Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Kill Bill vol. 2

I saw volume 2 after watching volume 1 today, so it was fresh on my mind, and the contrast between the 2 films seemed like night and day, and not in a good way. Is it always good to be different just to be different? In this case, I vote no.

Volume 2 is overly bloated with bits that derail the pacing of the film, and it meanders all over the place in many spots with little in terms of payoff for the viewer. I think there's a good 90 minute film in volume 2. As it stands, there's 30-40 minutes that could have been trimmed away without losing any of the story flow or impact.

The final chapter left me uninterested and a bit on the bored side with the resolution. It felt like watching a poorly staged TV drama. Or it was like Tarantino got such a rush at directing all the action sequences, that the dramatic character scenes just didn't leap off the written page and become compelling cinema.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a C+ (if you liked volume 1, go see it, but there's no way I'd recommend someone who hadn't seen volume 1 to go see it at all).

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Upon second viewing, I think I'll bump up my rating to:

3 stars, or a grade of B. 

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