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The Main Characters
--The Bride (Uma Thurman) is a woman hell-bent on revenge. On her wedding day, Bill and his group of assassins slaughtered the entire wedding party and tried to kill a pregnant Bride. When she awoke, she had only one thing on her mind, Kill Bill.
--Bill (David Caradine) is the man who tried to kill the Bride. He failed and now the Bride seems to be on a crash course straight to Bill.
--Budd (Michael Madsen) is Bill’s brother and one of his assassins. He had a hand in murdering the Bride’s wedding party and since he wasn’t one of the people killed in Vol. 1, he is on the list for this movie.
--Elle Driver (Darryl Hannah) is the one-eyed assassin in Bills group. She too was not killed in the first movie so she’s on the list for this movie.
--Pai Mai (Gordon Liu) is revealed in a flashback scene to have trained The Bride in her craft.
The Setting
Takes place all around the country, NO PLACE IS OUT OF BOUNDS WHEN THE BRIDE SEEKS REVENGE!
The Movie
The movie is a continuation of Kill Bill Vol. 1. Basically, a woman (named only the bride in the first film, we’d find out her real name about midway through this film) is practicing for her wedding when Bill and his band of assassins, whom the Bride used to work for, waltz in and slaughter them all. As they finish, a pregnant Bride tells Bill the child is his. He shoots her in the head anyway. She doesn’t die though and awakes from her coma months later with one thing on her mind, Kill Bill. The first movie saw her viciously mow through two of the people responsible for the carnage and this film picks up with the Bride going after Budd and Elle Driver and of course, Bill. The five chapters of this film deal with her battling the two other assassins, her training under Pai Mai as well as the final confrontation with Bill.
My Review
This is quite a different movie from Kill Bill Vol. 1. Vol. 1 was a very violent movie; not grotesque violence, but almost cartoony violence, mind you. The first was very much action oriented. To warn you, if you’re going in expecting nothing but the carnage seen in the first film you will be disappointed. The second movie doesn’t contain all the action of the first. It is much more story driven. The movie does stand well on it’s own, though. It isn’t necessary to have seen the first one to see this one. It helps to know some of what happened before but The Bride give a brief recap of all the events before the movie even starts.
It’s tough to comment on the second film based on the first. I loved the first movie and thought it was great for the action sequences and dialogue. The second one was more story driven, which I can appreciate, but some parts seemed out of place. Some of the dialogue seemed forced and very drawn out. I feel almost like Quentin could’ve made a very excellent 3-hour film instead of two 2-plus hour films. In my opinion, Kill Bill 2 is a slight disappointment. It is a great film but it could’ve been better and a little shorter.
Acting wise, the choices were excellent. Uma Thurman was magnificent again and it seems that Quentin really gets the best out of her. David Caradine shines as Bill and Michael Madsen is absolutely perfect as Budd. Gordon Liu and the chapter focusing on The Bride’s training with Pai Mai are superbly done. It is a perfect mockery/homage to all the old samurai movies we’re used to seeing with an old man with long white hair and a goofy mustache who knows all sorts of kung fu techniques.
In all, it’s not a bad movie. I was expecting more action but the film does have its great scenes and moments.
Overall Rating
***
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