I Know Tarantino Considers Kill Bill To Be One Long Movie, But Here's Why I Think Vol. 2 Is Way Better Than Vol. 1, And It's Not Even Close

I know Tarantino has stated that his tenth movie will be his last (and I'm still upset that it won't be The Movie Critic), I honestly feel like Tarantino already filmed his tenth film…and it was Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.

Because even though Tarantino considers Kill Bill to be one long movie, I distinctly remember seeing Kill Bill Vol. 1 in 2003, and Kill Bill Vol. 2 in 2004. So, in my mind, Kill Bill Vol. 2 is a sequel, and not just a continuation of the first film (Hey, nobody considers Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 to be one long movie, do they?).

Okay. I'm being cheeky. But, in all seriousness, Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Kill Bill Vol. 1 feel so tonally different that I don't even know how you can consider them one long movie. Vol. 1 is one of the best martial arts movies of all time, and Vol. 2…is not. And, that's mostly because…

Vol. 2 Has A Much Slower Pace Than Vol. 1, And I Think That Works In Its Favor

I'll never forget talking to my college professor about Kill Bill Vol. 2 back when it first came out. I remember how he said he much preferred Vol. 2 to Vol. 1, and I thought he must have lost his marbles.

I mean Vol. 1 is fast-paced, cool, and full of martial arts action, and Vol. 2 is slow-paced, background-heavy, and more like a western. How could he possibly prefer the latter to the former?

But as the years have flown by, and the gray hairs have settled in at my temples, I find that my professor was right. Kill Bill Vol. 2 IS the better half to the whole. And, I think it purely comes down to pacing. The Whole Bloody Affair, which I haven’t seen, but want to, might fix some of the pacing issues that I have with Vol. 1. But, as it stands, the first half of this two-part saga is frenetic, busy, and a little too jam-packed for my tastes now.

Yes, upon seeing it in 2003, I was all for the fast-paced martial arts action and storytelling. I liked having Beatrix Kiddo/Black Mamba/The Bride take out her adversaries in segments, which made the movie move at a brisk pace.

But today, I think Vol. 1 moves too quickly. Vol. 2 doesn’t have that problem. It takes its time, gives us a lot more backstory for both Beatrix and Bill, and feels a lot more cohesive because of it. So, Vol. 2 didn’t change. I did. And, Professor Miller was right!

It Also Feels More Like A Western Than A Martial Arts Film, And As We've Seen, Tarantino Makes Good Westerns

Here’s another thing. I love martial arts movies. In fact, I think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon should have won Best Picture back in 2001. I also think the martial arts action in Kill Bill Vol. 1 is the best thing going for it, as it’s really exciting to watch and take in.

But, be that as it may, I think I might like westerns better as a genre overall. And, if we’ve learned anything since Tarantino has dipped his toe into the genre, it’s that the man knows how to make a good western. In fact, on our list of the 30 best westerns of all time, Tarantino’s two more traditional films in the genre–those being Djanago Unchained, and The Hateful Eight, which is my second favorite Tarantino movie–both landed pretty high on that list.

That said, one could argue that Tarantino made his first western with Kill Bill Vol. 2, as the movie certainly feels like one; and a spaghetti western at that. We have the stare downs, the wide shots, the slower pace, some desert settings, and Michael Madsen wearing a straight up cowboy hat, talking like a former gunslinger (“That woman deserves her revenge…and we deserve to die.”).

Everything just takes its time more like a western, and Beatrix feels more like The Man With No Name (Or, for a more apt comparison, Yojimo, since she has a sword) than ever. The “fights” are more constrained, and they feel more like duels than anything else.

In every way, Kill Bill Vol. 2 feels more like a western than a martial arts flick, and I just love westerns, which is something else that I had to learn with age.

I Like The Villains More, Including Bill Himself

Don’t get me wrong. Kill Bill Vol. 1 had some cool villains. For example, I love Vivica A. Fox as Vernita Green, and her death is one of the reasons why I think Kill Bill Vol. 3 should ultimately be Tarantino’s “last” movie. I also love Lucy Liu as O-Ren Ishii (“Oh, what a specie”).

And, who can forget Gogo Yubari, played by Chiaki Kuriyama? She was almost like a miniboss during the Crazy 88 fight scene. In every way, as I said earlier, I think all of the martial arts in Kill Bill Vol. 1 is supreme, and I love all of the villains who we meet along the way.

That said, I like the enemies in Kill Bill Vol. 2 even more. Michael Madsen, who plays Budd, aka Sidewinder, seems tired and ready to meet his fate. He’s nothing like O-Ren Ishii (Cottonmouth), or Vernita Green (Copperhead). There’s no long, drawn-out fight scene between the two. In fact, The Bride doesn’t even kill him at all. Instead, Elle, who we saw in the first film and is played by Daryl Hannah, kills him and tells Bill that she killed the Bride, only for Beatrix to rip out her other eye, leaving her blind and defeated.

And then, you have Bill himself, played by David Carradine. This is another instance where we don’t get the battle we may have anticipated given the fights from the first film. No, this is a discussion between two people who once loved each other, and then Beatrix delivers the coup de grace in a very dramatic fashion.

The villains just seem more like regular people in this film, rather than the larger than life enemies we got in the first film, and I prefer Vol. 2’s baddies for that very reason.

It Also Has Pai Mei, Who Is My Favorite Character In The Entire Project

Okay, while Vol. 2 doesn’t have a lot of martial arts action like Vol. 1, it does have my all-time favorite character in the entire saga, that being Beatrix’s and Elle Driver’s teacher, Pai Mei.

Played by Gordon Liu (Who played Yakuza leader, Johnny Mo, in Vol. 1) Pai Mei is that traditional, Shaolin Monk character that you’d see in some of the old Wu tang movies back in the day (Which makes sense, since he directed and starred in Shaolin and Wu Tang).

His scenes where he’s training Beatrix are undoubtedly my favorite in the whole movie, and I honestly wish we got even more of his character, besides just a few flashbacks.

And it’s not like he’s just there to liven up the film. His role in teaching Beatrix enables her to escape from her confines in the coffin. She also uses his Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique to take Bill down.

In a lot of ways, besides Beatrix and Bill, Pai Mei is the most important character in this movie, and I love him for that.

In The End, It Feels A Lot More Complete, Which Makes Sense Given That It Closes The Story

Lastly, Kill Bill Vol. 2 feels a hell of a lot more complete than Vol. 1. Now, this may seem obvious (and the best argument for why Kill Bill really is just one long movie, broken up into two), but Vol. 1 really doesn’t feel like a complete film, even though Beatrix Kiddo has a genuine showdown at the end of it.

Because unlike, say, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Two Towers, those do feel like separate stories even though they make up a cohesive whole that ends with the triumphant The Return of the King.

But, Kill Bill Vol. 1 doesn’t feel like that. It actually feels like an unfinished story, and if it had ended where it did and The Bride never faced off against Bill, then the whole first film wouldn’t even make sense.

However, Kill Bill Vol. 2 does feel like a complete film. In fact, if the battles with O-Ren Ishii and Vernita Green were told in flashback, I don’t think it would even take away from Vol. 2, which kind of renders Vol. 1 a little useless if you ask me.

But, what do you think? Is Vol. 2 better than Vol. 1? I’d love to hear your thoughts.