Whereas vol 1 was literally a bloodbath, Vol 2 will overwhelm you with words. The sequel is meant to answer the questions brought about by the first movie...Why was she attacked in the first place? Who is Bill? What's the Bride's real name? In the process, there's more talking and less bleeding, more story-telling than sword clashing,but not too much of it that the fight scenes are overlooked. There's still a lot of fighting inherited from the Vol 1, my favorite of which is the snake fight (as opposed to cat fight) scene between Elle Driver AKA California Mountain Snake and *bleep* AKA Black Mamba. There is also the movie's tribute to classic Asian movies although this time, they've moved from the ancient Japanese art of the Samurai to the equally ancient art of Kung Fu. I'm not too sure if its the awe the movie and its characters have for the sword or if its just my fear of sharp objects, but I just wasnt as impressed with Pai Mei as I was with Hattori Hanzo. A Hanzo sword is priceless, on the other hand, Pai Mei's lethal blow (more of this in the movie) is a legend.
Overall, I think Vol 2 still has the vital necessities of Vol 1. The shifts to Black and White are still there, the too-good-to-be-true scenes are still too-good-to-be-true and the assasins are as cold blooded as can be expected (though Cotton Mouth and Gogo are the most insane of them all). I'd say Vol 1 and Vol 2 are just about the same level, but for different reasons. The first one shocked and amazed me presumably since I had no idea what it was about while the second one had me waiting on edge for the next kick, punch, shove and gush of blood and where it didn't happen, I was hanging on to what the characters were saying, wanting to find out who, what, why and how. However, if you're the type who would rather see the action rather than hear about why there's any action, you'd still prefer Vol 1 over Vol 2.
