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Kill Bill: Volume 2
Miramax Films


7.2

based on 42 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 183 votes
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FILM:

BOOKS:

Rebels On The Backlot by Sharon Waxman

MPAA RATING: R for violence, language and brief drug use

Starring Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Sonny Chiba, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, Samuel L. Jackson, Lucy Liu, and Michael Madsen

An epic tale of one woman's quest for justice presented in two installments. (Miramax)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Crime \| Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Quentin Tarantino Uma Thurman (character The Bride)
DIRECTED BY:	Quentin Tarantino
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 10, 2004 Video: August 10, 2004 Theatrical: April 16, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	134 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Kill Bill-Vol. 2 puts to shame doubts entertained about aesthetic strategies or structural imbalance provoked by "Kill Bill-Vol. 1." Now that the entirety of Quentin Tarantino's epic revenge melodrama is on view, "Kill Bill" emerges as a brilliant, invigorating work, one to muse over for years to come.

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

You'll thrill to the action, savor the tasty dialogue and laugh like bloody hell.

100

Variety Todd McCarthy

Originally conceived as one film, the two-parter that has finally emerged can now be seen as a truly epic work.

100

Film Threat Brad Laidman

"Kill Bill Vol. 1" was a pure action movie, in love with collisions of violent movement. “Vol. 2” relaxes the pace, allowing for extended monologues. Those who lamented the first film's lack of wicked word exchanges should delight in Carradine's final soliloquy.

100

Film Threat K.J. Doughton

100

Newsweek David Ansen

A piece of spectacular silliness, but that's not meant with disrespect. The key word is spectacular.

100

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

The film succeeds by expertly melding the two stages of Tarantino's career. The rambling Tarantino of "Jackie Brown" and "Pulp Fiction" is evident in every lovingly crafted and delivered monologue, each leisurely paced scene and long take. The more action-oriented, fight-intensive Tarantino reappears in the viscerally exciting bursts of ultra-violence that punctuate the stretches of dialogue.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

There's no denying that when it comes to communicating a certain delirious romanticism of character shaped by thousands of hours spent sitting in the dark, the artist who made this showpiece is a master.

100

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

It's a comic book at heart, albeit a thoroughly, grandly romantic one in the end.

100

Premiere Glenn Kenny

This is a movie of head-spinning richness.

100

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The most voluptuous comic-book movie ever made.

100

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Few filmmakers love movies as intensely; fewer still have the ability to remind us why we fell for movies in the first place.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Put the two parts together, and Tarantino has made a masterful saga that celebrates the martial arts genre while kidding it, loving it, and transcending it.

100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Here's an entertainment to warm the heart of anyone who grew up (or failed to) on the formative joys of action movies.

100

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

If Kill Bill Vol. 1 was bloody exhilarating, Vol. 2 is bloody great. And, as a bonus, not nearly so bloody.

100

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The result is insanely good, and the best time I've had at the movies in ages.

100

Portland Oregonian Karen Karbo

While Tarantino's famous fight sequences are grisly, funny and genuinely entertaining, his love scenes are so tender, so fraught, you fear for the safety of your own heart.

Time Richard Corliss

This being a Tarantino film, the conversations are as long and lurid and finely choreographed as the martial-arts set pieces.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

This installment delivers more of the pleasures that made Tarantino the wunderkind of 90s cinema: offbeat scumbag characters, narrative sleight of hand, an extraordinary visual sense, and affectionate genre pillaging.

LA Weekly John Powers

Vol. 2 is the most sheerly enjoyable movie I've seen in ages, allowing for all the intimacy that was missing from its predecessor -- this time, the violence feels PERSONAL. Yet this film, too, would be richer if it didn't stand alone, but rather were part of one grand grind-house epic.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

It is the more satisfying of the two installments - less over-the-top, arterial-gushing violence and more investigation into character, motives, back-story.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Vol. 2 isn't anywhere near as self-indulgent as its predecessor, but it still plays like the work of a man too in love with his creations to decide which of his darlings to kill - so he ended up with merely a very good movie.

USA Today Mike Clark

Bout No. 2 is among the best closed-quarters screen fights ever, as good as (and longer than) Frank Sinatra vs. Henry Silva in The Manchurian Candidate. And Hannah does more for an eyepatch than anyone since the late Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Tarantino maintains a flawless balance between flat-out action, quirky dialogue, stylish homages to the glistening shadows of film-noir thrillers, the sun-baked brutality of Westerns (American and Italian), the ritualistic rhythms of Shaw Brothers martial-arts pictures from the 1970s and quietly dramatic moments, shifting between them with quicksilver facility.

Slate David Edelstein

For all its relative subtlety, Kill Bill, Vol. 2 remains a cartoon: Its wit is broadsword rather than rapier, and its motives are elemental. The banter is second-tier Tarantino: a cut above his imitators, but below the standard set by "Pulp Fiction" and "Jackie Brown."

Salon.com Charles Taylor

There's no doubt that Kill Bill is an epic, and no doubt of the skill that's often apparent. But what it leaves us with is awesomely trivial.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

A compendium of really neat stuff and nifty sequences, and it will just have to do until Vol. 3 or reunification comes along.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

All [Tarantino] has to do is trim a full hour out of "Vol. 1" and a half hour out of Vol. 2, combine what's left and he'll have something not just amusing and idiosyncratic, but outstanding.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

So much cinematic majesty perched precariously atop so little common sense. But, hell, maybe Quentin's right; relax, enjoy -- a castle with a shaky foundation is still quite a sight.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

In its defense, I can only say that, technically, it's an exhilarating piece of filmmaking; it offers a commanding comeback role for Carradine, and it serves as a summation, dead end and, perhaps, epitaph, for Tarantino's unique contribution to world cinema.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Tarantino has always been an inventive director, and in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 he's at his cinematic best, showing an ingenuity that nothing in his monster hit "Pulp Fiction" surpasses.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

As it currently stands, Kill Bill is a victim of its director's ego and its distributor's greed. The moments of greatness make it worth seeing, and there's certainly plenty of entertainment to be found here, but it's hard not to lament what might have been.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

What's surprising is the atmosphere of sweet reason--elatively speaking--that distinguishes Kill Bill Vol. 2 from its bloody precursor.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

The first Kill Bill was nothing but violence--swordfight upon swordfight, till the clanking of steel blades drowned out anything anyone said. The second is its emotional counterpart, the heart without all the blood drained from it.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

For those seeking the vibrant innovation of Tarantino's first movies or the sheer rush of "Kill Bill, Vol. 1," Vol. 2 feels like a dulled blade.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Vol. 2 isn't exactly disappointing, and like all of Tarantino's movies, I suspect it will improve with repeated viewings. But for now, Vol. 2 leaves you pondering what could have been.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

All this frenzy, all these "quotes" from other movies, and yet Vol. 2 is strangely static - a dulling experience that can safely be admired from afar without it ever engaging the senses.

Empire Mark Dinning

As it is, it’s an aloof conclusion, an unclimactic climax to a stand-alone film.

Film Threat Chris Barsanti

“Volume Two” is what they call a movie-lover’s movie, in that it’s replete with references to just about everything a cinema geek would appreciate.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

I don't mean to unduly target Kill Bill Vol. 2 --it's certainly no worse than most of the blam-blam fare out there. But what I crave now are movies that speak to me in a different way about violence, that acknowledge the fact that real people are harmed.

The New Yorker David Denby

A shapeless mess, but at least it’s not as monotonous as “Kill Bill Vol. 1.” [19 & 26 April 2004, p. 202]

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Watching Thurman's character "triumph" in a context as joyless and self-referential as Tarantino's is a soul-deadening experience, one that over two hours takes on the same dreary monotone as the cheapest pornography.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 183 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

alex b gave it a10:
Another beauty from a brilliant man. This movie is a psychological wonder. The ending was perfect because it mirrored the Bride and Bills warrior ability. This is why I love movies so much, and this is why I love Tarantino so much.

Dan K. gave it a6:
I loved the first one, it was so amazing to watch a movie with iconic moments and swift action sequences. The first was intentionally designed to make you react on a gut level not a brain level. The problem here is that this film just goes on too long with so little material. Even the eventual showdown with Bill is a letdown and the samurai violence that the first one was great for has become joyless and depleted. This film is much different and probably owes more to the spaghetti western genre than the samurai/exlpoitation genre, but it fails at that to. Nothing is inconic, everything is forgettable. I would watch it once if you are dying to find out what happens, but after that, you'll have already forgotten why you cared. It was the journey that counted, and volume 1 was the better half of that journey.

Dave B. gave it a10:
Loved it! It does not surprise me that some people don't though. Quentin T is an acquired taste. Loved the first one too! This guy makes movies the way I would, if I only could. He pulls no punches. Oh, and both movies had some great tunes!!!

Lief S. gave it a5:
i know the two kill bills were originally intended to be one long movie but be that as it may, the second one did not do it for me. we went from seeing the slaying of the crazy 88 in the first movie to a three second chair fight against the main villain

Mark G. gave it a9:
What's not to love about this movie? Fair enough, its not your type of film, but why even bother attempting to critisize the very elements that make is fantastic?? Tarantino, a self confessed comic book geek throws a comic book story at us on the big screen. Sharp, trademark, witty dialogue and adrenaline fuelled action scenes make this film two and a half hours of simple Tarantino fun. The Kill Bill franchise is one of a kind, and prehaps instead of 'know-all so-called film reviewers' condemning this film for its lack of realism and over-stuffed scenes, they should sit back and actually look at a piece of work that stands out brilliantly against the bleak and bland overly-used hollywood plot formulas. Great film. Great director.

Elliott C. gave it a0:
Another bomb from plagiarism king Quentin Tarantino. If you're going to steal from other movies, why not steal the good scenes and write around them?

J B gave it an8:
Although not as flashy as Kill Bill v.1, 2 has many things going for it, especially the ending (which makes more sense than the endings to most action films). If Kill Bill v.1 was a revenge action thriller, then 2 is a revenge psychological action thriller.

Kill Bill: Volume 2 Miramax Films

Kill Bill: Volume 2
Miramax Films