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Kill Bill Vol. 2.... lost opportunity

Posted by Bambi B (A) on August 25, 2005 at 08:43:18

In Reply to: Kill Bill Vol. 2.... what a waste of time posted by Victor Khomenko on August 25, 2005 at 05:42:17:

Victor,

I was suprised how much I enjoyed "Kill Bill Vol.1". The extremity of the action in a kind of surreal pure warrior environment along with the wide-ranging locations became more engaging as it went along. I have to admit, I don't think I really understand- or probably accept the interactions of the assissins' team that caused them to nearly kill Uma on her wedding day***, but once Uma was in the "Pussy Wagon" staring at her big toe and saying "move", I was hooked. The back story was like Hitchcock, nobody really cares about the secrets or the "metal ore" in the wine bottles, it's the interaction of the characters and the journey.

***Homage to Truffaut's "The Bride wore Black"?

It's an aside, but I would've liked an extended portion where Uma goes to Okinawa and Hanzo makes the sword. I think scenes of Hanzo making the sword instersperdsed with Uma practicing would have added depth, because the sword she uses is so central to the story- like "Beowulf", Wagner, and Tolkien the sword is fundamental to the mythology. Notice in the final battle scene with that there are about 80 attackers and no one in that group thought to bring a gun which would have ended things in 5 seconds.- they all stayed "pure" in the combat. ALso, when Uma kills O-Ren Ishii her final words, "Thaty really was a Harrio Hanzo sword."

[Plus, I'd just love to see how they make those sword blades. I don't even know, are those blades like Damascus blades made with alternate steel and iron layers folded over again and again?}

Warning!>> The following paragraph reveals the ending !:

VOL 2: The second installtment didn't have any of the magic of the first- Thurman sems to be wandering around occasionally killing someone, but the mythology and details don't have any of the punch of the first. Even the action is much tamer and feels less precise. The actual killing of Bill- the climax of the whole story seems almost accidental, though of course the "5 finger palm exploding heart technoique" is symbolic of the way Bill had "expoloded" Uma heart emotionally- the manipulation. In the end VOL 2 Thurman is revealed as a drifter without inner life- a kind of machine and the sudden switching on of feeling for her daughter- finally an anchor in her drifting, ammoral life as a paid killer is just satisfying- the tenderness is not believable. Also, I have to say that the long exposition by Bill of why he's tried to have Uma killed throughout is the sorriest I heard in movies a long time. The way I heard it, Bill was jealous of Uma getting out the assasin biz and marrying someone and having a child,- he says simply, "I over-reacted." SO, that's the root of all this action and so many violent deaths! I was 1cm from turning the whole thing off at that point and turn to some intended comedy, but of course, by then I had to see how Uma would kill Bill. That was the missed opportunity of the whole movie- boring contrived, and over in five seconds.

Really too bad, as "Vol 1" had a lot of promise and engaging unconventional movie-making. In volume 1, I was thinking of a movie with a similar quirky mood, "Memento" and how that story revealed itself in such a fresh way. But sorry, "Vol 2" threw away almost all the promise of "Vol 1"- a missed opportunity.

Cheers,

Bam

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