As usual, Tarantino jumbles the plot’s chronology. But where ‘Volume 1’ set up the basic premise and the characters of ‘Kill Bill,’ the second film fills in the back story more, as well as the personal and emotional aspects. There’s more dialogue, and overall things move at a somewhat slower pace than ‘Volume 1.’

The first section goes back to the original shooting that put the Bride in a coma. The ‘Massacre of Two Pines.’ Told in black and white, and looking at times like an old-style western, it reveals that it wasn’t a wedding that was taking place, but a wedding rehearsal. This is the first time that ordinary everyday people really appear in the films, and they seem oddly out of place, completely incongruous in a story about assassins. This is appropriate though given that the Bride is trying to make a life for herself in the real world, a place where she doesn’t really fit in. When she decides to get some air, she hears a flute playing. Already she senses the worst, and finds Bill outside. “Hey, Kiddo,” he says. It’s only later we find out that this is her name: Beatrix Kiddo. All through ‘Volume One’ her name has been bleeped out. Although she’s wary of him, having run away three months before, leaving him to think she’d been killed on a job, they appear to reconcile. But when the rehearsal gets under way, the other members of the DIVAS appear outside, and in seconds the shooting starts. While we barely had a chance to find out anything about Vernita Green, and only really found out O-Ren’s background as it pertained to her becoming an assassin, ‘Volume 2’ at least allows us to get to know Budd, the only male member of the DIVAS, and Bill, a little. Elle Driver’s background, beyond the fact she’s Bill’s lover, is not elaborated on. Budd (Michael Madsen) is probably the most human of the DIVAS, and as we see in the second film, he’s fallen a long way. Working as a bouncer in a bar, and in danger of losing his job, he lives alone in a camper in the desert. He has a certain sympathy for the Bride’s desire for revenge. After hearing about the fate of O-Ren and the Crazy 88, he tells Bill: “That woman deserves her revenge, and we deserve to die. But then again, so does she. I guess we’ll just see.”

When the Bride catches up with him, though, Budd is ready for her.

’Volume 2’ is more of a spaghetti western. The Eastern settings of ‘Volume 1’ only see their match in a section that plays as a homage to ‘Kung Fu.’ Here, Tarantino takes the opportunity to fill in a bit more of the back story. Some years before, Bill takes the Bride to Pai Mei, his old master. Pai Mei agrees to take her on. From him, the Bride learns two particularly important things that will save her life twice in ‘Volume 2.’

In spite of the Western style of the second film, there are other references. One scene harks back to Brian de Palma’s ‘Carrie.’ And while The RZA provided the soundtrack to the first film, composer-director Robert Rodriguez is mostly responsible for the second. Rodriguez directed Tarantino’s script ‘From Dusk Till Dawn.’ It’s worth noting that one of the actors from that film, Michael Parks, effectively reprises his role in ‘Kill Bill Volume 1.’

Tarantino’s trademark dialogue is more in evidence in ‘Volume 2.’ There’s a particularly wonderful scene where, after setting a Black Mamba on Budd, Elle Driver takes out her notebook and proceeds to read out everything she’s been able to find out about the snake and the effects of the venom. While Budd writhes on the floor of his camper, she tells him about the gargantuan dose of venom. Then she pauses.

“Gargantuan. You know, I’ve always liked that word, gargantuan. So rarely have the opportunity to use it in a sentence.”

Daryl Hannah is spectacularly bad as Elle Driver. She’s probably the best baddie in the ‘Kill Bill’ films after O-Ren, though O-Ren is possibly more sympathetic due to what we know about her parents’ deaths. Elle is someone we never get to know. She’s a dirty fighter, compared to the others, and has some great lines. The one thing that is revealed is how she lost her eye.

When the Bride has finished dealing with the DIVAS, she heads off to find Bill. This means driving down to Mexico, where she encounters a seedy retired pimp, one of Bill’s “father figures.” We never find out much about Bill in the end, but what we do know is that he once had a thing for father figures, and that Budd was his estranged brother. The reunion between Bill and the Bride, already revealed by Elle to be Beatrix Kiddo, contains something of a shock for Beatrix. Expecting to get into a fight with him straight away, she instead finds herself confronted with a little girl who pretends to shoot her, and who calls her Mommy. At this point, the film reaches its most personal and emotional level. Torn between her hatred for Bill on the one hand, and ecstatic happiness at the news that her daughter is alive, the battle is postponed while some truths are dealt with. All through the two films, the comic book characterisation has mostly prevailed. Now and then more has been revealed, but it’s only at the end of ‘Volume 2’ that there’s true resolution and some semblance of emotional realism. In spite of the conclusion, both Bill and the Bride are essentially redeemed. The Bride is human once more, allowed to express her emotions. She is no longer the relentless killing machine of ‘Volume 1.’ ’Volume 2’ is stronger on character, slower on action. In a sense, the division of ‘Kill Bill’ into two makes sense because of their differences. Playing out as one film, things could have seemed a little patchy, though a rejigging of scenes might have sorted that out. Ultimately, ‘Kill Bill’ is best watched as a film of two parts, with an intermission in between. The fantastic nature of ‘Volume 1’ is largely dispensed with in ‘2,’ where the set pieces are less impressive than the fight-out with O-Ren and the Crazy 88. There’s also an inconsistency between the two films. Sophie, O-Ren’s best friend and lawyer, is remembered by the Bride as having been at the church, talking on her mobile, when the DIVAS were beating the Bride up, prior to Bill putting a bullet in her head. But Sophie is nowhere to be seen in the re-enactment of the massacre in ‘Volume 2.’

’Kill Bill’ however leaves much open to interpretation as far as the back stories are concerned. By sketching things out lightly, Tarantino allows us to fill in our own answers, if we’re inclined. For those who dislike Tarantino’s latest offerings, O-Ren’s line from ‘Volume 1’ may aptly sum up the films: “Silly Caucasian girl likes to play with samurai swords.” But ‘Kill Bill’ ultimately has more to offer than this: a wealth of cultural and cinematic references, first class sword-fights and martial arts, and some truly memorable characters. You just can’t take any of it too seriously.