This is one instance (cannot think of any other!!!) where the second part (not sequel) is even better than the first.
People anticipating the same levels of action and violence as in the first are sure to be disappointed. While there was more action in the first part, not much of a story. Viewers were all pretty much confused regd the chain of events and the story leading up to it.
Vol 2 explains everything - right from where the Widow aka Black Mamba aka Beatrix stands in Bills’ group, but also the facts leading to the Texas Church massacre.
Vol 1 had a lot of stylistic flourishes going for it in terms of the action , dialogues, mood etc (though nothing even remotely believable). But Vol 2 is a lot more subdued, more talky. We get to see Bill and know why he acted the way he did and his reln with the various gang members.
The action is pretty shortlived, except for one violent out-burst in a trailer van between Uma and Daryl Hannah - Beatrx and Elle Driver and its ending is almost ani-climatic. Then there is Bud, whos killing is really imaginative. No long prolonged sequences like in Vol 1 between the Widow and the bodyguards of whatshername...Lucy Liu.
The director could have combined the two into one (as I am sure a later DVD version is going to be) after editing out some unnecessary portion of vol 1 and it could have been a decent 2-2.5 hrs.
Anyways, great timepass entertainment .... relentless - over the top action, lots of gore and a fully developed stoyline... Cant really comment of Tarantino’s other movies, but this one defnly merits a 3.5 / 5.