Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004): **** out of ****
Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Starring Uma Thurman, David
Carradine, Sonny Chiba, Julie Dreyfus, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, Chiaki
Kuriyama, Gordon Liu, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Michael Parks and Samuel L.
Jackson.
by Andy Keast
"Some movies are slices of life. Mine are slices of cake."
-Alfred Hitchcock
So are Quentin Tarantino's. "Kill Bill" is a movie that inhabits genres
instead of mocking them. I admire films that can revive a genre that doesn't
exist anymore, like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" or "Master and Commander: The Far
Side of the World," and also films that take a revisionist approach to their
genres, like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" or "Unforgiven." "Kill Bill"
does both, respectively, in it's Volumes 1 and 2. There is a kind of beauty in
how it takes a work of throwaway vintage fiction to make a movie so ambitiously
and passionately. The result is galvanizing.
Uma Thurman -in what I'm sure will end up being a career-defining role- plays
the Bride, who used to work for Bill (David Carradine) as a member of the
Deadly Viper Assassination Squad ("DiVAS"), among them Vernita Green (Vivica A.
Fox), Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and Budd (Michael
Madsen). When Bill discovers that she has decided to leave the killer life and
get married, the Divas pay the wedding party a mortally-decisive visit. The
Bride, left for dead, goes into a coma for four years. She awakens, and the
film escalates into a tale of bloody revenge. One by one she picks them off,
after seeing Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba) about having a sword tempered.
Throughout the nearly four-hour epic, Tarantino's distinctive dialogue style
can be heard: Thurman and Chiba have a great scene together in a restaurant,
and there is a discussion of the Superman mythology which I thought was great.
I'm probably flying off the deep end saying this, but not since "Raiders of the
Lost Ark" has there been a movie so steeped in it's own cinema lore. "Kill
Bill" is a celebration of countless exploitation films, encompassing everything
from the western, samurai, and Yakuza genres, as well as Chinese Wuxia and
Japanese martial arts films. There's splatter, anime and wire-fu. There are
references to the repertoires of directors such as Kenji Fukasaku, Seijun
Sezuki, Tsui Hark, Kenji Misumi, King Hu, Sergio Leone, John Woo and Sam
Peckinpah. Playing "spot the reference" at a Tarantino film is one of it's
joys, and is to be expected. I was able to clock in "The Green Hornet," "Kung
Fu," "Game of Death," "Branded to Kill," "Dressed to Kill," "Lady Snowblood,"
"Death Rides a Horse," "Master of the Flying Guillotine" and Sluiser's
"Spoorloos." I'm sure any fan could put me to shame.
What can I say that hasn't been said before and better? The film is
technically impeccable, precisely because it is a throwback. I could go on
about the fight choreography by the great Yuen Wo-Ping, who with Tarantino
reopened the Shaw Brothers studio to film action sequences, using only
traditional visual effects -models, squibs, wire, etc. It looks and feels like
a product of the Tokyo film industry of the 1960's and 70's. I could go on
about the photography by Robert Richardson ("JFK"), who brings the Yakuza movie
world to life with vivid color and his signature pools of harsh light. Look
closely at how his work replicates the sensibilities of 70's kung-fu cinema in
one particular sequence, where the Bride visits Pai Mei (Gordon Liu). He's
that old staple of all martial arts films: the bearded, centuries-old master,
leading a life of contemplation in the mountains, waiting for a disciple worthy
of his wisdom. As with all of his films, Tarantino makes memorable use of
music, particularly where the Bride first confronts O-Ren and a scene late in
the film where she crosses swords with Elle. These are underscored by
Morricone's "Death Rides a Horse" and "Silhouette of Doom," respectively, and
they're magnificent. Is there not a better film composer than Ennio Morricone?
The movie's centerpiece takes place at the film's "House of Blue Leaves."
There the Bride faces off with O-Ren, who has taken control of the Tokyo
underworld. O-Ren is henchmanned by Sofie Fatale (Julie Dreyfus), Go-Go Yubari
(Chiaki Kuriyama) -whose weapon of choice is a mace that seems to be the
brainchild of an anime artist, and Johnny Mo (Gordon Liu again), a lieutenant
of the Crazy 88 -masked swordsman who turn out to be not-so-great fighters, but
do seem crazy enough. The fight sequence was apparently too much for the MPAA,
who threatened to give it an NC-17 for violence, thus part of it is seen in
black and white (I guess red blood is too offensive). The film plateaus here
with a brilliant set piece involving stabbings, pratfalls, beheadings,
dismemberments and duels that maintain an uncommon fever pitch of action.
The latter half of "Kill Bill" reveals a maturity from Tarantino I didn't know
was there. There are discoveries about the true nature of certain characters'
relationships, which are retroactive to the first half. Volume 2 makes Volume
1 better. After seeing Volume 2, I got more out of what happens in the garden
between O-Ren and the Bride; there's almost a sense of regret in killing her.
You may also want to pay attention to the exchange between the Bride and
Vernita -the two have more in common then you might think. And in a way, the
scenes with Bill fuel the entire movie. A lot of people disagree. One
audience I saw it with had been disappointed with the sudden change in tone. I
overheard comments about how the film had built so greatly to such a low-key
climax. That is entirely the point. Notice the facial expressions and
dialogue of Thurman and Carradine together in the final confrontation. The
Bride clearly gets no pleasure when she kills Bill: she seems to no longer be
driven by vengeance, but by maternal instinct. Who would've thought that
Tarantino would have a film like this in him? Not many who claim to be his
admirers, apparently. I think Volume 2, like "Jackie Brown" (still my favorite
of all four of his movies) seven years ago, proves that many of his fans go to
his movies for the wrong reasons.
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