KILL BILL VOL. 2: The Film Babble Blog Review

Opening today at a multiplex near you:

KILL BILL VOL. 2 (Dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2004)

 First off, let me start by saying that I wasn’t big on KILL BILL VOL 1. I thought it lacked true suspense, and at best it was just superficial entertainment pretending to be a big movie event.

Also it bothered me that it pretentiously introduced itself as “The 4th Film By Quentin Tarantino” in the credits. I mean who the Hell else does that? Can you imagine: “The 17th Film By Martin Scorsese” in the opening credits of GOODFELLAS? I didn’t think so.

But if Spike Lee can get away with calling his films “joints” in his credits I guess I can let it slide. What I couldn't let slide in KBV1 was the dry humorless tone and the fact that many characters were such general pop culture stereotypes of the sort that have already appeared multiple times in Tarantino’s work.

Take for example the redneck hospital orderly that whores out the Bride's comatose body to redneck scum for $75 a pop. Didn't we already go there in PULP FICTION? The orderly even has a tacky vehicle in the form of a souped-up pickup called “The Pussy Wagon” that would not look out of place in the same garage as the chopper (Zed's Motorbike) “Grace” in “The 2ndFilm By Quentin Tarantino.”

Also the out-of-sequence chronology that characterizes Tarantino’s work, once so innovative yet now feels like a transparent device that disguises the lack of a stronger story arc.

Michael Parks as a seedy but wise Texas sheriff when surveying the massacre that begins the entire rampage remarks: “if you was a moron you could almost admire it.”

That pretty much summed how I felt about the flick when I saw it last year. But lo and behold, I like KILL BILL VOL. 2 quite a bit, and it even made me re-evaluate the first one to such a degree that I have to say that it appears to me to be much more solid as a first parter.

KBV1 resonates with a passion and power that I cynically ignored first time around. The 4th film credit I previously bitched about now informs us that this is one big movie that is told in 2 parts.

KBV2 doesn't label itself as “The 5th film...” and its ending credits include actors that were only in the first film.

It truly is the cinematic equivalent of those two part TV episodes with the “to be concluded” caption that were done to death in the ‘70s and ‘80s. There is plenty of the stylized violence of the first half here but what makes this work is the back-story and genuine emotion fueling the character’s motives.

We learn why the Bride’s fiancée and entire wedding party were slaughtered, how Daryl Hannah’s eye-patch came to be, what connection the Bride and Bill (David Carradine) had, and most importantly who the Bride really is - name revealed and all.

Don't worry,  I won't reveal any of those spoilers here I'll just say that the dialogue while tense and filled with proverbs is smoothly recited and intensely felt by the actors especially Carradine.

Even with a monologue that's so Tarantino you can practically hear the director himself performing it about how Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race Carradine absolutely kills.

A number of critics are saying that KBV2 works alone without seeing KBV1 but I disagree. I mean none of them have actually experienced that so it seems like a silly appraisal. I would say you should not see KBV2 without seeing KBV1 first and since they are out the same week albeit in different formats there’s no reason why you shouldn’t.

KILL BILL as one big movie is a dense collection of styles and tones that will make many treasure their own obscure pop culture interests and realize that if that former video store clerk can make epic cinema out of lowbrow pulp why can't we get off our ass and create something too? At least that's how I'm thinking.

More later...

Listomania: Quentin Tarantino Edition

Since Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL VOL. 1 was released on DVD this week (review here), and KILL BILL VOL. 2 is coming to theaters on Friday, this is a Special Tarantino Edition of Film Babble Blog, a career re-cap of sorts with lists, quotes, fun facts, and other whatnot leading up to my review of his newest that will be posted tomorrow.

First up:

BASIC FILMOGRAPHY AND INITIAL GUIDE TO THIS BLOG:

RD: RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)
PF: PULP FICTION (1994)
JB: JACKIE BROWN (1997)
KBV1: KILL BILL VOL. 1 (2003)
KBV2: KILL BILL VOL. 2 (2004)

THE QUENTIN TARENTINO REPERTORY ROLE CALL:

Lawrence Bender: RD, PF 
Steve Buscemi: RD, PF
David Carradine: KBV1, KBV2
Sonny Chiba: KBV1, KBV2
Vivica A. Fox: KBV1, KBV2
Daryl Hannah: KBV1, KBV2
Samuel L. Jackson: PF, JB
Harvey Keitel: RD, PF
Lucy Liu: KBV1, KBV2
Michael Madsen: RD, KBV1, KBV2
Tim Roth: RD, PF
Quentin Tarantino: RD, PF
Uma Thurman: PF, KBV1, KBV2

TARANTINO FUN FACT FORUM:

• Michael Madsen's character in RD (1992) is named Vic Vega. John Travolta in PF (1994) plays Vincent Vega. According to interviews with Tarentino they are brothers, and has spoken of making a Vega brothers movie, but at this rate don't hold your breath.

• The criticisms of a boy club mentality of Tarantino’s early work are especially valid in RD (1992) in which there just a precious few women among the cast. Only two woman appear - there is a waitress overheard and seen in the coffee shop opening, but her face is never seen and she’s not even credited on the IMDb. The other woman is killed right in front of us by the supposed ‘good guy,’ the undercover cop (Tim Roth) trying to bust the rest of the crew. So RD is definitely the polar opposite of a ‘chick flick.’

• Samuel L. Jackson said the line “this is some repugnant shit” both in PF (1994) and JB (1997).

• These names are used in more than one Tarantino movie: Bonnie, Jodie, Koons, Marsellus, Scagnetti, and the before mentioned Vega. I'm going to assume that they refer to the same people in the world his movies exist in.

FIVE GREAT TARANTINO LINES: 

1. "Well, let's not start sucking each other's dicks just yet." - The Wolf (Harvey Keitel) PF (1994) 

2. "I might break you in, Nice Guy, but I'd make you my dog's bitch." - Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) RD (1992)

3. "I can tell you with no ego that this is my finest blade. If, on your journey, you should encounter God... God will be cut." - Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba) KBV1 (2003)

4. "AK-47. When you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes" - Ordell (Samuel L. Jackson) JB (1997)

5. "What ain't no country I ever heard of. They speak English in What?" - Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) PF (1994)

FIVE MOVIES THAT RIP-OFF TARANTINO: 

(Some more call them "homages" or use phrases like "in the tradition of" but let's call a spade a spade) 
1. TIE - LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELLS/SNATCH (Dir. Guy Ritchie, 1998 & 2000): Guy Ritchie's 2 smoking Tarantino borrows more like! 

2. TWO DAYS IN THE VALLEY (Dir. John Herzfeld, 1996)

3. GO (Dir. Doug Liman, 1999): When this was first was released I think I remember thinking "this week's PULP FICTION." Snap!

4. SUICIDE KINGS (Dir. Peter O'Fallon,1997)

5. THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOUR DEAD (Dir. Gary Fleder, 1995)

Stay tuned for the Film Babble Blog review of KILL BILL VOL. 2.

More later...

DVD Review: KILL BILL VOL. 1

Out today on DVD:

KILL BILL VOL. 1 (Dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2003)

It’s obvious from the first minute where we’re going here as old '70s feature attraction titles are used directly and the music accompanying is suitably retro as well. From that we’re thrust head first into a tale of a woman whose fiancée is killed at the wedding chapel by a gung ho team of international assassins.

This is pure setup to a revenge plot that seems borrowed from the classic Truffaut film THE BRIDE WORE BLACK. It's funny that when Uma introduces herself early on her name is bleeped out. She's known simply as "the Bride."

One by one she tracks down and annihilates the killers (actually half of the killers on her hand written list - the second half will be taken care of in KILL BILL VOLUME 2 presumably). I would describe the plot in more detail but truth be told that's all the plot there is.

This movie is basically one big scorned-woman-kicks-major-ass sequence after another. That's not to say it doesn’t have merit. It has plenty of fire in its belly, and many of the stunts and tracking shots are beautifully done and a lot of watchable fun.

The downside of it is with so many slick stylized action movies in the last several years at times this can feel like little more than a thinking man’s CHARLIE'S ANGELS, but at least Uma doesn't do a backwards moon-walk like Drew Barrymore did after viciously finishing off a room full of adversaries.

Driving home the notion of cartoon violence is actual animation interspersed into the action.

Sonny Chiba provides another drive home to the world of martial arts cinema as the sword maker that hooks up Uma with her weapon of choice. “I need Japanese steel” the Bride says in Japanese just moments after saying she knows very little Japanese.

It beats you over the head over and over that when Tarantino worked as a clerk at Video Archives in Hermosa Beach, California he watched every Hong Kong martial-arts movie that was on their shelves.

Uma Thurman puts in a performance that is mannered and precise, a true display of stoic grace that is incredibly admirable in the middle of all this noise. Dialogue is spare, blood sprays like a lawn sprinkler in sheets, and punctuating rifts by the 5,6,7, & 8's all compete for your attention, especially in a sequence set in a palace of a Hong Kong nightclub.

From a film geek poseur point of view, this is a conceptually messy movie that feels like Tarantino exploiting his worst impulses, but for the casual moviegoer just looking for cheap thrills the first installment of KILL BILL delivers.

If only its edge was as sharp as Thurman’s Japanese steel.

DVD Special Features: A decent but truly inconsequential 20 minute making of featurette is the main deal here. There are trailers for all the other Tarentino flicks too, and those are actually really nice to view in order. 

At first I was disappointed that the disc didn't have director's commentary but then recalling how Tarantino rambled on the commentary for RESERVOIR DOGS (1992) going off on anecdotes unrelated to the action playing out on the screen, I've concluded that that's not that fatal an omission. 

Last thought: unless you absolutely have to own the DVD immediately I’d recommend waiting for the DVD release of KBV2 next fall. You just know that both films will be packaged together in a spiffy deluxe edition. But, of course, from the numbers of sales yesterday of the KBV1 DVD, it’s obvious that the legions of Tarantino geeks out there couldn’t wait.

More later…