There are a few variables as to why it took me longer than I would have hoped to get to see a Quentin Tarantino film.
For starters, my mom had only two movies I was not allowed to see growing up, and one was Pulp Fiction because she thought it too weird (the other was The Exorcist, which one cannot blame her for in the long run). My older brother’s last bit of cinematic knowledge I remember him passing on to me (before he lost interest) was on QT, and I eventually got to Pulp as well as other films of his, the first being Kill Bill Vol. 1 in 2003. Yet my mind was truly opened a year later, with Kill Bill, Vol. 2.
That is nothing at all against Vol. 1, which, as we know, showed the character of The Bride (Uma Thurman) awakening from her coma after being left for dead by the mysterious Bill, along with her unborn child (or so she thinks). That film was a love letter to exploitation films of the truly bloodiest kind (most famously with her taking on the crazy 88 at the end of the film). One would expect the sequel to have been even more over the top with the action gore.
Yet this is where I learned the importance of Tarantino as a filmmaker: He doesn’t just not care a wit about the rules, but doesn’t care any of the audience is offended by it or not. The second film is simply played out like a thrilling western, as The Bride makes her way to Bill (David Carradine) by going through the second half of the gang (one of which is Bill’s brother, played by the late great Michael Madsen).
At the time (and even to this day), I felt Carradine was overlooked when it came to Oscar consideration (although he was nominated for a Golden Globe), even though no one would be able to stop Morgan Freeman’s eventual deserved Oscar for Million Dollar Baby. Yes, his character is the antagonist, but Carradine (with help from the Tarantino script) helps bring a sort of dark humanity to the character mixed with pathos (plus a tinge of humor). You may think the ultimate showdown at the end did not need talk about the origins of Superman, but you would be wrong.
Okay, I admit this is not QT’s best film (obviously that is Pulp Fiction), or even his best of the century (that is a toss up for me between Inglorious Basterds and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood), but Kill Bill Vol. 2 was my doorway to his world of impeccable dialogue, spot on acting, and not caring about what the audience may expect. I can’t think of another director who can keep his audience in eye contact with him and be able to pluck out their eye.
(As of this writing, Kill Bill: Vol. 2 is available on MovieSphere+)
Nothing else to say 