Reviews

Having just completed a back-to-back comparison of the two volumes of Tarantino's Kill Bill, its clear that his two narrators have very different storytelling styles. Kill Bill Vol. 1 was a tribute to the Kung-Fu films of the 70's and later, as told by Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba). Blood, honor, and kung-fu style fighting were paramount.

In Vol. 2, The Bride (Uma Thurman) narrates our story in the style of a "Classic" film. There is more of a noir attitude and feel. The violence is more realistic, and frequently implied instead of seen onscreen - a few graphic moments aside.

The story is told wonderfully, in a more linear style, incorporating more flashbacks than out of order chapters. Tarantino's direction is crisp, with impeccable acting by Thurman. Daryl Hannah finally gets her moments in the sun, as our stunning villain. While Bill (Carradine) may be the man behind the evil, Elle (Hannah) is the true evil villain, reveling in the destruction of her enemies.

All in all, the two movies together tell a great story, and the stylistic differences clearly delineate between the two films.

So the "innovative" concept of filming out of sequence has been cliche for at least a few years now, but here's a film that makes it work far better than its been shown in a while.

Having read the reviews and talked to others who saw it, I thought that I'd go into the movie figuring everything out right away and declaring the concept unworkable. I couldn't be further from the truth. This movie does things to your head that are illegal in some countries. Portrayed (for all intents and purposes) backwards, it forces you to think in the same way that our lead character, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce being more brilliant than usual) does. Suffering from a condition that renders him unable to remember anything for more than a few minutes, he is searching for the man who raped and killed his wife. Since each seen lasts no more than 15 minutes before jumping back to the what happened before that, our perceptions are shattered in the same way.

Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano (both of The Matrix) put in great performances that leave you guessing; simultaneously endearing and revolting.

Overall I left the film trying to figure out what was what, and I'm still not sure. This film noir concept shouldn't work, but it does so wonderfully.