Film review: Kill Bill Volume Two (15)

10:59am Thursday 22nd April 2004

A new Quentin Tarantino film is always cause for excitement. After the hyperkinetic swords and thrills of Kill Bill 1, this sequel comes with added anticipation.

On watching Volume Two, it's difficult to see how the film could have been conceived, as Tarantino originally had it, to play as one cohesive whole. Where Volume One was aesthetically stunning, balletic and beautiful in spite of the stomach-churning violence, the second part is as savage as it gets.

The action begins at the wedding rehearsal at which The Bride (Uma Thurman) was left for dead by the eponymous Bill and her former cohorts The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. A true master at depicting the threat of violence, Tarantino milks the scene - for which we already know the outcome - for every last drop of tension.

From here the director restlessly hops between genres - westerns, B movies, martial arts, film noir - while retaining the feel of a comic book. In lesser hands could have been an absolute disaster. But the cast (particularly Michael Madsen's washed-up cowboy Budd and Daryl Hannah's heartless Elle Driver) know exactly how to play it.

One complaint about the first episode was the lack of heart, plot and that trademark Tarantino dialogue. Here all three are present and correct thanks to the film's stand-out turn - David Carradine as Bill. Weary, threatening and enigmatic all at once, he chews up every scene with his quietly menacing charm.

Tarantino has yet again pulled off another surprise. He's shown he's a little bit of softie.

Popcorn rating: four out of five