Review Date:
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Producers: Lawrence Bender
Actors:
Uma Thurman as The Bride, David Carradine as Bill, Michael Madsen as Bud |
Seeing as the film’s final 20-30 minutes concentrated specifically on the lead and Bill’s confrontation, I was somewhat disappointed by the way that section dragged a little, and would have preferred a conclusion of greater impact and succinctness. It didn’t help that it also featured a couple of somewhat “unbelievable” scenarios in which a man blasts a gun in a house in which a kid is sleeping (and the kid doesn’t wake up?) and a trained killer changes her mind about a “mark” after the victim-to-be claims to be pregnant (what kind of hitman school did you go to?) That said, I did appreciate the final moments between The Bride and Bill, which made absolute sense and clicked, as well as the film’s funky blend of Western/Asian score, as created by Robert Rodriguez and The RZA (although his work on the GHOST DOG score rocked even harder) Unfortunately, the emphasis on the film’s score left us without Tarantino’s trademark inclusion of choice pop tunes…darn. I also appreciated the film’s cameos, in-jokes (“Natural born killer…”– NICE!), improvement in dialogue from the first installment and both the grand opening and closing credits. Groovy. A particular section of the movie which surprisingly tickled my entertainment bone was the entire “training sequence” with Pai Mei, which I had expected to be long and boring, but actually turned out to be short and quite funny. The man’s got a chip on his shoulder the size of my ass! (word on the street was that Tarantino himself was set to play that character, but thankfully changed his mind during filming)
Style-wise, the movie still played it pretty quirky, with some creative sequences here and there including someone being buried alive (bring night-goggles), split-screens, an all-out chick hand-to-hand combat brawl in a dingy little trailer, as well as the detailed presentation of the infamous “wedding chapel” sequence in black & white. Now despite enjoying the film overall, I suspect that the first part’s greater impact weighed negatively on my overall enthusiasm for this one, making it feel a little less necessary, innovative or tight. I’m not sure if the film’s release date move from early February might’ve lessened my buzz on it, but I’m very curious to see how it plays with those who adored the first one, a movie which was a lot more about showmanship and fun (in my opinion). I liked this movie, but unlike the first one, don’t foresee watching it again anytime soon (ironically, this film’s end credits featuring shots from the first movie had me, well…missing the first one’s more visceral experience). It is, on the other hand, a solid conclusion to an interesting experiment which likely led both the film’s director and distributor, to “milk” it for all that it was worth…and maybe just a little more. I can’t imagine watching this entire 4-hour epic in one sitting (wasn’t it originally supposed to be only 3 hours?), but as two pieces of a greater, cooler pie, it’s a grand ol’ time at the movies and then some. PS: Love the eye!
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