KILL BILLs

I've juz watched Kill Bill, both Vol. 1 & 2, in one go, for almost 4 hours... And the 1st word that came to my mind after I finished watching both was a big "WOW...". Ya I know, the movies are a bit old by now, and I've watched Vol. 1 for at least 5 times or so, but I nv get to watch Vol. 2 (excluding once when I gave up watching it halfway due to the horrible quality of the DVD) until now. Many of my friends told me that Vol. 2 is a long bore, which really perplexed me bcuz most of the critics love it more than Vol. 1...

Now that I've finally watched both, here's my verdict: I love Kill Bill Vol. 1 for its relentless energy & cool fight scenes, but I loved Kill Bill Vol. 2 even more for its unpredictable plot development & emotional resonance. After watching Kill Bill Vol. 1, one would have expected Vol. 2 to have more cool, slick fighting scenes and mass killings & all, but it turns out to be the opposite. No, there are still plenty of fight scenes to satisfy hardcore action fans, but there's much more depth to the characters too, espeacially after we know more about their motivation & all.

One thing I really dun expect how the movie turned out is how it actually acquired a tone of melancholy & sadness during the climax of the film. When the audience realize that the whole revenge thing actually originate from a misunderstanding (albeit it's of epic proportion), and each characters' are motivated out of love (with variable consequences), it's hard not to sympathize with Bill & Beatrix (aka The Bride). And it also comes as a surprise that The Bride is not the heroine going after all the villains after all. All of them ARE villains, who are capable of some good sometimes. The Bride is sort of a "good" character only bcuz her newly acquired motherhood motivates her to abandon her dark past behind for the sake of her daughter - and therefore, she's more of a "villain turning a new leaf".

I really love the portrayal of mixed emotions at the climax of Vol. 2; Never have I ever seen love & hatred mingled so perfectly. It is weird, but amazingly, it's thoroughly believable.

So izzit perfect? Well, yes & no. Yes, bcuz the whole of Vol. 1 & 2 is really entertaining, but really, it really can use some trimming. There are parts of the movie that aren't really vital, and there are MANY scenes that could be shortened without harming the overall plot advancement. Quentin Tarantino is juz too obsessed with his masterpiece for any scissors to harm it. I think a little bit of editting (read: trimming) would do this movie a great deal of good!

Still, it's undeniable that Kill Bill is a good movie, and yes, I mean movie, not movies. It should be a single film if not for the overlong length of the film, and I really hope that the "one-film" edition will be sold one day! K, 'nuff said. Kill Bill is now 1 of my fav movie, & I'm officially a Quentin Tarantino fan! >=)