DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Kill Bill Volume 2 (1 Viewer)

[Rodney Martin]

I'm hoping for some clever editing to, when these movies are finally combined. Ron is bang on the money, kill bill vol 2 is boring. But it does have a few good scenes, like pai mei training sessions. I've no idea, why volume 2 was better recieved by the critics than volume 1. Oh well, i guess some of them loved Fight Club, a movie that is incredibly dull IMO. By the end of it, I guarantee you won't wanna hear another word from Ed Norton.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Well, Rodney, I have no trouble seeing why critics liked 2 more than 1. It's got more characterization and thought to it. More story and meaning. It's not just a slam-bam action ride (not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the first).

When you say "clever editing," I hope you don't mean putting events in proper sequence; that would ruin the film for me. I doubt Quentin would do it, so I don't really need to worry.

 

[Max Knight]

Ron,

In the Japanese import of KBv1, I imagine that they do not subtitle the scenes that occure in Japanese. Do you have to turn the english subtitles on when these scenes come on, and then turn them off again?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Max,

I watch all films with subtitles on since I
am a little on the hard-of-hearing side. So, in
this case, the subtitles were on throughout.

But this is interesting....

I could not get the ENGLISH subtitles to work in
Kill Bill 2. They don't work. You actually
have to select the second option, English for the
Hard of Hearing. Don't know what the difference
is between the two.

 

[Matt Czyz]

Yes.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Ron,
The subtitles are player generated. English stream one subtitles only the non-English portions of the movie and will be on by default for most R1 watchers. English stream two subtitles the entire film (including captions for sound effects), and must be turned on manually via the menus or by selecting it on the fly.

Regards,

 

[PeterTHX]

Ah, so THAT'S why you prefer DTS!

Seriously, my hearing is VERY sensitive and I have found more than a few DTS tracks that sound a bit on the harsh side (pre-THX EQ). I've found a lot of my peers have lost a lot of their hearing too much loud rock music I suppose. That's why I'm skeptical of the people who claim to hear a VAST difference (I know, not you Ron) between DD & DTS. I'd like to know the quality of the EARS of the listener!

For the record, while KB v2 was not the hyperkinetic v1, I found it far from boring.

 

[David_SG]

I think that many people who really really like KB1 will find KB2 a bit of a letdown the first time. I was in this boat - I thought KB1 was nothing short of a masterpiece, and after the first viewing of KB2, while I didn't think it was a bad film, I really missed all the energy from the first film. But it grew on me - quickly.

I still enjoy watching KB1, but it is a shell of a movie compared to KB2. They complement each other incredibly well, but KB2 will be the one I will always go back to. The ending is a bit slower than it needs to be, but the sequences starting mid-way through "Paula Schultz" through the end of "Elle and I" are absolutely flawless and riveting cinema.

 

[John Alderson]

KB2 was the reason I bought KB1. I liked KB1, but I wasn't planning on owning it until I saw KB2. KB2 was the kind of movie that gets me excited about movies, you know? It made KB1 a must-have, and I've enjoyed it more on each viewing.

KB2 gets spun later tonight. I watched the deleted scene last night; it was definitely a good cut. I see what Q was going for, but I don't think it would've worked in this film.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Well I didn't like KB1 in the theaters, but I liked it much better after watching it at home.Don't know why.I skipped Vol 2 at the theaters and I just rented it today.
I pretty much concluded the way Ron E. did. I had troble to keep my eyes opened,by the time of the final chapter.
I also found the sound nothing special,while the sound editing is very good in places,the dialog is "boxy"[ADR no doubt],and overly too loud at some places,and some of the music score is recorded poorly and compressed[dynamically].
It would only receive 3/5 on my scale.I selected the DTS track.

 

[Rob Pritchard]

posted by David Boulet:The two films feel very different from each other in style...I can't imagine how they would constitute a single continuous movie...unless it was clearly understood that "part A" of the movie was one style and "part B" of the movie another...

I disagree with that. David's remark about style is, well, I mean style is simply the way in which you do something. If QT demonstrates one thing with Vol 1 it's how accomplished he is at shifting stylistic gears.

In the blink of an eye he can go from the comic book knife fight between Vernita Green and the Bride to the disturbingly realistic moment when Vernita's kid arrives home from school. You have unpleasantly distressing scenes like the one where the Bride awakens from her four year coma and with an anguished shriek clutches her stomach as she realises her child has gone in the same movie as the absurdist Crazy 88 battle. Yet nobody blinks an eyelid or feels pulled out of the movie by it. On the surface those two scenes appear to belong in completely different movies but Tarantino is so good a stylist that he can make them blend seamlessly together. And I think this holds equally true not just for individual scenes and sequences but for both movies.

Not least because after 105 minutes worth of action and very little else, you want the story to start explaining something about the characters and their relationship to each other. We all know that in a good story action and character strengthen and reinforce each other.

Despite David's misgivings the truth of this is something he touched on in his review. Namely that afer you've seen Vol 2, you look at the events of Vol 1, especially Bill's actions, in a totally different light. If Vol 2 can do that then clearly the two volumes are actually far more unified than some people appear to think.

 

[JonZ]

I just watched the DVD and noticed something. I think theres a line of dialogue missing wen Beatrix meets Pei Mei for the first time. Doesnt he ask her if she can cook, she respondes yes and then he says he'll be the judge of that.

I couldn have sworn I remember that from the theatrical version.

Anyone?

 

[RickB]

I was wondering if anyone experienced what I believe I saw during the scene with 'Uma after her daughter has fallen asleep'. The scene appeared to shift between reddish tinges and white tinges across the whole screen. Kind of like it was washing back and forth between the two. I had just paused to take a quick break, and when I returned to play it seemed fairly noticeable.

I noticed it enough to wonder if this was done purposely, as Uma was apparently in some sort of dreamstate. I'm watching on a Panasonic 53" with a Panny RP-62. Anyway, just curious.

 

[Daniel J.S.]

About the process that the films were shot in; the credits say "filmed in Panavision" instead of "Panavision cameras and lenses," which seems to unequivocally say that the films were shot anamorphic. So where does IMDB get the idea that it was filmed in Super 35? I also seem to remember some discussion, possibly on HTF about the film being in Super 35. What gives? Especially since I believe Tarantino swore off the format after Reservoir Dogs.

 

[Haden]

What the hell?! Here I am watching the KB2 DVD and there appears to be some dialogue missing from the film that was in the theatrical version. When Bill is talking to Budd at Budd's camper in Texas and Budd tells him that he pawned the Hatori Hanzo sword, I distinctly recall in the theatrical version Bill asking Budd why he didn't give Bill a chance to buy it back rather than pawning it off. But that is totally missing from the DVD! Does anyone else remember this too?

 

[Haggai]

Haden, I don't remember anything like that in the theaters, where I saw it twice. I just popped the disc in to skip to that exchange between Bill and Budd, and it's just like I remember it.

Perhaps Joe "9 times in 9 days" Karlosi can put in a more definitive word.

 

[David Galindo]

I really, really love the aqua blue Karmann Ghia Volkswagon that Kiddo drives midway through the film. I have a black KG, very cool

Love this movie...its very hypnotic. Its not really boring for me, but compared to KB1, yeah, I can see some feeling that way about it.

 

[Michael K Hill]

Absolutely.
On its own, Volume One stands as the grind-house valentine Tarantino set out to make.
But viewed together as a whole, they form a much more complete film.

Quentin Tarantino never fails to remind me why I love movies so much.

 

[Sam Davatchi]

I also saw Vol. 2 yesterday and it’s true that it’s a total different beast than the first one. I can not say it’s boring; you should not compare it to the first one because it’s different. I actually liked it and in fact you can say it’s more close to being a Tarantino movie than the first one. Just compare the 2 Kill Bill movies to his previous works and tell which one is close to them?! Vol. 2 is!

Anyway in short, I liked both movies and also the idea of editing both movies into a single movie is a bad bad bad idea. They are like apple and orange! They should not be edited together.

 

[GuruAskew]

I saw "Vol. 2" a little over a month ago in a second-run theater and the two supposedly-omitted lines mentioned in this thread were never a part of the movie.