Kill Bill Volume Two

Finally, Volume Two is here. The stage is set for Uma to continue her roaring rampage of revenge and Kill Bill. Unfortunately, Bill likes to talk. A lot.

We were promised more chit-chat, but instead of the trademark Tarantino dialogue, theres a lot of grandiose meandering. Chief culprit is Bill, who delivers big, important-y sounding monologues about everything from the imperative nature of returning a 'hallo,' to his interpretation of Superman. Bill could use a flipchart to go with his samurai sword, as he seems intent on talking his victim to death. Who thought wed ever be complaining about dialogue from the man who gave us Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction? The Tarantino that conjured up entertaining dialogue about foot massages and McDonalds seems to be on holiday. At its worst, it's like George Lucas himself wrote the script (sorry Jar-Jar fans).

As in Volume One, the movie references come thick and fast. The opening scene at the chapel, as Bill and The Bride step towards each other through a series of close-ups, is like some strange student-film parody of "Once Upon A Time In The West." In fact, Tarantino makes so many nods to Sergio Leone, hes lucky his head doesnt fall off. And no matter how much he wants it to be, David Carradine blowing a few notes on a home-made whistle has none of the mystery of Charles Bronson playing his harmonica.

The real problem is the pace. Toward the end of Volume One, the film had built up such a head of steam, it looked all set to explode into wonderfulness, so it's disappointing that everything slows down so much.

But fear not, because between all the talk, theres the action, and its worth waiting for. The Jackass-inspired smackdown between Uma and Daryl Hannah is stylish, funny, gory, and quite literally eye-popping. The teeth-clenchingly claustrophobic coffin sequence, as Michael Madsen attempts to bury our heroine alive, reminds us just how effective Tarantino can be with only an idea, a camera, and an actress. He has so much talent that he doesn't need to splash the Weinsteins cash on gigantic set pieces. It may be that the director has so many ideas that a restricted budget focuses his imagination, bringing better results. If I was arguing this in court, I'd put Reservoir Dogs in a baggy and call it Exhibit A.
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The big showdown with Bill himself is an anticlimax, more chatter than splatter. They dont even get out of their seats. Its all rounded off with some arch-silliness involving truth serum and something called the 'five point palm exploding heart technique,' which is at least as daft as it sounds.

All this is to judge Tarantino against his own obscenely high standards. Despite the mountain of problems, Kill Bill Volume Two is more entertaining, original, and intelligent than most of what youll see this year. We should definitely be careful not to take Quentin Tarantino for granted, or well have to endure another barren, Quentin-less spell of nothing but Oscar nominated Ron Howard films. I just wish he'd focus more.

He is not content with mixing countless movie genres like yakuza, samurai, Shaw Brothers, spaghetti western and countless others. Nor with homaging and referencing very specific movies like Lady Snowblood, Rainy Day, They Call Her One-Eye, The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz, Switchblade Sisters, Once Upon A Time In... ah, forget it. If I listed them all, it would bring the Interenet crashing down.

For Volume Two, Tarantino goes a step further by overtly referencing his own work. In a cute nod to Reservoir Dogs, The Bride pulls a razor blade from her boot, and later Bill labels her a "natural born killer." Very droll, but from the moment Uma looks into camera and tells us she's "on what the movie advertisements refer to as a roaring rampage of revenge," it's too much referencing, not enough movie.

Surely, Kill Bill is as far as self-referential cinema can go, and Tarantino won't go any further down this road.

Maybe we can look forward to something more grounded in reality, now that he's worked every movie he's ever seen into his current, interesting mess.

Let's just hope we don't have to wait another six years for it.

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