Kill Bill V1: Sucks. Kill Bill V2: Pretty Darn Good

Cherry Brigand

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As I continue my re-watches of QT's work, I've arrived at one of his most popular.

I saw it originally maybe 7 or 8 years ago and I came away meh. Decided to rewatch, in case I had another Jackie Brown situation. In my view, I did not.

There's some good fun to be had, but the dialogue just isn't up to his usual writing until David Carradine finally makes his way into the movie. His scenes with Uma are outstanding, smoldering, and well performed (RIP).

The parts where Uma trains are great, Masden is at his absolute smokey sinister best and there's a great cast of supporting players (swordmaker, brothel owner, etc). I still don't buy Uma as a super assassin, but at she acts the part better in part two.

The first movie however, is a bloated and brainless exercise in QT being too clever for his own good and it all seems so poorly strung along. Maybe it's brought down by having to be both the build of of the story and the tame middle chapter all in one film.

V1: 2/5
V2: 4/5
Overall 3/5.
 
I remember liking both but haven't watched in years.
 
Vl. 1 sucks? Pretty harsh opinion.
I think Vl. 2 was heavily underrated when it first came out. I didn't appreciate it fully until subsequent viewings.
But Vl. Was still pretty great for me. It was just a different kind of movie
 
It was all shot at the same time and then only split into two in editing, so I really think of it as two halves of one movie, rather than two movies.

Anyway, it’s fucking incredible. The 1st part has Japan, Lucy Liu and the crazy 88, schoolgirl Chiaki & Gordon Liu, a bunch of great music, the anime sequence, so much more. Also, the swordmaker you referenced is in the 1st half, the legendary Sonny Chiba.

In short: This film is pure gold.

Fuck is wrong witchu?

<31>
 
The second film is more typically Taratino I'd agree but besides Carradine and the brawl in the trailer I'm not sure it had as much really memorable in it as the first.
 
It was all shot at the same time and then only split into two in editing, so I really think of it as two halves of one movie, rather than two movies.

Anyway, it’s fucking incredible. The 1st part has Japan, Lucy Liu and the crazy 88, schoolgirl Chiaki & Gordon Liu, a bunch of great music, the anime sequence, so much more. Also, the swordmaker you referenced is in the 1st half, the legendary Sonny Chiba.

In short: This film is pure gold.

Fuck is wrong witchu?

<31>

Yes. It is one movie.

Great movie. I prefer the japanese style of the first half though.
 
I just watched both and i prefer the 1st one a bit more.
 
liked the first one more. loved the big fight at the end plus sonny chiba.
 
I like #1 more cause it all about Japan and I want to go to Japan.
 
The anime segment was a complete surprise for me. Blew my mind. Brought me back to the liquid television days of Aeon Flux. I was immersed at that point.

For that and a few other reasons, I felt the first was superior. However I enjoyed both.

Kill%2BBill%2Bwaiting.jpg
 
You're one of the few people on the interwebz that agrees with me that Vol 2 is better than Vol 1.

I won't go as far as saying Vol 1 sucked. I really liked Vol 1. But when comparing them, Vol 2 has a much more powerful storyline.

The fact that Bill is so remorseful over what he did, and still loves her, and kinda hopes for a reconciliation even though he knows it's impossible, man that just makes it so much more powerful. Right up until the end you're not even sure if she's going to kill him, because deep down inside she still loves him, and now that she's seen how he's cared for their daughter she's less angry now. And not only that, the daughter loves Bill, can she really bring herself to kill the man that her daughter only knows as daddy?

And on Bill's side you don't know if he's even going to defend himself or just let her do it since he knows he deserves it and he loves her. To this day I still waffle back and forth on believing he allowed himself to be killed, or he actually fought his best and she was just better.

Everyone always says the fight scenes were better in the first one. Which maybe they were, but that doesn't make the first one a better film. The 2nd one is simply amazing.
 
You're one of the few people on the interwebz that agrees with me that Vol 2 is better than Vol 1.

I won't go as far as saying Vol 1 sucked. I really liked Vol 1. But when comparing them, Vol 2 has a much more powerful storyline.

The fact that Bill is so remorseful over what he did, and still loves her, and kinda hopes for a reconciliation even though he knows it's impossible, man that just makes it so much more powerful. Right up until the end you're not even sure if she's going to kill him, because deep down inside she still loves him, and now that she's seen how he's cared for their daughter she's less angry now. And not only that, the daughter loves Bill, can she really bring herself to kill the man that her daughter only knows as daddy?

And on Bill's side you don't know if he's even going to defend himself or just let her do it since he knows he deserves it and he loves her. To this day I still waffle back and forth on believing he allowed himself to be killed, or he actually fought his best and she was just better.

Everyone always says the fight scenes were better in the first one. Which maybe they were, but that doesn't make the first one a better film. The 2nd one is simply amazing.

While he fights his hardest against (and is still killed) by the 5 point exploding heart technique the fact he shoots her with a truth serum (instead of just blowing her away at that point) earlier makes me think he does let her kill him. Almost like he came to agree with what his brother said in that they deserve to die (and Beatrice deserves her revenge).
 
While he fights his hardest against (and is still killed) by the 5 point exploding heart technique the fact he shoots her with a truth serum (instead of just blowing her away at that point) earlier makes me think he does let her kill him. Almost like he came to agree with what his brother said in that they deserve to die (and Beatrice deserves her revenge).

Exactly. He could've killed her several times over. But he wanted to find the truth first. But then he could've killed her after he found the truth.

I think he didn't even know himself whether he was going to try his best to kill her or just half-heartedly defend himself. Maybe he was still struggling with that decision when they started fighting, and then she surprised him with the 5 point exploding heart move so he didn't need to make that decision anymore.
 
I wasn't a fan of Volume 1, enjoyed 2 though. I am sure that is an opinion in the minority.
 
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