By Wayne Neill (May 27, 2004)

If volume one of Tarantino’s Kill Bill was about revenge, then volume two is about morals. Our movie starts in America’s Southwest, then moves on to China, and ends somewhere in South America. The latter is a bit unusual considering the other two locales are the origins of the movie’s main influences, influences which have much changed since the last movie, so much that it would seem that the two volumes might have been written years apart. Volume two is contemplative, meditative, like Bill’s bamboo flute. It no longer has the Anime Adrenaline and thereby caters to a smaller audience. 

This audience appreciates Tarantino’s genius more than most. His personality tends to show through much more as there is a lot less action as in Bill’s comic book speech. These errors do not necessarily make the movie any less enjoyable for the fans but for most others it tends to be a bit awkward.

I feel, however, that Tarantino’s skill as a director easily overshadows any of these design flaws. The Texas burial scene exemplifies this, creating an illusion of claustrophobia and discomfort for the audience, and makes you very glad Kiddo wasn’t buried upside down as you would have had to share that discomfort. If you saw the first film for more reason than watching Uma slice through the Yakuza ranks (all of them) then volume two’s wrapup of the first movie’s ambiguous message is a definite must!