Kill Bill: Volume 2  

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Kill Bill: Volume 2 is a 2004 American neo Western martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who continues her campaign of revenge against the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. Fox) and their leader Bill (David Carradine), who tried to kill her and her unborn child.

Volume 2 is the second of two Kill Bill films produced simultaneously; the first, Volume 1, was released in 2003. The films were originally set for a single release, but the film, with a runtime of over four hours, was divided in two. Tarantino conceived Kill Bill as an homage to grindhouse cinema including martial arts films, samurai cinema, blaxploitation, and spaghetti westerns. Like Volume 1, Volume 2 received positive reviews and was commercially successful.

Plot

The pregnant Bride and her groom rehearse their wedding. Bill − the Bride's former lover, the father of her child, and the leader of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad − arrives unexpectedly and orders the Deadly Vipers to kill everyone at the wedding. Bill shoots the Bride in the head, but she survives and swears revenge.

Four years later, the Bride, having already assassinated Deadly Vipers O-Ren Ishii and Vernita Green, goes to the trailer of Bill's brother and Deadly Viper Budd, planning to ambush him. Having been warned by Bill beforehand, he incapacitates her with a non-lethal shotgun blast of rock salt and sedates her. He calls Elle Driver, another former Deadly Viper, and arranges to sell her the Bride's unique sword for $1 million. He seals the Bride inside a coffin and buries her alive.

Years earlier, Bill tells the young Bride of the legendary martial arts master Pai Mei and his Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, a death blow that Mei refuses to teach his students; properly used, the attack is reputed to leave an opponent able to take only five steps before dying. Bill takes the Bride to Mei's temple for training. Mei ridicules and torments her during training, but she eventually gains his respect. In the present, the Bride uses Mei's techniques to escape from the coffin and claw her way to the surface.

Elle arrives at Budd's trailer and kills him with a black mamba hidden with the money for the sword. She calls Bill and tells him that the Bride has killed Budd and that she has killed the Bride, using the Bride's real name: Beatrix Kiddo. As Elle exits the trailer, Beatrix ambushes her and they fight. Elle, who was also taught by Mei, taunts Beatrix by revealing that she killed Mei by poisoning his favorite meal (fish heads) in retribution for him plucking out her eye after she called him "a miserable old fool". Enraged, Beatrix plucks out Elle's remaining eye and leaves her screaming in the trailer with the black mamba.

In Acuña, Mexico, Beatrix meets a retired pimp, Esteban Vihaio, who helps her find Bill. She tracks him to a hotel, and discovers that their daughter B.B. is still alive, now four years old. Beatrix spends the evening with them. After she puts B.B. to bed, Bill shoots Beatrix with a dart containing truth serum and interrogates her. She explains that she left the Deadly Vipers when she discovered she was pregnant to give B.B. a better life. Bill explains that he assumed she was dead; he ordered her assassination when he discovered she was alive and engaged to a "jerk" he assumed was the father of her child. The two begin to fight, but Beatrix traps Bill's sword in her scabbard and strikes him with the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. Surprised that Mei taught her the attack, Bill reconciles with her, then falls dead as he walks away. Beatrix leaves with B.B. to start a new life.

Cast

  • Uma Thurman as The Bride / Beatrix Kiddo (Black Mamba): A former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who is described as "the deadliest woman in the world". She is targeted by her former allies in the wedding chapel massacre, and falls into a coma. When she awakens four years later, she embarks on a deadly trail of revenge against the perpetrators of the massacre.
  • David Carradine as Bill (Snake Charmer): The former leader of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. He is also the former lover of Beatrix and the father of her daughter. He is the final and eponymous target of Beatrix's revenge.
  • Michael Madsen as Budd (Sidewinder): A former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and brother of Bill. He later becomes a bouncer living in a trailer. He is the third of Beatrix's revenge targets.
  • Daryl Hannah as Elle Driver (California Mountain Snake): A former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. She is the fourth of Beatrix's revenge targets.
  • Gordon Liu as [[Bak Mei|Template:Vanchor]]: An immensely powerful and extremely old martial arts master. Beatrix, Bill, and Elle all train under him. Liu had appeared in Volume 1 as Johnny Mo, leader of the Yakuza gang The Crazy 88's.
  • Michael Parks as Template:Vanchor: A retired pimp. He was the first of Bill's “father figures”. Beatrix comes to him asking for Bill's whereabouts. Like Gordon Liu, Parks appeared in the first film as a different character, Texas Ranger Earl McGraw.
  • Stephanie L. Moore, Shana Stein, and Caitlin Keats as Joleen, Erica, and Janeen: Beatrix's best friends who are present at the wedding rehearsal.
  • Bo Svenson as Reverend Harmony: The minister who was to officiate at Beatrix and Tommy's wedding.
  • Jeannie Epper as Mrs. Harmony: Reverend Harmony's wife.
  • Chris Nelson as Tommy Plympton: Beatrix's fiancé who is killed in the wedding chapel massacre.
  • Samuel L. Jackson as Template:Vanchor: The organist who was to perform at Beatrix and Tommy's wedding.
  • Larry Bishop as Larry Gomez: The abusive manager of the strip club at which Budd works.
  • Sid Haig as Jay: An employee at the strip club where Budd works.
  • Perla Haney-Jardine as Template:Vanchor: The daughter of Beatrix and Bill. She is raised by her father while her mother is comatose.
  • Helen Kim as Template:Vanchor: An assassin sent to kill Beatrix. Her attack comes moments after Beatrix learns that she is pregnant.
  • Lucy Liu as O-Ren Ishii (Cottonmouth): A former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. She later becomes "Queen of the Tokyo Underworld". She is the first of Beatrix's revenge targets.
  • Vivica A. Fox as Vernita Green (Copperhead): A former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. She later becomes a homemaker living under the false name Jeannie Bell. She is the second of Beatrix's revenge targets.
  • Julie Dreyfus as Sofie Fatale: O-Ren's lawyer, best friend, and second lieutenant. She is also a former protégé of Bill's, and was present at the wedding chapel massacre.
  • Sonny Chiba as Hattori Hanzo: Revered as the greatest swordsmith of all time. Although long retired, he agrees to craft a sword for Beatrix.

See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Kill Bill: Volume 2" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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