Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen
CRITIC'S CHOICE
Whereas 2003's Kill Bill Vol. 1 was all kill, kill, kill, in Vol. 2 there's plenty of talk, a smidgen of character development and a hefty dose of sentiment to go along with all the slaughter. I'll take Vol. 2 any day. Just when you're ready to write off director-writer Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) as an arrested-in-adolescence, rip-off hack with pretensions to grandeur, he rescues his reputation with this one.
Kill Bill Vol. 2 won't be everyone's cup of tea. You have to like your brew strong and with a hint of sour lemon to enjoy it. The killing here is hardly pretty—in one scene someone's eyeball is gouged out, stomped on and squished between bare toes in loving closeup—but it is artful. The plot again centers on the Bride (Thurman), who was shot in the head during her wedding rehearsal and spent four years in a coma. She's still seeking vengeance against former beau Bill (Carradine) and the assassins—at least those she didn't kill in Vol. 1—he hired to mow down the rest of her wedding party. Or, as she alliteratively puts it, she's continuing on her "roaring rampage of revenge."
This time we find out much more about the Bride, her past and the motives of her assailants. It all clicks in Vol. 2 and is beautifully paced, except for the windy windup, which stretches on too long. Thurman gives a strong, impassioned performance, Carradine hits all the right wry notes, and Hannah and Madsen deliver showy turns as killers. As a martial arts master who trains Thurman in a flashback, Asian kung-fu star Gordon Liu is tremendous fun, stroking and tossing his long silken white beard as if auditioning for a shampoo commercial. (R)
ACTION DRAMA
Nia Vardalos, Toni Collette, David Duchovny, Stephen Spinella
Maybe it's the over-the-top musical numbers. Or possibly the delighted enthusiasm with which leading ladies Vardalos and Collette ham it up as women pretending to be men pretending to be women. Or that Debbie Reynolds turns up for a campy cameo. All in all, this over-mascaraed drag comedy is a lot more fun than it has any right to be.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding's, Vardalos (see p. 57), who wrote the film, and Collette play best friends in the Midwest who dream of showbiz glory. After witnessing a murder, they flee to L.A., with the killers on their trail. Seeking a disguise, they dress up as drag queens and are hired to perform at a gay club. Before you can say, "May I borrow your falsies?" they have become stars.
The plotting is strictly by the numbers (that number would be Sister Act, with a little Victor/Victoria thrown in) and the characterizations are as deep as a layer of lipstick. But when the gals dressed as guys dressed as divas belt out yet another chorus of "Oklahoma," all is forgiven. (PG-13)
COMEDY
Tom Jane, John Travolta, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Laura Harring
Here's the best thing about The Punisher: star Jane spends half the film with his shirt off or wearing a tank top. Without being too leeringly panting about it, the man has a pectacular chest.
It's surely not his acting that wins notice here. Jane makes Ben Affleck at his stiffest look like a ball o' fire. Punisher, based on the comic book, is ponderously slow getting going. An ex-FBI agent (Jane) becomes the titular hero only after his entire family is slain. Bloody vengeance shall be his, and he's clever about how he gets it; he sets his enemies (including Travolta, who's coasting here) against each other so that they do half the job for him. Though some of the dialogue is woefully stilted, sitting through Punisher is not punishment—but neither is it a pleasure, unless Jane is doffing his top. (R)
ACTION
Young Adam
This bleak but well-performed drama opens with a barge owner and his assistant (McGregor) hauling a young woman's corpse from a canal in Scotland. Slowly but absorbingly the film reveals who she is, how she got there, and her connections to the amoral McGregor. With Tilda Swinton and Emily Mortimer. (NC-17)
I'm Not Scared
A haunting drama about a boy in rural Italy who discovers, in a covered-up hole, another boy being held captive. Bravery and tragedy follow. Worth seeking out. (R)
- Contributors:
- Leah Rozen.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
