Sorry for bumping the thread--I just saw the movie on Saturday.
After the first movie, I wasn't sure whether to be appalled at my laughter, or to laugh at how appalled I was. The movie was unquestionably brilliant; at the same time, I felt nauseated. My wife sincerely wishes she hadn't seen the movie at all.
In talking about it afterward, I realized that it wasn't the massive, unending violence that bothered me--I've watched most of John Woo's movies without flinching (well, okay, maybe I cringed during Bullet in the Head--I'm only human), and Once Upon a Time in Mexico was good clean mass-slaughter fun. No, it wasn't the violence that bothered me: it was the destruction of the body that freaked me out.
Most violent movies involve lots of shots to the chest, splatters of blood capsules, and falling over and twitching. That's not so bad. KB1 gloried in decapitations, amputations, and torture. And that, on a visceral level, wigged me the hell out.
Add to that the fact that I like violence in movies like cumin in dishes: it should add flavor, but not comprise the food's substance. KB was far from my favorite movie.
So my wife didn't go with me to see KB2, and I almost didn't go see it myself. But oh, I'm glad I did.
Everything that Iron Chef didn't like about the movie was exactly why I loved it. The first scene had me almost whimpering with fear: whereas some folks were looking forward to the massacre action sequence, I was dreading it. I LIKED the people that were about to die, even the horrible bitchy mother-in-law. They were good, decent, innocent folk who didn't deserve to be murdered, and here I was watching them talk and laugh and later watching B talk to Bill and knowing they were all about to die.
The sequence was all about the dread; when it closed with off-screen killings, it was almost quiet, a tragedy rather than an adrenaline shot.
Same thing with the final encounter with Bill and his daughter. The final fight sequence didn't last for twenty seconds: it lasted for probably twenty minutes, starting from the time Bea bursts into the courtyard and going nonstop until Bill falls over dead. Thing is, both characters knew they were in a lethal fight, and they took the time to resolve many issues during the fight. The measured pace of the scene was far more affecting for me than would have been another high-action swordfight, a recap of the O-fight in the first movie.
Different tastes, obviously. But whereas I'll likely never see the first movie again, I'm trying to persuade my wife to see this one as soon as possible, so we can talk about it.
Daniel
