Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Miramax Films | Release Date: April 16, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
36
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Hollywood ReporterKirk 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. Read full review
100
Rolling StonePeter Travers
You'll thrill to the action, savor the tasty dialogue and laugh like bloody hell. Read full review
100
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Originally conceived as one film, the two-parter that has finally emerged can now be seen as a truly epic work. Read full review
100
Film ThreatK.J. Doughton
"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
NewsweekDavid Ansen
A piece of spectacular silliness, but that's not meant with disrespect. The key word is spectacular. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubNathan 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. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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. Read full review
100
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It's a comic book at heart, albeit a thoroughly, grandly romantic one in the end. Read full review
100
PremiereGlenn Kenny
This is a movie of head-spinning richness. Read full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The most voluptuous comic-book movie ever made. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Few filmmakers love movies as intensely; fewer still have the ability to remind us why we fell for movies in the first place. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe 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 SunChris Kaltenbach
If Kill Bill Vol. 1 was bloody exhilarating, Vol. 2 is bloody great. And, as a bonus, not nearly so bloody. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The result is insanely good, and the best time I've had at the movies in ages. Read full review
100
Portland OregonianKaren 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. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyJohn 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. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJ.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. Read full review
90
TimeRichard Corliss
This being a Tarantino film, the conversations are as long and lurid and finely choreographed as the martial-arts set pieces. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven 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. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike 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. Read full review
88
New York PostLou 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. Read full review
80
SlateDavid 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." Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMaitland 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. Read full review
80
SalonCharles 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. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
A compendium of really neat stuff and nifty sequences, and it will just have to do until Vol. 3 or reunification comes along. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames 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. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid 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. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam 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. Read full review
75
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. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick 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. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
What's surprising is the atmosphere of sweet reason--elatively speaking--that distinguishes Kill Bill Vol. 2 from its bloody precursor. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverRobert 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. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMark 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. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami 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. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene 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. Read full review
60
Film ThreatChris 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. Read full review
60
EmpireMark Dinning
As it is, it’s an aloof conclusion, an unclimactic climax to a stand-alone film. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)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. Read full review
40
The New YorkerDavid Denby
A shapeless mess, but at least it’s not as monotonous as “Kill Bill Vol. 1.” [19 & 26 April 2004, p. 202]
30
Washington PostAnn 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. Read full review
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