Kill Bill - Not what you expect
Warning! This contains spoilers for the second volume of Tarantino's BRILLIANT 4th film!
Watched Kill Bill Vol 2 last night and loved it. People have been saying that it’s a lot ‘talkier’ than the first volume and while there is a lot more navel-gazing there’s still plenty of blood-letting and, to up the gore, the cartoon fountains of blood in the first half have been replaced by more realistic, and therefore stomach-churning, claret.
However, the most impressive element for me with Bill himself. In the first half Bill was no-where to be seen, save a few snatches of dialogue and a solitary right-hand caressing Sophie.
Here will see him in all his Carradine glory. But he’s not how we expect him. Yes we know that this is one mean bastard but Tarantino has developed a far more interesting character than just another mob-boss. You can see how this charming, if rough, character woos the beautiful women who work for him and although we never see him actually get rough – bar a few brief scenes – the sight of him making sandwiches for his daughter with the kind of knife that Michael Myers can only dream of displays his sheer power.
He is a bastard with a soul, albeit a black one. He is a romantic, who claims that the whole bloody mess comes from his own heartache and surprises us by passionately, and quite logically, waxing lyrical about his love of Superman as a hero. He’s a man who enjoys playing with his four year old (even if he obviously considers Shogun Assassin appropriate childhood bedtime viewing). Most strikingly he dies, not by the sword, but by a broken heart. He’s a man we’re supposed to hate, and he’s a man who receives his just deserts but he’s a man with an air of honour right to the end.
How typically Tarantino to make the despicable so desirable.
Watched Kill Bill Vol 2 last night and loved it. People have been saying that it’s a lot ‘talkier’ than the first volume and while there is a lot more navel-gazing there’s still plenty of blood-letting and, to up the gore, the cartoon fountains of blood in the first half have been replaced by more realistic, and therefore stomach-churning, claret.
However, the most impressive element for me with Bill himself. In the first half Bill was no-where to be seen, save a few snatches of dialogue and a solitary right-hand caressing Sophie.
Here will see him in all his Carradine glory. But he’s not how we expect him. Yes we know that this is one mean bastard but Tarantino has developed a far more interesting character than just another mob-boss. You can see how this charming, if rough, character woos the beautiful women who work for him and although we never see him actually get rough – bar a few brief scenes – the sight of him making sandwiches for his daughter with the kind of knife that Michael Myers can only dream of displays his sheer power.
He is a bastard with a soul, albeit a black one. He is a romantic, who claims that the whole bloody mess comes from his own heartache and surprises us by passionately, and quite logically, waxing lyrical about his love of Superman as a hero. He’s a man who enjoys playing with his four year old (even if he obviously considers Shogun Assassin appropriate childhood bedtime viewing). Most strikingly he dies, not by the sword, but by a broken heart. He’s a man we’re supposed to hate, and he’s a man who receives his just deserts but he’s a man with an air of honour right to the end.
How typically Tarantino to make the despicable so desirable.
posted by Cavan Scott at
2:52 pm
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