Let's face it, sequels usually bite the big one.
Classics like "Batman and Robin," "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Crow: City of Angels" refuse to let moviegoers forget that sequels are usually the ultimate letdown.
Never fear, "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" is not your average sequel.
Writer/director Quentin Tarantino created the be-all-end-all homage to kung fu movies with "Kill Bill: Vol. 1." The fight scenes are classic, and the nods to masters of the genre like Bruce Lee make it like a game of martial-arts-movie Trivial Pursuit.
It follows the betrayal of the Bride, Uma Thurman, who was brutally attacked on her wedding day and left for dead with a bullet in her head.
Four years later, she wakes up from a coma with, understandably, a real bad itch for revenge. She goes down the list of her tormentors, knocking them off one by one in a stunning display of sword technique and martial arts skills.
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The film ends with a plot twist just after the second kill.
During the filming of "Kill Bill" Tarantino wrote extra scenes, amassing an enormous amount of footage. Hence, the film was split into two parts. This is not obvious from a back-to-back screening of both movies, though. Where the first film had action and fighting, the second has plot twists and intense emotional sequences.
With this sequel, Tarantino has made a romantic film without betraying his usual audience.
"Vol. 2" starts with the Bride talking to the camera on her way to kill Bill. Like the first film, it is set in chapters, each shot with a different filming technique.
This film really steps back from the violence of "Vol. 1" and focuses more on the characters and how they relate. Tarantino achieves this in a very satisfying way with a lot of dialogue and flashbacks.
He structures the movie like a storyteller would with an oral tale. The progression is non-linear but each scene flawlessly links to the next. "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" is a very well-crafted movie.
The second volume still pays homage to the kung fu classics, though. An entire chapter is dedicated to "The Cruel Tutelage of Pei Mei." Pei Mei, hailing from the old favorite "Fist of the White Lotus" is master of the 10-point palm exploding heart technique. In this technique, he hits someone in 10 places and allows them to walk away; after five steps, they drop dead.
Pei Mei is played by Chia Hui Liu, otherwise known as Gordon Liu, who played Pei Mei's arch nemesis in "Fist of the White Lotus."
Though the sequel isn't the gore fest its predecessor was, "Vol. 2" definitely has its fair share of guts and grime. An eye gets plucked out and crushed into goo, some excellent swordplay occurs and of course a dash of gun fights finish the mixture.
Most of the film's violence, though, is psychological. There is one scene that will bring even the most under-control case of claustrophobia to the fore. The confrontation between Bill and the Bride is equally unsettling, but in all new ways.
Don't miss out on the first film, but the second can definitely stand on its own. Tarantino's incredible sense of character gives the movie a depth that his others are slightly lacking.
In fact, this could inadvertently be one of the best date-movies ever because though the couple attending the movie could be going through some rough spots, at least their relationship isn't as screwed up as the Bride's and Bill's.
