **


Quentin Tarantino is back. After last year's overhyped and disappointing
KILL BILL: VOL. 1, this year he brings us, well duh, KILL BILL: VOL. 2.
This second part isn't as violent as the first, but few movies are. The
only recent one was THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, which, along with KILL BILL
VOL. 1, was an NC-17 picture which the MPAA incorrectly awarded the more
marketable R rating.



Tarantino, the darling of most critics, who have been lining up to genuflect
to this cinematic saint, is undoubtedly the most copied guy in Hollywood,
with young filmmakers falling all over themselves to repeat his techniques
and success. For a director with a single great film (PULP FICTION), his
everlasting fame remains something of a mystery.



VOL. 2 pays homage to a long list of moments from other movies from Yoda in
the STAR WARS series to every kung fu film ever made. Most of all, however,
the movie is Tarantino paying homage to Tarantino.



The craftsmanship of the movie is superb. It is the sort of artistry that
you can admire in every frame -- every mind-numbing, tiresome and
repetitious moment of a movie without a single character worth caring about.
Sure, Uma Thurman, as "The Bride," will have you feeling her pain as she is
buried alive, is shot in the chest with a shotgun and has her fist torn to
shreds in sadistic training sessions. You'll grimace along with her, but
you won't care whether she -- or anyone else -- survives or not.



In VOL. 2., you'll learn about such deadly techniques as the "five point
palm exploding heart technique," and you'll be intrigued by its
ever-changing cinematography. But what you will not be is entertained.
You'll just be robbed of two-and-a-quarter hours of your life. Let's hope
that Tarantino waits until he has something worth saying before he makes
another movie.



KILL BILL: VOL. 2 runs 2:16. It is rated R for "violence, language and
brief drug use" and would be acceptable for older teenagers.



The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the
Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.



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