The second installment of Kill Bill is a very different prospect to the first. Where Tarantino focussed on stylish sword play, gallons of blood and an almost comic book atmosphere in Kill Bill, Volume 1, Volume 2 instead takes a much more down to Earth approach.
Instead of showing the bloody rampage of The Bride in its gory detail, it instead centres on her relationship with the eponymous Bill, grounding the film in the events that led to the revenge. It becomes almost tender at times; a million miles away from the cold killing of the first film.
Not that the second film is lacking the over the top kung-fu of its forebear. Pai Mei alone ensures plenty of grainy, cheap zooms, as well as a laugh or two.
An excellent film, that only suffers through the previous excellence of its lineage. While it doesn’t compare with the first installment well, it is a great film in its own right. See it.