"Revenge is a dish best served cold"

So, my movie 'education' has been extended over the last two evenings to include both volume one and two of the Kill Bill movies and I have to say I am pretty impressed with myself for making it through both, in their entirety!

These are movies are had never really appealed to me, in the main because I don't 'do' unreality or gratuitous violence, but in an endeavour to broaden my experience to include what seemed to be two films still much talked about with some degree of esteem, I was persuaded to settle into the sofa two nights running and watch Ms Thurman do her stuff.

Ok, Volume One was bordering on the ridiculous, completely unbelievable and best described as an only slightly interesting, faux Kunk-Fu-esque, stylised, 'bloke movie', albeit Tarantino's brand of direction is pretty impressive and his use of filming techniques and different genre probably saved the day for me. What however is starkly apparent is that without wading one's way through this first volume, volume two would lose much.


The Volume Two, for me was a whole different story. How did I not see this for so many years? One word describes it, phenomenal!

Whilst the life of an [ex] female assassin and the incumbent psychology is somewhat difficult to get to grips with for us mere mortals (well for me at least), this volume didn't have the same idiocy factor about it, the unending spurting blood baths of it's predecessor were thankfully a thing of the past and the (though still much in evidence) violence was almost believable...... and much as I hate to admit it, appropriate. Please though, spare me the scene in which Elle loses her remaining eye, that I have to say was inexplicably, considering the rest of the content, the most horrific moment I have ever witnessed on celluloid!

Against all my preconceptions this film was amazing, gripping, thought provoking, visually stunning and horribly breathtaking, the production and dialog was faultless (Carradine should have won something for his delivery) and I have to admit that suddenly Q.T. has a new and very impressed fan. The guy's psychological status has to be ultimately questionable to have the ability to write and direct such a piece of art but you know what they say....it's a very fine line between genius and madness!