Kill Bill: Volume 2

1/2 (out of five)

.The second and final chapter of Quentin Tarantino’s revenge epic, “Kill Bill: Volume 2″ is not the tour-de-force that “Kill Bill: Volume 1″ is. It is instead the re-affirmation that Tarantino is one of the best directors we have today.

Where “Volume 1″ is a non-stop, leave-you-breathless pursuit of vengence, “Volume 2″ is more pensive. In “Volume 2,” we learn more about the relationship between The Bride (Uma Thurman) and Bill (David Carridine.) On display is more of the wondeful Tarantino dialogue, first made famous in “Pulp Fiction.”

Uma Thurman’s commanding screen presence from “Volume 1″ is continued in “Volume 2.” These movies are her’s, and she is fantastic.

We get to see much more of Bill this time around, and David Carridine brings just the right touches to the character. Bill is a man who knows full well the horrors he has inflicted on the Bride, and Carridine effuses his portrayal with the right amounts of pain, forlorn, venom and self-rightousness.

Daryl Hannah reprises her role as Elle Driver from “Volume 1.” Elle is so sublimely evil a character, you can see the joy it was for Hannah to play.

The Bride and Elle have an incredible fight in cramped quarters, and the reveals that take place during the encounter are both shocking and completely satisfying.

As Kung Fu master Pai Mei, Gordon Liu is another actor who is clearly having fun with his role. Costumed with giant, fluffy white eyebrows, and an extremely long beard, Liu uses both for comic effect with terrific results. Pai Mei is not your typical martial arts master, full of solemnity. Rather, he is quick tempered, as both the audience and the Bride discover quite quickly.

“Kill Bill: Volume 2″ does stand on it’s own as a film, but when combined with it’s predecessor, it will stand as a monument to film making, paying homage to all of it’s influences, from Japanese “grindhouse” films of the 70s, to the westerns of John Ford. Tarantino is the ultimate film student who never went to film school, and now he’s showing us just how much he’s learned.