The ending of Kill Bill: Vol. 2 brings the performers back to the screen after Beatrix’s story is resolved. Its different sections should not be confused with a single sequence entirely in black and white.
The cast returns after the ending
The end credits of Vol. 2 work as a farewell to the complete work. They bring back figures from both films and let us see faces that had disappeared from the action long before. The point is no longer the chronological order of events or Beatrix’s list of enemies. It is recognition of a group of performances that has carried the journey.
That return changes our relationship with the characters. Throughout the story, each appearance can signal a threat, an obstacle, or help. In the credits, the image is linked to the name of the person who performs it. The viewer can recognize both the character and the actor at the same time. The film creates a distance from the violence we have just seen without denying that the violence was part of the story.
Bringing back performers from the first volume is especially useful in a work released in two parts. The ending does not limit itself to the cast we have just seen over the last hour. It brings the two halves together through their bodies and faces. The effect is like stepping out to take a bow: the differences between protagonists, enemies, and episodic figures briefly give way to one shared form of recognition.
Not all credits use the same visual treatment
It is worth distinguishing the cast presentation montage from the black-and-white block associated with Beatrix behind the wheel. Describing the whole farewell as a monochrome succession erases a visible difference. The ending uses more than one register and does not give every image the same function.
The cast montage works with the immediate memory of the characters. The driving image, by contrast, brings back a figure in transit: Beatrix moving toward a destination. Reusing it after the ending changes its meaning. The same focused attitude that once signaled an action still to come can now be seen as a held image of the road already traveled.
The use of black and white separates that block from the chromatic continuity of many remembered scenes. There is no need to identify it automatically with a historical date or an exact memory. Within the credits, it can function as a graphic treatment, a distance from the action, or a way of turning the face and the road into emblems of the protagonist.
The music also helps distinguish the sections. Malaguena Salerosa, performed by Chingon, accompanies the cast presentation, while Goodnight Moon, by Shivaree, belongs to another moment in the credits. The point of this difference does not require reproducing lyrics: it is enough to pay attention to the change in energy and how each song supports a different form of farewell.
Crossed-out names and uncertainty about Elle
The graphic play with the names of several performers brings back the logic of the revenge list. Crossing them out refers to the record Beatrix uses to mark completed targets. By moving that operation into the credits, the film mixes the vocabulary of its story with the space that normally serves to identify those who made it.
The question mark associated with Daryl Hannah introduces a deliberate difference from the crossed-out names. Elle’s fate has not been closed by a shown death. The mark preserves that uncertainty; by itself, it does not establish that she survives, nor does it announce a specific continuation. Its value lies in acknowledging that the film has not confirmed the same outcome for all the characters.
Nor should the credits be treated as a literal database of deaths. The device has a playful and selective element. It blends the actor’s name with the fate of the character and depends on the audience recognizing that substitution. An overly administrative reading would lose the pleasure of seeing a story convention reappear at the threshold of departure.
The ending thus allows two experiences at once: saying goodbye to the cast and remaining for a few minutes inside the language of Kill Bill. The images stop advancing the revenge plot, but they keep its marks, its music, and its visual memory. The story ends; the way of looking at it continues through the credits.
Return to the Kill Bill guide.