DVD Details: 137 minutes, Deleted Scene, The Making of KILL BILL VOL. 2, and CHINGON Performance at the KILL BILL VOL.
2 premiere.
STUDIO: MIRAMAX
KILL BILL VOL. 2 is a different and yet complimentary movie to KILL BILL VOL. 1. KILL BILL VOL. 2 is like a Spaghetti Western
as the tale of revenge continues from Vol. 1. Vol. 1 is the operatic action movie where Vol. 2 is the drama that fills out
the story of the Bride's quest for Revenge and her origin in great detail. One of my favorite scenes has to be Bill's talk
about the mythology of Superman. The part of the movie with Pai Mei is also glorious. David Carradine shines as the bad assassin
Bill. We even learn what the Bride's real name is. Vol. 2 is a little overlong where 10-20 minutes could have
been edited out from some of the scenes that run on for too long. The climatic meeting does feel a little anti-climatic,
but I wonder if QT wanted it that way. Despite the flaws in pacing, KILL BILL VOL. 2 is a somewhat satisfying
conclusion to KILL BILL VOL.1.
VIDEO/AUDIO: The movie is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The transfer is even better than KILL BILL Vol. 1.
The colors are vibrant, the blacks are nice and dark, and no artifacts in sight.
Audio Tracks for this movie are in English 5.1 Dolby digital, DTS 5.1, and a French language track. Subtitle tracks are
Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. The dialogue can be heard clearly. The music track is loud and booming at times. The
sword sounds stand out as usual. The audio is very active during the movie.
SPECIAL FEATURES: THE MAKING OF KILL BILL VOL. 2 is a 26 minute featurette that has interviews with the cast, Robert Rodriguez
(who did the music score for Vol. 2 for free), and Quentin Tarantino. This featurette has video clips from Vol. 1 and Vol.
2, behind-the-scenes production video, and production stills. Some info is provided on the character Pai Mei (like the actor
playing him fought Pai Mei in several Shaw Brothers kung fu movies, and QT even considered playing Pai Mi himself)
and that he is played by an actor who played another character in Vol. 1. Also the father figure of Bill had to be recast
because the original actor signed on to play him couldn't do it.
Next up is the CHINGON performance from the Kill Bill Vol. 2 premiere that lasts for 11 minutes and it is produced by Troublemaker
Studios in 1.78:1 widescreen. The performance is presented in a very clear picture with good audio.
Finally, there is a 3 1/2 minute Damoe deleted scene (in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen) where Bill fights some
vengeful pupils (because he killed their master). It is done in the style of an old Hong Kong Kung Fu movie. It is an interesting
scene that didn't really add to the movie itself, but it is great to see.
MENUS: Nice menu design showing a repeated loop of clips from the movie played to one of the songs from the movie. The
menu freezes up for a second as one makes the transition to another menu to be greeted by quick clips from the movie before
you get to the selected menu.
DVD SLEEVE ART: It is ugly. I wish they had the movie poster art of Uma Thurman in a wedding dress with a sword by her
side.
FINAL ANALYSIS: KILL BILL VOL. 2 is a definite rental (and buy if you can't wait or don't care about the upcoming Special
Edition DVDs of KILL BILL Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 coming in the next few months. If you haven't seen the movie (and liked Vol. 1),
rent it today.
this review is (c)8-12-2004 David Blackwell and this review cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to
lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com and look for additional content (and site updates) at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia
