Reaction & Review | Kill Bill: Volume 2

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a movie from 2004. That movie is "Kill Bill: Volume 2".

Now, for those of you that are new here, earlier this month, I reviewed the first "Kill Bill" movie. And for the most part, I really enjoyed it. The movie was very entertaining, the soundtrack was, mostly, really good, and it was a very well done revenge movie. My only real problems with it were some questionable pacing issues that brought the story down a bit, and some minor stuff here and there, such as one questionable child actress and a music choice that I really hated. But again, I still really enjoyed the first "Kill Bill" movie regardless.

So now, we have Volume 2, which came out one year later after the first one. And I'm going to assume, just basing off the title, that our main character is continuing on her mission to kill Bill. Well...after going through some more assassins, first. Because she had to go through one of those in the first movie, and that's probably gonna stay true in this one. Whether she kills Bill by the time that this movie is done, however, is something that I'll find out when I start watching the movie.

I'm hoping for this thing to be just as good, if not better than the first movie. I'm hoping that the pacing issues are gonna get fixed. However, considering that this movie is slightly longer than the first one makes me sorta doubt that. But I am hoping for less shots of our main character's feet, because that was kind of an issue I had in the first movie, where the camera loved to focus on Uma Thurman's feet. But regardless, I'm still hoping for the pacing to be an improvement here. So really, the only way I'm gonna find out if this movie is any better than the first one, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Kill Bill: Volume 2".

6 minutes later

Wait...that tune...that's from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"! It's when the character called Angel Eyes first appeared in that movie. That is awesome to hear it in this movie, guys! I really wasn't expecting that at all, but then again, the first movie had somewhat of a Western vibe to it. So, it's good to hear something like that again in this movie.

15 minutes later

OK, guys, I know this is a very trivial thing to bring up, but I want to bring it up anyway. So this guy here just used the word 'fuck', and it wasn't bleeped out. Yet earlier, Bill used the words 'fucking bitch', which WAS bleeped out. Why...? This movie is a rated R film, so I'm not totally sure why they needed to bleep out Bill's cursing. I don't care if it was intentional or not, it was still really stupid to begin with. And again, I totally understand that it's all trivial and stupid, but it just kinda bugs me a little bit, you know?

8 minutes later

So, that guy shot our main character with rock salt from a fucking shotgun! I had no idea that you could do that with rock salt. I'm kinda curious as to how practical that really is? Perhaps if I ever get bored one day, and I want to go out into the woods, I might actually try shooting with rock salt from my own rifle. You learn something new every day, don't you?

10 minutes later

You know, guys, even though that scene was a bit long, I gotta say...it was rather uncomfortable. Mind you, the scene was very powerful, but it was still rather uncomfortable to watch. Just thought I'd share that with you guys.

10 minutes later

So not only does this old master despise Americans and caucasians, but he also despises the Japanese as well. Or as he refers to them as 'Japs'. So basically, our main character is learning the secrets of kung-fu from a racist. I never would've known that coming from this old master, but now I do. Interesting. At least it's something different.

20 minutes later

You know, guys, I am gonna talk about this later on in the review, but the dialogue in this movie is a massive improvement over the first one. Mind you, now, the dialogue in the first "Kill Bill" movie wasn't horrible or anything, it's just when compared to this movie, the dialogue and conversations feel much more natural here. Again, I'll talk a little bit more about that later when I review this movie, but I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm really liking the dialogue in this movie.

1 minute later

O...K. Well, I certainly wasn't expecting a fucking snake to just appear out of that million dollars. I gotta say, those bites looked fucking brutal as shit! Really cool, but was still fucking brutal as hell.

11 minutes later

OK, that was one of the most satisfying ways to end a fucking fight. Not through death, just by poking her other eye out. That was awesome in many ways that I wouldn't have been able to describe it, guys.

19 minutes later

Sorry, guys, if I'm not saying a whole lot right now, I'm actually really getting invested into this story. It really is that good.

6 minutes later

Wait, wait, wait, let me see if I understand this. According to Bill, Clark Kent is Superman's alter ego, just so he could blend in with the human race, and that he was considered to be weak and a coward. Umm...last I checked, the name 'Clark Kent' was given to by his Earth parents. I don't recall him ever choosing that name by his own admission. And as for Clark being 'weak' and a 'coward', Clark is a reporter for the Daily Bugle, and he's pretty good at it, too. The only way he'd be 'weak' and a 'coward' is if he's being written poorly in the comics. I'm sorry, guys, but Bill's viewpoint on how he sees Superman is, honestly, really stupid.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Kill Bill: Volume 2". Let's go ahead and shut the movie off...OK. Holy shit, what to even start with? Well, let's get the obvious question out of the way first. Is this movie better than the first "Kill Bill" movie? Absolutely, yes! This movie is awesome. I really went into this thing, thinking that it was gonna slightly disappoint, or at least be kinda average above the first movie. But no, this movie stands head and shoulders above the first one in terms of how great it really was. Now, mind you, the first movie is not even bad. Far from it. It's just, when compared to this movie, it's far better than what I was expecting. This is how you do a good sequel, and I'm glad that the movie was able to accomplish that much.

But that's just me summarizing how I felt about the movie. Let's actually talk about the movie itself. And I want to start with something that I brought up earlier. Before I started this Reaction & Review, I stated that one of my problems I had with "Kill Bill: Volume 1" was that the pacing was kinda off in certain areas. It felt like it needed to pad itself out just to fill in time. One example I can think of right off the bat was Ishii's backstory. I talked about her backstory back in my review of the first "Kill Bill" movie, and I'll mention it again here. The backstory itself, while interesting, felt like it took too long to get through. And by the time that she gets killed towards the end of the movie, I kinda just forgot all about it. The only thing interesting about her backstory was the animation. But aside from that, I really didn't care enough about her. Because she was going to get killed in the end, and thus it makes her backstory kinda pointless. In fact, looking back at the first movie, it seemed to focus more on our assassins, rather than our main character, Mamba Black. Now while you did learn some things about her, and why she's getting revenge, it felt like you didn't learn enough about her. At least, when compared to this movie, which I'll talk more about in a bit. So anyway, we had that going on in the first movie. Now, while this movie IS a bit longer than the first "Kill Bill" movie, it felt like it was actually going somewhere. And almost every scene has a reason to exist. I could, maybe, point out a scene here and there that was kinda pointless, such as the stuff going on at the bar during the first third of the movie. But honestly, it's such a minor scene that it goes by pretty quickly, and by the time that it ends, the story comes back and continues where it left off. And from there, the movie is just going to keep you engaged, because you are going to be invested in what's going on with this story and how it ultimately ends. It really is a much better paced film, even if it's, like, 25 minutes longer than the first movie.

Now, as for the writing itself, it's great. I loved the writing in this movie. One of the big things that they improved on is Mamba Black's character. Like I mentioned earlier, in the first movie, while you did learn some stuff about her, it also left some things out that could've been explored more. For example, in the beginning of the first movie, we got to see Mamba Black's wedding ending in a bloody massacre. And from there, the first movie was painting itself as a standard, but very well done, revenge movie, where she's going after the assassin's that Bill had sent out after her. And we knew that she wanted to kill Bill in the end. And while that may or may not have been the movie's intention of keeping Uma Thurman's character to a minimum, it still could've been explored more. In this movie, they certainly did just that. We get to see a lot more of Mamba Black's backstory. About how she spent her time with Bill from before the wedding, about how she got to learn the kung-fu techniques from a racist and sexist old master. Yeah, I totally forgot to mention that the old master is also kinda sexist, just FYI. But anyway, we get to learn about her backstory in this movie. Now admittedly, it does take up quite a bit of time. But unlike Ishii's backstory, it actually has a reason for being here. It's not here just to fill in time. There is a plot-driven reason WHY we are seeing this. Not just because we get to see more of Mamba Black's backstory, but because everything that happens during those scenes has a reason to exist. And it does a fantastic job of doing all this while also moving the story forward. I mentioned it earlier, but this is how you do a proper sequel. I wasn't really sure if Tarantino was going to pull that off here, but he totally did. So, props to you, dude. You certainly did improve on this movie in a big way.

One other thing I want to mention involving the writing is the dialogue. Now, for those of you who have never seen any of Quentin Tarantino's movies, one of the things that he likes to do in his movies is giving characters lengthy dialogue scenes. And I said in my review of the first movie that it didn't quite work there, because it just felt like none of the dialogue was really that witty or interesting. I could also see that it was trying to be funny, but again, none of it really worked. At least, to me, it didn't. Some of it went on for lengthy period's of time, but it just felt like another pace breaker because none of it really went anywhere. Mind you, it's certainly not as badly utilized as it was in "Death Proof", but it was still rather noticeable. However, in "Kill Bill: Volume 2", the dialogue feels much more natural, and just about all of is rather interesting to listen to. One scene in particular that really highlighted this was when a little girl was talking about how she learned the meaning of life and death after accidentally killing a fish. Now, you would think that it wouldn't sound that interesting, but it actually REALLY is! I really didn't think I would care about how a fish died, but holy shit, it was so interesting that I was invested in where that story was going to go. That's how good the writing really is in this movie. The only bit that I had to question, and you probably already noticed this, was when Bill was talking about comic book heroes. One of them, in particular, was the comparison with Clark Kent and Superman. Now I get what he was trying to convey to Mamba Black, when comparing her with alter egos, but it just felt like using Superman as Clark Kent's identity of the world and how he views us was kind of a bad example, and I already explained why that was during the reaction portion of the movie. And it just leads me to believe that Bill (or Tarantino) does not get Superman. But anyway, the dialogue has mostly been improved in this movie, and, like I said, it's going to keep you engaged for over the next 2 hours of runtime that it has.

So yeah, the writing here is great. What about the acting? Well, similar to the first movie, the acting here is really solid. And I'm even going to include the little girl that I briefly mentioned a moment ago. You know, the one who talked about the fish. Her acting in this movie is pretty good. At least, when compared to the acting from the little girl from the first movie. Because if you'll recall, the only bit of acting that I thought was rather questionable in the first movie was from this little girl that had NO expression on her face whatsoever. I don't know if it was because of a poor direction she had, or if she just did not know how to act at all. But in this movie, the little girl they got here actually does a pretty decent job. She gets enough material to what she has to work with, but is also not overstaying her welcome in this movie. Because child actors, almost generally, are terrible actors by default. However, she does a good enough job as is, and it seemed like she had more of a direction in this movie, unlike the little girl from the first movie. But anyway, the acting from everyone in this movie is great, and they certainly had a lot of fun, especially since they had a great script to work with.

Special effects are really good. Blood effects are perfectly fine. The costuming here is also pretty good. The fight choreography is also done really well. Now admittedly, it's not as excessive as it was in the first movie, but what is here is choreagraphed really well. And I'm also quite happy that they don't overstay their welcome, unlike the first movie, where the big brawl that happens during the final portion of the film took a little bit too long for my tastes. But that's just a minor thing, really. Overall, guys, the fight choreogaphy in this thing is really good.

Camerawork here is also really good. And I'm also pleased to report that we don't have a lot of shots that are focused on Uma Thurman's feet. While they still do exist in this movie, it wasn't as excessive as it was in the first movie. Because the first movie REALLY wanted to focus on our main character's feet. Which not only slowed the pacing of the film down a bit, but it also provided a little too much material for Tarantino to work with, if you know what I mean. But anyway, I will say that the excessive foot shots of Uma Thurman are mostly toned down in this movie. So, at least, there is that. Sound-mix here is mixed well. The lighting is also really good. The score here, just as the first movie, is great. One bit of it, in particular, that was I quite happy to hear in this movie was during the beginning of it. As Mamba Black was leaving the church, we get to hear this guitar solo that was also in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". It's a really good piece of music. But then again, considering that the score for that movie was done by Ennio Morricone, it was bound to sound amazing, anyways. So yeah, the score here is great, as is the soundtrack.

So, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Kill Bill: Volume 2"? You bet your ass I can recommend it! This movie is amazing. It is, at least in my eyes, how you do a sequel properly. Not a lot of movies are able to do that with me, but this movie is certainly one of those that does it right. Mind you, I'm not a die-hard fan of Quentin Tarantino, but when this man does it right, holy shit, he nails it to the ground. I'm also tempted to place this as my favorite movie from Tarantino, if not for "Django Unchained". However, I may have to rewatch that again and see how well that movie holds up when compared to this one. But anyway, if you guys haven't seen any of the "Kill Bill" movies yet, then I would wholeheartedly recommend you go and check out both movies. While I had some issues regarding the first movie, it's still good enough to where I can recommend both that and Volume 2. These movies are definitely worth checking out. And if you are curious about wanting to check out anything Tarantino has made as a first time viewer, than these movies are definitely a start. And as for myself, I quite enjoyed both of them really well. And I'm pleased enough to where they both will have a spot on my DVD shelf. Now...I'm gonna go do something else. I think I'm gonna go and watch a Western. And as much as I'd like to go and watch "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly", I just got finished with a pretty long movie. So, I think I'm gonna go watch..."For A Few Dollars More" instead. It's been quite a while since I last I watched that one, so I'm gonna go and do that next after I'm done putting this review together.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.