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I just saw Kill Bill, volume II today. I'm going to have to use an expression Pai Mei uses in the movie. As you can see from this picture (assuming it shows up properly), he has long hair and a long beard, both white (he's about 100 years old).
One thing that he does as if to show some sort of inner satisfaction is to sort of stroke his beard, starting from the top and going down a ways, then flicking it with a quick wrist action.
Some guys stroke a beard when they first grow it out - when they are not yet used to having it. We all saw Saddam Hussein doing that when he was captured.
Was anyone else here other than me a HUGE fan of the first Kill Bill, but felt very ripped off and let down by the second one?
Here's how I felt ripped off. Last week the Alamo Drafthouse (where you can watch a moview while eating a meal and quaffing beer) had a double feature of both movies. For the whole weekend Kill Bill I sold out hours ahead of show time. So I didn't get to see the double feature.
The two were originally meant to be a single movie, so I wanted to see it as close to that way as possible. I complained via email and suggested that they continue to show the double feature, since they obviously were very capable of selling out.... I quickly got a reply email that they couldn't do it because the movie distributers wouldn't let them. Oh, well.
Regarding which was better, they really need to be taken as a unit. They were both better than each other for different reasons, in my opinion, but complemented each other. The second movie had some stunning surprises that were amazingly effective, but if you're not a parent yourself, you may not relate, for example, to the sudden appearance of B.B.
If you went into the second movie expecting the same sort of action, blood, etc. that you got in the first one, I can see how you were disappointed. The second one offered a lot that the first didn't have, though.
I mostly felt let down for these reasons, and there are spoilers ahead, so don;t read if you havent seen the movie:
1. Beatrix didn't kill Elle
2. Beatrix didn't even FIGHT Budd
3. The movie, which is supposed to be the completed version of Volume 1, was so different in tone it didn't feel like the same movie, but a sequel
4. And most of all what pissed me off, they spend these two movies buolding up the death of Bill, they even name the movies "Kill Bill," and when it comes right down to it, she does it in 5 seconds.
I still loved the movie, just felt very let down and so it was frustrating for me as a movie geek.
Uh, come on! She was flailing around in the trailer with a black mamba. I don't think it takes much imagination to know what happened. But maybe you wanted a more direct killing.
True. I didn't miss it, though.
I can understand your sentiment here. Maybe a bit of yin and yang?
Sure, but most of it was the struggle to get to that point. Remember what Budd asked Elle about what she thought about Beatrix being dead? Elle's main reason was that she died at the hands of Budd, rather than someone presumably more worthy, like herself. I draw two conclusions from this. First, a battle with Budd would have been disappointing. Second, the hunt is more important than the kill.
Did you take in any reviews of the movie before going? I heard Gary Cogill's review, so I had a bit of an idea what to expect, for example, that it was more cerebral and less physical than the first.
This is true, it was the least of my complaints. I suppose that Elle, who was the most evil character in the movie, got a worse fate than all the rest.
I did, they wouldn't necessarily needed to have had another sword fight, but it would have been cool if they had some sort of a gun duel in the deserts mountains or something.
I suppose that could be an explanation. Didn't work for me though.
Perhaps they should have saved the fight from the original with the Crazy 88's for the second one? I feel like the first movie was all pay-off, and the second one was all build-up. It's supposed to work the other way around.
I did, I was even warned by a friend not to expect much like the first one, but it still let me down.
And one more thing. Not so much a fault with the movie, but as a movie geek it bothers me. I've read a lot of reviews from people online and critics, and a lot of them agree with me, but it seems like every person that I actually know, really liked the second one better than the first, and I feel like I'm the only person I know that was disapointed with the second one.
I think its just cause I was such a hardcore fan of the first one, I mean I told so many people to go out and see it, and no one really listened to me, and now all of a sudden its like everybodys jumping on the kill bill bandwagon and to me I'm like screw you, I was here since the beginning, and no one listened then.
(haha, my life must be pretty easy if im getting worked up over something like this)
Definitely needs an eyebrow trim. :P
Unfortunately, in the movie you can see his real black eyebrows beneath those luxurient white ones.
