KILL BILL: VOL. 2 (2004) - 5/29/2024

Maybe I didn’t see this one?

So, I could be wrong, but I don’t know. I thought I saw both Kill Bills when I was younger, I could have sworn by it, but watching Vol. 2 this time around, I don’t think I did. There was a lot I don’t recall at all: the scene before the wedding, all the Michael Madsen stuff, the daughter interactions. At the same time though, I do remember the California Mountain Snake showdown in the trailer, the Pai Mei montage, and the five point heart palm finisher at the end. Those could all just be from various montages over the years though, so I am truly uncertain. 

In the end, this was solid and did bring it back around; however, I’m still turned off by the tonality of it all. I understand it’s a major homage to all of the cheap martial arts films that came before it, and for someone who loves Wu-Tang (Chia-Hui Liu, who plays Pai Mei, was the star of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, which is part of the namesake for the Wu’s debut album) and a lot of the members singular albums, the references are abundit. But the reason it doesn’t stick with me as much is because: 1. I’m no longer a teenage boy (for the most part) and 2. Trying to intientionally match those films stylistically when you have a much larger budget feels weird? There’s something about those older martial arts films that are allowed to be corny because that’s what they were working with. They were dubbed and cheaply made, so the fighting is the real star, not the story. It’s different when your expectations are set for prestige and instead you get a pulpy martial arts film with a large budget. It doesn’t hit the same.

Still though, solid action, and Uma Thurman rocks.