Themes: Out For Revenge, Mentors, Mothers and Daughters
Main Cast: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Gordon Liu
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Run Time: 137 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Quentin Tarantino's sprawling homage to action films of both the East and the West reaches its conclusion in this continuation of 2003's ultra-violent Kill Bill Vol. 1. Having dispatched several of her arch-enemies in the first film, The Bride (Uma Thurman) continues in Kill Bill Vol. 2 on her deadly pursuit of her former partners in the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, who, in a furious assault, attempted to murder her and her unborn child on her wedding day. As The Bride faces off against allies-turned-nemeses Budd (Michael Madsen) and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), she flashes back to the day of her deadly wedding, and we learn of how she was recruited to join the DiVAS, her training under unforgiving martial arts master Pai Mei (Liu Chia-hui), and her relationship with Squad leader Bill (David Carradine), which changed from love to violent hatred. Originally planned as a single film, Kill Bill grew into an epic-scale two-part project totaling more than four hours in length; as with the first film, Kill Bill Vol. 2 includes appearances by genre-film icons Sonny Chiba, Michael Parks, Larry Bishop, and Sid Haig; Wu-Tang Clan producer and turntablist RZA and filmmaker and composer Robert Rodriguez both contributed to the musical score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Considering his über-moviegeek persona, it is easy to forget that Quentin Tarantino is a writer. The reason he has traditionally taken so long between projects is that he hones and shapes his screenplays to near perfection. His camera movements, his editing rhythms, and his soundtracks are fully in his head before he shoots a single frame, and every element of filmmaking is utilized to serve the story -- all while he remains loose enough on the set to adapt to the moment (as he did throughout the creation of the fight sequences in Kill Bill). That unique blend of passion and craft -- call it freewheeling deliberateness -- makes Quentin Tarantino one of the best directors of his generation. The first half of Kill Bill, released to theaters six months before the conclusion, celebrated the moviegeek elements of Tarantino's personality -- specifically the geek who has absorbed every Sonny Chiba movie. Where Volume 1 offered the most visually freewheeling Tarantino work ever, Volume 2 showcases how deliberate his intentions are. Take the training sequence with Pai Mei: This looks like every kung fu movie that ever played on a Saturday afternoon on your local UHF station. The cheesy zooms, the arch dialogue, and the faux-mystical bearded mentor are all intricately planned and in place. These elements are not kitsch; Tarantino genuinely loves these genre tropes and wants nothing more than to share that love with the audience while never taking his eye off the story. This is exactly what he accomplishes in Kill Bill, and he does it with confidence. For each Perils of Pauline-like death that awaits The Bride, Tarantino has taken great effort to explain how the skills she has developed over time allow her to escape. That is never more true than in the climactic face-off with Bill. Thank goodness Warren Beatty ended up not playing the part because it is hard to fathom a more perfect choice than David Carradine, whose work here, with his deep, laconic voice and subtly menacing physical confidence, recalls Robert Mitchum. Their nearly 40-minute showdown is much more mental and emotional than physical. That the performers, the film, and the audience so easily adjusts to this new battlefield reveals the writer in Tarantino -- and makes clear his remarkable achievement. Tarantino proves, as he has with each of his films, that a good story well-told will support any and all visual flourishes. He has not transcended the generic revenge story line he has utilized, he has simply made one of the best possible films of that type. While other movie geeks will spend years cataloguing the various musical and camera lifts in Kill Bill, the people who understand and appreciate fine storytelling should marvel at how -- in just four movies -- Tarantino has become arguably the best crime writer of his generation. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Michael Parks - Esteban Vihaio; Perla Haney-Jardine - B.B.; Helen Kim - Karen; Claire Smithies - Clarita; Clark Middleton - Ernie; Laura Cayouette - Rocket; Larry Bishop - Larry Gomez; Sid Haig - Jay the Bartender; Reda Beebe - Lucky; Samuel L. Jackson - Rufus; Chris Nelson - Tommy Plympton; Caitlin Keats - Janeen; Jeannie Epper - Mrs. Harmony; Bo Svenson - Reverend Harmony; La Tanya Richardson - L.F. O'Boyle; Shana Stein - Erica
Credit
Dan Bradford - Art Director, Liu Luyi - Art Director, Dede Nickerson - Associate Producer, Koko Maeda - Associate Producer, Johanna Ray - Casting, Kumiko Ogawa - Costume Designer, Catherine Marie Thomas - Costume Designer, William Paul Clark - First Assistant Director, Quentin Tarantino - Director, Sally Menke - Editor, Bob Weinstein - Executive Producer, Harvey Weinstein - Executive Producer, E. Bennett Walsh - Executive Producer, Erica Steinberg - Executive Producer, Sonny Chiba - Fights Choreographer, Yuen Woo Ping - Fights Choreographer, Robert Rodriguez - Composer (Music Score), RZA - Composer (Music Score), Lars Ulrich - Composer (Music Score), Mary Ramos - Musical Direction/Supervision, K.N.B. EFX Group - Makeup Special Effects, Cao Jiuping - Production Designer, David Wasco - Production Designer, Yohei Taneda - Production Designer, Cao Jui Ping - Production Designer, Robert Richardson - Cinematographer, Lawrence Bender - Producer, Ma Yingli - Set Designer, Mark Ulano - Sound/Sound Designer, Zoe Bell - Stunts, Keith Adams - Stunts Coordinator, Quentin Tarantino - Screenwriter, Michael Minkler - Re-Recording Mixer, Myron Nettinga - Re-Recording Mixer, Wylie Stateman - Supervising Sound Editor, Harry Cohen - Supervising Sound Editor, Centro Digital Pictures - Visual Effects, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco - Set Decorator
