I agree. Someone like Hanzo has great honor and would use his powers for good, so when a talented student like Bill uses his life's work to kill for money, it ran so contrary to everything Hanzo believed in that he swore a blood oath not to make any more swords, and only broke it because the sword he was making was going to help stop Bill.

Anyone recall what that Western Bill was watching near the showdown? I saw it listed in the credits but forgot. What's the importance? It even got a POV shot to emphasize something or another.

Wanna see something amazing? In that scene, when the Bride is coming down the stairs, and the tv is on the right playing the movie and Bill is at the bar on the left, someone in the movie gets hit and his head snaps back the very instant Bill slams something down on the counter, and the sound effects match the visual image. Neato.

The POV shot was meant to accentuate Beatrix's leap for the sword. We see her attention is focused on getting the sword as Bill is talking. The movie is a red herring, in my opinion.

Did anyone ever catch this hint at The Bride's name from Vol.1, my sister caught it after watching Vol.1 when she made me tell here the Bride's name.

Yeah, we went over that in an earlier post.

How about Bill calling her Kiddo in the very opening line of the film in Vol 1.

I saw it a second time, and it played a little better, but I still hated Bud's crappy job sequence, and the ending is still overly drawn out.

The Pai Mei chapter is the most entertaining chapter, followed by "Elle and I" chapter.

I did notice that Gordon Liu played not only Pai Mei, but also Johnny Mo, the bald baddie from the Crazy 88's.

I'll probably bump my rating for it up to a B or B-.

I don't want to just reiterate everything said so far. I loved it. It was not only near-perfect, but it made vol. 1 stronger. Together they are now among my favorite films.

So I'll just add two details - the shot of the Bride's feet sailing towards Elle had me in hysterics, and the black mamba in the suitcase was an unfair thing to spring on a guy who is terrified of snakes.

Sorry Jack...didn't see your post.

Appreciate the info. I knew I wasn't going deaf!

I've been told that rocksalt isn't as damaging as lead buckshot. Of course, I don't have first hand knowledge if that's true or not...

I watched vol.1 the night before seeing vol.2 the following day. I enjoyed the movie, however, the pacing of kind of slow at times. I really enjoyed the "catfight" in the trailer.. However, I was quiet disappointed at the end b/c of the build-up from the previous killings. I was hoping for some good sword fighting for the final encounter...

Did anyone catch the next QT flick of "Hero" starring Jet Li? I wasn't aware it was being directed by QT... I'm not much of a QT fun but I'm looking for to "Hero" thou...

That isn't QT's flick. It said:
"Quentin Tarantino Presents..."
"A film by Yimou Zhang"

He's just getting it brought to US Theaters, MiramAxe wanted to cut it off their release sched, Tarantino apparently secured it under the condition he put his name on it.

From what I could tell, audience response has been pretty good - Miramax is planning a limited release in August, I believe they'd be wise to just gamble it and do a wide release.

Rocksalt as stated by budd. I assume it's a non-lethal way of bringing someone down.

Yeah, it's clearly stated that it's Rocksalt, you can see it splattered on her face as well.

"I win."

RE: Why Budd's shotgun wasn't deadly...

I didn't think he intended to kill her with that blast - just knock her down, take the wind out of her sails, etc.

I mean, he had the needle with the knock-out juice awfully handy if he intended to kill her with the shotgun.

I think the way he dispatched her was his intention all along.

So bloody true, my friend.

I really doubt this is true, such referential material, such as the poster in Budd's trailer and the viewing of Shogun Assassin play thematic roles in the film. Can anyone identify the Western?

I just got back from seeing this and wow, I just really can't decide which "volume" I liked better. Total change of pace, but at the same time a perfect complement. Vol 2 makes 1 seems like a simple action flick now. Pacing didn't bother me at all, I was totally engrossed throughout. Best QT movie(s).

I'm assuming we're past SPOILER blacking here so, if not don't read anymore.

I've notice a few people complaining about Bud's job sequence and wasting too much time to show us that he pretty much ended up a loser. I thought it was actually kinda brilliant on QT's part. I think he was trying to get us to feel sympathetic towards Budd. Even his few scenes from Vol 1 was giving me that impression ("She deserves her revenge. And we deserve to die") and that maybe he would just surrender to the Bride when she showed up and take his deserved "comeuppance." It made the shotgun blast through the door that much more shocking to me, to be honest. I was a little disappointed that the Bride didn't get to kill him, but that may indeed be to contrast the number of kills for the Bride between the two parts. I really was hoping to see that weasel midget grave digger get it somehow!

The Pai-Mei scenes were just...so f'in cool. I loved the scenes with Uma and Hatori from the first flick (a lot of my friends called that part boring) and this is kinda the equivalent of that, but with more action and some great reactions from Uma. Didn't like how he was ultimately despatched though I kept thinking of him as some mystical character above all others.

While this part may not have the over-the-top violence of the first. The Elle fight certainly upped the brutality quotient, much more so then the Vernita fight. It was like two Terminators fighting! The squishing scene certainly ellicited a few gasps from the theatre crowd.

The standoff over the pregnancy test was hilarious. I love professional hitwomen! Classic QT.

I was completely satisfied with the resolution of the Bill situation. I was also expecting some sort of "ultimate battle with the master," but in the end it was a nice little twist. For a while I even thought they may have lived happily efter after together, once the kid entered the picture. Wouldn't have been to happy about that.

These films have been the best thing I've seen in the movies in years. Carradine & Uma should get nominations for their roles. Well worth the seven year wait.

P.S. Was I correct in seeing that the guy who played the 80 year old pimp was the same one who played the sheriff in Vol 1 and Fro, Dusk Till Dawn (IMDB doesn't have the full cast credits yet)? If so, I had no idea it was him.

Absolutely. Michael Parks played both. His character in From Dusk Till Dawn is the same as his character featured in Volume 1.

I think the Bride still killed Budd... Her codename was "Black Mamba" anyway

woah are you serious????

Damn I'd of never recognized him but now that it has been verified and I think about it, they did kinda look alike! But damn, how the heck did he nail that mexican accent so well?

One other thing... Uma being buried alive. How was it possible she could dig her way out from under all that dirt? I mean, wouldn't the pressure from the dirt in the grave come rushing down to basically smother(if not smash) her? Wouldn't she be too deeply "packed in" under the rubble to fight her way up?

Yeah I'm not sure how that worked either. The side view of it showed a bunch of open space in between the surface and the coffin, but still all the dirt was stable on top. Maybe the coffin wasn't COMPLETLEY covered by dirt. Perhaps there was some type of cover at the top, and dirt thrown on top of it.

Anyways, I loved the movie. 10/10 here as opposed to the 9/10 for Volume 1. I loved it and I don't care what anyone else says.

I had a little problem with the whole plot like some of you had....
How could Beatrix possibly have the strength to do the five pressure point move on Bill and punch through a wooden coffin when she was put into a coma after all that training. Hell she could barley get out of her bed, yet she could still do those moves.

No, no, see, the point is that Elle used a black mamba to kill Budd so she could claim that Beatrix did it, and then Bill wouldn't get mad at Elle for killing his "brother."

Yeah, I had no idea until I saw the credits with Michael Parks again, I was like "wait a sec..."