Thumbs up from 'Variety' & 'Hollywood Reporter

Todd McCarthy & Kirk Honeycutt have both delivered rave reviews for ‘Kill Bill’ Vol. 2.  I’ll not copy & paste 'cos I’m sure you can all go enjoy for yourselves!



BTW Variety gives a 137m running time, Hollywood Reporter 127m.



Here’s a bit of the Variety one:



Kill Bill Vol. 2



A Miramax release of a Band Apart production. Produced by Lawrence Bender. Executive producers, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Erica Steinberg, E. Bennett Walsh. Directed, written by Quentin Tarantino.



The Bride - Uma Thurman

Bill - David Carradine

Budd - Michael Madsen

Elle Driver - Daryl Hannah

Pai Mei - Gordon Liu

Esteban Vihaio - Michael Parks

B.B. - Perla Haney-Jardine

Karen - Helen Kim

Clarita - Claire Smithies

Ernie - Clark Middleton

Rocket - Laura Cayouette

Larry Gomez - Larry Bishop

Jay - Sid Haig

Lucky - Reda Beebe

Rufus - Samuel L. Jackson

Tommy Plympton - Chris Nelson

Janeen - Caitlin Keats

Mrs. Harmony - Jeannie Epper

Reverend Harmony - Bo Svenson



By TODD MCCARTHY



What Quentin Tarantino started with a wham he finishes with a bang in “Kill Bill Vol. 2,” the supremely tasty and entrancingly elegant conclusion to the filmmaker’s unique serving of deep-dish cinephilia. Originally conceived as one film, the two-parter that has finally emerged can now be seen as a truly epic work, a 247-minute revenge saga in which the raw materials of movie memories have been transformed into a deliriously personal reverie that generates a trance-like dramatic power of its own. Less exotic and spectacular than “Vol. 1,” second half may not match the biz of the first installment, which debuted last October and generated $70 million in the U.S. and $108 internationally.



Long-term prospects are brawny for separate DVD releases (“Vol. 1,” sans commentary, comes out domestically April 13, three days ahead of “Vol. 2” in theaters), then for a combination of the two volumes both theatrically and on home formats, an ultimate DVD with extras and so on.



Enormously extended end credits, which are entertaining in their own right, should be sat through for what comes after, a final line that amusingly confirms Tarantino’s urge not to let go of this project. With the DVD still to come, he no doubt hasn’t yet.



Beginning with its delightfully retro black-and-white rear projection shots of Thurman driving in a convertible and looking for all the world like Lana Turner in (the referenced) “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” pic continues as a stylistic wonder, a dizzying example of cinematic sampling that abundantly shows Tarantino’s love and innate gift for filmmaking.



Richardson’s cinematography, Sally Menke’s editing, David Wasco’s and Cao Jui Ping’s production design and the original score by the RZA and (for Mexican interludes) Robert Rodriguez are smart, resourceful and alive, with innumerable other craft contributions following in kind.



Camera (Technicolor/B&W, Deluxe prints; Panavision widescreen), Robert Richardson; editor, Sally Menke; original music, the RZA, Robert Rodriguez; music supervisor, Mary Ramos; production designers, David Wasco, Cao Jui Ping; art directors, Daniel Bradford, Liu Lu Yi; set decorators, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, Ma Ying; costume designers, Catherine Thomas, Kumiko Ogawa; sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS/DTS), Mark Ulano; supervising sound editors, Wylie Stateman, Harry Cohen; re-recording mixers, Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga; visual effects, Centro Digital Pictures; special makeup effects, K.N.B. EFX Group; martial arts adviser, Yuen Wo-Ping; stunt coordinator, Keith Adams; associate producer, Dede Nickerson; assistant director, William Paul Clark; casting, Johanna Ray. Reviewed at ArcLight Cinemas, Los Angeles, April 2, 2004. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 137 MIN.

ah, good. so it confirms the run time 137 min, aswell as extended credits at the end. :wink:

That’s cool. I just wish I didn’t read that part about the last line. Kind of spoilerish to me.

click here for the Hollywood Reporter rave



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Cool, another positive review. The more i read the reviews the more it makes me wanna go watch Volume 2, shame i gotta wait another 16 days. But atleast it’s something to look forward to as im back in school that very week from a 2- week Easter Holiday!!!