Quentin Tarantino Month: "Kill Bill: Vol. 2"

Kill Bill: Vol. 2

5 out of 5 stars

Family appropriateness rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Rated R
-Several scenes of action violence including somewhat gory depictions of someone's eyes coming out.
-Strong language throughout including f-words and one use of the c-word.
-Some sexual content








"Kill Bill: Vol. 2" is more than a continuation of the first film. While it does end the story, it takes a step back from the action and gives insight about the characters.

The new information also new meaning to the rest of the story. In "Vol. 1," Quentin Tarantino does not let the audience know a lot of information about who the protagonist is. We know the basic motivations behind the Bride wanting to kill Bill, but we do not know why Bill wanted to murder her in the first place.

Near the beginning of this film, it is revealed what the relationship between Bill and the Bride had been previous to the attempted murder at the wedding. Tarantino does this by showing a moment between them at the church before the other members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad comes to attack.

That scene only reveals part of why Bill does something so horrible. Without spoiling anything, there is something the Bride has done as well, but her motivation is not revealed until she confronts Bill in the end.

This movie is yet another demonstration of Tarantino's superb use of dialogue. He does not lazily force exposition from his characters' mouths. The dialogue flows naturally and allows the audience to make connections on its own.

The character who gets the most interesting speeches is Bill. While there is still very little known about his backstory, he is depicted as an intelligent, insightful man. During the final confrontation, Bill makes an observation about the uniqueness of Superman. He says the superhero is the only one whose secret identity is the innocent civilian. His true self is an alien on earth with incredible powers. This speech ties into an explanation of the Bride's situation in a way that gives depth to the character without confusing the audience.

Before taking vengeance on Bill, the Bride still has two more people she wants to kill. This leads her into a precarious situation that would be near impossible to get out of for any normal human being. However, the Bride has some abilities most people do not have, and the reason for this is revealed in a flashback that directly connects to what is happening. It shows how she was trained, from whom and how she learned the specific move she needs to get out of her position.

There is another character named Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) who has roughly the same backstory. Her and the Bride were trained by the same person, Pai Mei (Chia-Hui Liu). However, Elle is not a very good person. Her badness -- contrasted with the Bride's goodness -- is highlighted when comparing their individual experiences with Pai Mei. They both undergo criticism from him, but they handle it differently.

This installment is not as gory and as "Vol. 1." There are a few action scenes, but none of them show blood squirting out of bodies. The first film is more about the action, and this is more about the characters. I did not like it as much at first. Compared to the first one, it seems slower, but that is because the emphasis is on different things. Anyone who sees it needs to understand that "Vol. 2" and "Vol. 1" are completely different films.

My thoughts on the ending (spoilers):

When Bill is about to shoot Beatrix Kiddo (since this section reveals spoilers, her real name will be used in it), he tells her this is him at his most masochistic. It is impossible to know what he means by this at first, but it ends up being an important line because it highlights the complexity of Bill's emotions.

By the end of this film, we know that prior to the story, Beatrix and Bill are in a romantic relationship. In fact, Beatrix is carrying his child when he shoots her, and the infant survives without her knowing. Their relationship first turns sour when Beatrix realizes she is pregnant. She does not want the child to grow up with the lifestyle she is living with Bill, and she runs away, still in love with him.

Bill becomes angry and tracks her down to find that she is getting married to someone else. Not only that, she is pregnant. Bill does not realize it is his child when he shoots her.

Bill tells her he is being a masochist when she calls him a sadist. These are two words that describe someone who finds pleasure with pain. While a sadist likes to inflict pain on other people, a masochist likes to be in pain. When he shoots her, he still loves her. It causes him deep, emotional pain as he does so. At the same time, he is taking revenge on how she wronged him, and that is pleasurable to him.

Bill's emotions are twisted, complicated and bittersweet, and that is the feeling I get from the resolution of the film. Beatrix clearly has feelings for him, but she also feels she needs revenge for everything he had put her through. In the end, the film goes from being a straight-up tale of vengeance to a complicated, tragic love story.

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Quentin Tarantino Month:

Introduction
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Pulp Fiction
Django Unchained
Inglourious Basterds
Jackie Brown
Reservoir Dogs

"X-Men: Days of Future Past" Review

X-Men: Days of Future Past

5 out of 5 stars

Family appropriate rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Rated PG-13
-Quite a bit of brutal violence including stabbings, but nothing gory.
-Two instances of sexual content.
-One instance of backside male nudity.
-Moderate language including one f-word.






"X-Men: Days of Future Past" utilizes a unique, comic booky plot to beautifully continue the character arcs that left off in both "The Wolverine" and "X-Men: First Class."

Humans and mutants are at war. The mutants are losing because of the Sentinels, machines built by the government that have the ability to track down and kill them. Furthermore, these machines have the ability to mock mutant powers, which is why they are so successful.

They were designed by a scientist named Dr. Trask (Peter Dinklage) in the 1970s. Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), angry at what he was doing, assassinated him and was captured on the spot. This gave humans even more motivation to get rid of the mutants, and they studied Mystique's body. It was through this that they were able to give the Sentinels the ability to mock mutant powers.

In the present, there are only few X-Men left, and they want to stop this war, reversing the devastation that has been happening. The way to do this is to stop Mystique from killing Trask. Kitty Pride (Ellen Page) has the power to send a person's consciousness back in time to his or her past self. Because it is so difficult for someone to go that far back without being killed, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) — being invincible — volunteers to go.

In the past, he must utilize both past Professor Xavior (James McAvoy) and past Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to stop Mystique. Of course, things are a lot more complicated than that, which is what makes this film great. There is non-stop conflict that is believable given where the characters have left off.

This continues the events from "X-Men: First Class," in which several of Xavior's friends have left him to join Magneto. He is in a very confused state-of-mind, and he is very different from present Xavior (Patrick Stewart), a Gandalf-like man with a lot of wisdom to offer. Past Magneto is just as extreme as ever in his worldview, and there are parts where Xavior seems to agree with him.

At the end of "The Wolverine," the title character finally accepts the fact that he needed to kill Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) in order to save the world. Not only does "Days of Future Past" address this, it continues his character. He is now charged with the responsibility to be the mentor rather than the mentored. Every performance in this film is believable enough to carry on all of these established character arcs.

The plot is simple enough to follow but complex enough to keep the audience involved. Without overcomplicating things with useless subplots, it is very straightforward with a ton of twists and turns that makes it hard to predict what will happen in the end. It goes above and beyond the conventional super hero flick with an overarching theme of redemption and change that is beautifully placed rather than forced in.

This film has just the right amount of high-energy action to keep it fun. There is not too much — like the "Transformers" movies — but it is not bogged down by too much dialogue. Every action scene is well-choreographed and helps move the story forward. The best sequence involves a new character named Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and his mutant power of super speed.

At first, I had a problem with the way the movie ends. It is believable enough given the rest of the storyline, but it fails to explain how everything works. However, this is actually a good thing. It does not give all of the answers. It forces the audience to really think about what happened, and it gives another reason to anticipate what is next for the franchise.

Specific thoughts on the ending (spoilers): After having taken part in changing history, Wolverine wakes up in the mutant academy. He goes to Xavior's office, who finds out that his past consciousness has finally caught up to himself in the present. The professor welcomes him and says they have a lot of catching up to do. There are also characters who died in previous installments who are presently in the mutant academy, which suggests that the entire timeline has been altered.

This raises a few questions: why does his consciousness come back to the present? How does he still make it to the mutant academy even though the timeline should be very different? Does everyone else involved in protecting Wolverine and Kitty Pride remember everything? If not, why is Wolverine the only one who does remember it?

I have some tentative answers to these questions. A lot of it is he is the only one whose consciousness is in a different place from his present body. Since the timeline is altered, which causes Kitty Pride to let go, his consciousness has to come back to himself in the current present. I do not think everyone else remembers everything because Bobby (Shawn Ashmore) seems to be dating Kitty Pride at the beginning, but when Wolverine comes to the alternate timeline, he is dating Rogue (Anna Paquin) again. Professor Xavior only knows about the mission Wolverine is back from because he remembers the events of the altered timeline.

What do you think of the ending? Do agree with my thoughts on it? Go ahead and comment what you think. Just be sure to warn other readers of spoilers.