Sequel doesn’t ‘Kill’ like original

TRICIA BEHLE

In “Kill Bill Vol. 2,” the Bride (Uma Thurman) continues to hunt down

her former colleagues.

In Vol. 1, the Bride dispatched Vernita Green and O-Ren Ishii. Now

in Vol. 2, she moves on to Budd (Michael Madsen) and Elle Driver

(Daryl Hannah), with her ultimate goal being to kill Bill (David

Carradine), her former boss.

Director and writer Quentin Tarantino provides more back story and

motivations for the Bride and Bill in Vol. 2, but he spends too much

time doing so. Consequently, the pacing is much slower in Vol. 2.

There are also fewer fight scenes in Vol. 2 than in Vol. 1 and a

lot more talking. Too much talking, really.

Still, there are parts of Vol. 2 that are definitely worth waiting

for. Every scene with Elle Driver is fantastic. Who knew Daryl Hannah

could play evil so well?

There is also one intense sequence done with the screen either

completely black or just lighted by the light of a flashlight that

practically makes the whole movie.

Tarantino has fun with technical elements in Vol. 2 just like he

did in Vol. 1. He switches between black and white, color and grainy

color for different parts of the film to very good effect. He also

switches between different movie styles like westerns and old kung fu

films for different sections.

Unfortunately, Tarantino has some technical flaws too. There are a

couple scenes in the film that are frustrating because it is very

difficult to understand what the actors are saying. One scene with

Budd and one with Esteban could really use subtitles even though the

dialogue is in English. The best-written lines won’t work if the

audience can’t figure out what the actors are saying.

“Kill Bill Vol. 2” doesn’t deliver quite the visceral thrill that

Vol. 1 did, but it still offers enough to make it worth watching.

This ‘Adam’ is in need of more than just a fig leaf

When I was asked to review “Young Adam” this past weekend, I

hadn’t heard anything about it except that it carries an NC-17 rating

and features star Ewan McGregor in a full-frontal glimpse of his, er,

light saber. I thought, well, he’s pretty cute and has made some

interesting films -- so how bad can it be?

Well, I’m here to warn you: there is nothing -- I repeat, nothing

-- that will impress you favorably in this movie except how

resoundingly dreary it is. This film, directed and adapted by David

McKenzie, is much like its main character -- a young man with no

redeeming social value whatsoever. The best thing going for it is

David Byrne’s moody score.

The opening shot is of Joe (McGregor) spotting the body of a young

woman floating in the river. He and Les (Peter Mullan) fish her out

of the water and call the police. As he gazes upon this poor woman,

Joe tenderly lays a hand on the woman’s back. He seems quite affected

by her and even imagines her final moments out loud with all the

soulfulness of a poet.

Who is this guy? He seems much too literate to work on a rusty old

coal barge run by Les, his wife Ella and their young son. Young

Adam’s vision of post-war Scotland is certainly no Garden of Eden.

Ella (Tilda Swinton) is worn out, used up and fed up with her

husband, who doesn’t seem to have much use for her. But evidently Joe

does, as he quietly attempts to seduce her at the dinner table.

I felt like I was chugging through this movie much like that

barge, trying to figure out the point. It turns out that Joe is a

failure as a writer and a human being. He has no genuine regard for

other people, especially women. Even his acts of “passion” (and you

see plenty of them) are quite joyless and impersonal. One scene of

Joe and a girlfriend is particularly shocking and cruel. These women

must not think much of themselves, either, for their choices are just

as pathetic.

With the mystery of the drowned woman revealed in disjointed

flashbacks, I felt a great sense of dread over the misery this man

caused some already pretty miserable people. I do not know what the

movie’s title refers to (except the book of the same name), but I can

tell you, this “Adam” was in dire need of a lot more than just a fig

leaf!