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Kill Bill Vol. Lame

So, a week ago, I saw Kill Bill, Vol. 1 on DVD, and enjoyed it more than I had predicted. It’s basically a fun action movie, with stylized fight scenes, and, well, it’s fun.

So, last night, I saw Kill Bill, Vol 2, which is receiving crazy critical accolades. It sounded like it would be even better, with more emotional and narrative heft.

Well, it’s got more of something alright. Dialogue. Endless scenes of people talking. People that you’re not terribly interested in. There are some nifty action bits (Pei Mei’s tutelage, the fight with in trailer), but there’s also some crushing character stupidity (The Bride opening the trailer door, seemingly not expecting any response).

Anyway, if you’re a fan of the first, don’t assume you’ll like the second (though, you’ve probably seen it already). It’s surprising, considering that this was once one movie, how different the two halves are. It makes me wonder if Tarantino fiddled with it, when it became two movies. Because if this is how it was originally laid out, it kind of just doesn’t make sense.

Oh well.

  1. This film is still screening in the UK at the moment and I am being pestered to go see it by my freinds, but there is something that Tarantino does when he writes this stuff. He seems to know what he wants to happen action wise but tends to be far too controlling over the dialogue.

    Every character in every film he’s made – to date – has sounded for most, if not all, of the film like it was Tarantino talking through their lips.

    Pulp Fiction for example:
    Mia telling her lame joke,
    Vince Vega talking about foot massages,
    Winston Wolf talking about Vince Vega “talkin’ sh*t”,
    Quentin Tarantino’s cameo character – whatever his name was this time – talking about coffee.. alright we’ll let him off for that one — he’s not an actor after all.

    It is for this reason that I will never see any more Tarantino movies. I jast don’t like the way he talks, it’s so irritatingly Ego-Centric, He just appears desperate to make you think he’s such a cool, hip guy who says “mother-f*cker” a lot.

    So I certainly don’t want to be subjected to 90 minutes of it from other people as well as him, especially from actors and actresses I once respected.

    I know people will complain “he’s an auteur”, “thats what makes his films so…” blah blah blah.
    Ultimately, his films are an expression of himself, I personally Don’t think I would like him, if I were ever to meet him, so I see no reason to watch a cast of 20 or so people pretending to be him.

    Send him back to American Idol and let Simon Cowel deal with him.

    Just my 2 pence.
    RW

  2. I think most movies, if you bothered to split them in half, would suffer from this problem: a worse second half, burdened with tying up all the story that the first half got to play with. You may not notice because you treat it as a single film, but it’s pretty common.

    HELLBOY, a movie I saw just last night, has exactly this problem — the good action scenes and the best lines were all in the first half, while the second half concerned itself with a lot of talking and an awful climactic sequence.

    It’s much easier to sell a movie with a great beginning.

  3. Vol.2 sucked! I was super dissapointed with Quentin’s follow up. I mean she gets a cheap shot in chest, comes back from the grave “Thriller Style” and to top it off how cheesy was the ending with Bill’s 5 last steps to death???

    I think Vol.1 is a classic, Vol. 2 should have never come out.

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