The Duke On "Kill Bill Volume 2"
Published April 28, 2004
When Jackie Brown came out, folks were a little stumped on account of its leisurely pace and lack of innards and so on, but they still realised it was amazing, and they still loved it. You might be thinking it's a similar situation here. It's not. What Kill Bill Volume Two amounts to is an infuriatingly indulgent and dishearteningly pretentious follow-up to an infuriatingly indulgent but fucking euphoria-inducing predecessor.
I wish those good scenes hadn't been so good, since this would be all the less frustrating. It's a western to the first film's Eastern, but it's one that houses three or four great ten-minute sequences amidst a load of aimless toss. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly was slowly paced, but it was a joy to be with it for all that time. This homage, though, had The Duke wishing folks would shut the fuck up or else think of something worth saying.
Incidentally, in case maybe you thought this film was called Kill Bill Volume Two or something, it turns out you're a whole heap of wrong. The BBFC certificate that appeared onscreen before the film lists the title as Volume Two only. So do the opening credits. William or Assassination is never mentioned till the very end.
Maybe I'll change my mind tomorrow, who knows? But if the good had been taken out of this and the rest thrown the fuck out of the way, then despite the criminal lack of humour or jarring change of tone, Kill Bill could be envisioned as one great film in total. As it stands, it's a masterpiece followed by a deeply flawed, often exhilarating, but disappointing as all hell conclusion.
The Duke resides at Mondo Irlando
The Duke (Aaron McMullan to his parents and the clergy) is a Northern Irish writer, performer and insomniac currently residing in London. He is the creator of Mondo Irlando, wherein his scribblings and hollerings can be found. He is currently working towards the completion of his first novel, and his debut "punk / country / folk / whatever" album has recently been released by Ex Libris Records . You can also pop by His MySpace Page and maybe have a coffee and a biscuit.
- The Duke On "Kill Bill Volume 2"
- Published: April 28, 2004
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- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Action, Video: Adventure, Video: Drama, Video: Suspense and Mystery, Video: Westerns
- Writer: Duke De Mondo
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Gee, el Duke-o, sorry there wasn't enough spurting blood and flashing lights to service your ADD, but Those Who Know will tell you that Kill Bill, Volume 2 was a much more engaging movie than the very entertaining cartoon that was Volume 1.
I'll note just a couple of things to be thinking on with a second viewing. First, the Bud character. Consider the shame and humiliation of this formerly big league assassin being treated so thoroughly like dirt in this nothing little bar. Think how consumed with guilt or something he must have felt to have been willing to endure that. Fascinating cross-motivations going through this guy.
The payoff of the whole thing was the family scene at Bills. Those precious few minutes are SO incredibly invested. It's an amazing film moment when she walks in on Daddy and daughter.
You need to think about this one some more.
Al, it wasn't the absense of flashing lights or blood. It was the absense of very much of anything. It seemed entirely hollow. Good point about Bud by the way. As i said, Michael Madsen was really quite wonderful, and you've illustrated something i may have missed. Maybe i'll "get" it next time around, but thing is, i kinda "got" it this time too, its just that i didn't particularly want it. No-one wants to hear twenty minutes of bullshit being spouted, man. The performances were flat as hell a lot of the time. But i think if i hadn't been so unimpressed by the bill/bride meet-up (and i wasn't expecting blood and gore and so on, but something, if they'd talked about something in an interesting manner, perhaps. Bill's speech, as one reviewer pointed out in Total Film, sounded like someone trying to "do" tarantino) then i probably would be a lot more postivie. Up until the last chapter, pretty much everything was wonderful. I need to watch it again, and think about it some more as you said. Incidently, my fiancee, who thought the first one was shit, loved part 2. She didn't even want to go see it, and came out with a big grin. Then she yelled at me for gettin all analytical.
You should check out Mark T. Conard's interpretation of KB, both volumes on metaphilm.com:
http://metaphilm.com/philm.php?id=200_0_2_0
http://metaphilm.com/philm.php?id=310_0_2_0_M
He gives a really interesting psychological interpretation of the movies.
Jeff B.
Thanks Jeff, i'll do that in the immediate future. I'm sure it's nowhere near as awe-inspiring as The Duke's analysis tho. As Plato said, "When it comes to the intellectual discussion of Filmic Affairs, ain't no motherfucker can touch The Duke"
Thanks Plato
Thanks Jeff
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The last funny movie Whoopie Goldberg made was the one where she gets her dress caught in a paper shredder. She then went on the pro wrassling circuit.
I really liked the episodes of "Vamprire Whisky Drinking Truck Driving Righteous Motherfuckers" but man, does Harvey Keitel One need a drink or what. Anyways, I've not seen the newest installment of the "Killing of Bill Again", really, I'm not seeing it until it comes out on DVD or I get a bootleg screener on bittorrent.
Where was I? Oh, yeah, why does Carradine get so much love for a movie he did a couple of years ago, but gets squat for a quite good appearance on "Alias"?