Extraordinary Uma Thurman returns ablaze in "Kill Bill: Volume 2," as death incarnate Beatrix Kiddo—a.k.a. "The Bride"—a vengeance-seeking ex-assassin bent on destroying former boss Bill and his elite team of killers out to eliminate her first. "Kill Bill: Volume 1" introduced us to Thurman as a pregnant bride, gunned down with her entire wedding party, and left comatose for four years. She woke up to wreak bloody havoc on the team of assassins who did her in, played by Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen and Bill himself, David Carradine. In "Kill Bill, Vol. 2," she’s back to finish the job, and the film begins by flashing back to that fateful wedding day then moving forward to the high-stakes kill or be killed game.

Daryl Hannah returns as glamorous, one-eyed assassin Elle Driver; she’s sexy and cool personified. In the film’s most exciting scene, Elle and Beatrix go head to head in a trailer, in what amounts to a knockdown, drag-out catfight that nearly annihilates both. This is great physical movie acting, obviously incredibly rigorous and difficult to perform and a career-high for usually uncomfortable Hannah.

In another stunning scene, Beatrix awakens to find herself buried alive in a wooden box. Tarantino pushes muse Thurman to dizzying physical heights here and the scene’s construction and resolutions are astounding.

When Beatrix does finally get face time with Bill, Tarantino hooks us by offering a surprisingly compelling variation on storybook domestic bliss, tinged with the ever-present threat of violence. In the middle of the mayhem, something approaching true emotion flowers between the odd couple, and the straight-played performances of powerful Thurman and Carradine go far in selling the film’s conclusion.

"Kill Bill: Vol. 2" is certainly exciting, but unlike the first film, which was an orgy of wild bloodshed and intricately mounted action set-ups, this film is slower on the uptake and richer in character. ‘Volume 1’ was an all out action spree, done with maximum style and energy; a clean, 90 minute thrill machine, bent on topping itself with one heightened, perversely violent combat scene after the next.

Comparatively, the weightier, meatier ‘Volume 2’ offers more bloody revenge, retro-style, complete with grainy stock, silly camera maneuvers and blaringly schlocky music cues. But the film is more than just a pastiche of bygone action stylings, and Tarantino’s knowing love of genre convention ultimately gives way to a deeper writing and some terrific acting from Thurman in the film’s climax. And while the film may very much be a winking nod to a movie era of yesterday, it’s also a confident and contemporary action picture of exquisite control and power, composed with a true auteur’s hand.

"Kill Bill: Vol. 2," with its cleverly shifting time structure and editing styles, mix of film stocks and exposures, flamboyant acting and unexpected humanity, is the ultimate oxymoron—a deliberately artificial parody turned homage turned original turned genuine feeling. "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" is a seamless blend of irony and sincerity.

The radiant Thurman dazzles every frame of this picture.