Fri 18 Jun 2004
For a violence wienie like myself, Kill Bill 2 is the perfect combination of guts and passion. I loved this movie…and that’s saying a lot. I have never been a Tarantino fan. I’m probably the only kid from our generation who totally hated Pulp Fiction…and I still do. I can’t appreciate it, no matter how many chances I give it, and we own the damn dvd! But Kill Bill, here are some of the reasons why I, like so many other’s, think it’s a fine flick:
1. Uma Thurman. Thank God for her, or else this movie would be about something entirely different. The fact that Tarantino has a female protangonist is so rockin, I could hardly stay in my seat. She kicks so much ass, she endures so much grief, and yet, you know she’s going to succeed–she just has to!
2. The passion…you really FEEL the violence in both movies. When Uma’s arm is wrenched behind her back, when her fists bleed from pounding them into wood blocks, when she finds out she’s pregnant. Tarantino is nortorious for countless throw-away violent scenes, (remember Four Rooms?), this time he includes someone who’s actually real. Someone who actually experiences the carnage on the other end…When Uma wakes up from her coma, I couldn’t believe he devoted so much time to her grief. She cries! Really, really, cries! It was refreshing and made the audience empathetic with her plight.
3. Revenge…ah, sweet revenge. I used to be a pretty vengeful chick, myself. In my younger years, I probably would have embarked on a similiar mission, only instead of a sword and a kung-fu grip I would have armed myself with my cunning wit and a martini splashed in somebody’s face. Revenge is at it’s finest in this film. Even the victims agree with Bea: They deserve to die.
4. The clothes, Uma’s cowboy boots, the awesome details of that shitty trailor.
5. That chick from Splash, holy cow, I hope I look that good at…whatever age she’s at…40?
To sum up, I have to admit I like Vol. 2 better simply because I could watch most of it without holding my hands over my eyes. Ask Johnny, (or Josh), even during Vol. 2 I was peeking through my fingers, whispering: “Is it done yet? Can I look now?” I don’t do well with gun-play…I hate when characters wave around guns and talk about what they want to do, (hence my dislike for Pulp Fiction). I’ve always had a theory I was once shot in a former life, because I have a deep-rooted fear of guns.
June 18th, 2004 at 11:43 am
I think you’re spot-on in your comments… I’ve said before that on a visceral level I enjoyed Vol. 1 more. but 2 is much more emotionally resonant… Uma makes the movie work, and she better get an oscar nom for this one.. who would have thought QT would make a radically feminist flick like this, huh?
What i loved the most was how Bill was made into a more ambiguous character in 2… Yes, he deserves to die… but he also has lovingly raised B.B. and has clearly been changed by this experience… notice that the deadly vipers seem to have disbanded after the massacre at two pines? In the end, Bea kills Bill not for revenge anymore, but for B.B… To save her from the fate of Estaban’s mangled whores…
Just a brilliant flick.. glad I got to see it with you
Call me tonight if you have time to hang, by the way…
June 18th, 2004 at 12:14 pm
I’m with you all the way on this one Mara! Oh, and sorry I didn’t get to make it to the movie with you - I was so tired I was sure I would pass out!
I had a really hard time with the violence of Vol. 1, even though I knew it was terribly unrealistic. It was, however, a kick-ass action movie. Vol. 2, on the other hand, manages to combine some level of violence with a more nuanced story line and witty dialogue.
Where I am not with you is on Pulp Fiction - I actually did really like it. BUT I happen to know you are not alone. Mrs. Peelio feels the same (although I will leave her to make her own comments as to the how and why).
P.S. - Kick ass Bust t-shirt you were wearing!