1 of 5 | Uma Thurman stars in “Kill Bill,” returning to theaters uncut Friday. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 (UPI) — For years, The Whole Bloody Affair was cinema legend. The film, which combines Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 into a single movie, only screened at Cannes in 2006 and for those lucky enough to get tickets at Tarantino’s New Beverly Theater in Los Angeles.
Even its weeks-long showing at Tarantino’s Vista this year was only a local opportunity, also in Los Angeles. Now, everyone will have a chance to see the iconic action thriller epic.
Kill Bill may have the simplest plot of any Tarantino movie. Uma Thurman plays The Bride, a retired assassin out for revenge on the gang that tried to kill her after she left the group.
Exploring those colorful characters led Tarantino to make a four-and-a-half-hour movie, filled with martial arts battles and even an anime sequence. While the plot may be straightforward, the dialogue explored the revenge paradigm more deeply than the average genre movie.
Some people have never seen both volumes, released in 2003 and 2004, respectively. For such viewers, watching The Whole Bloody Affair provides a subtle but greater experience than simply viewing both parts in one sitting.
The first half now omits the spoiler that was used at the end of Vol. 1 as a cliffhanger for Vol. 2, revealed by Bill (the late David Carradine) himself. Thus, when that information comes out at the end of the movie, it provides an even greater shock and rethinking of The Bride’s entire journey.
For die-hard Kill Bill fans, The Whole Bloody Affair includes some alternate dialogue that is fun to spot, along with other additions. For example, the anime sequence about yakuza boss O-ren Ishii (Lucy Lui) is extended to include a lot more about her childhood.
The Whole Bloody Affair was originally assembled only two years after Vol. 2’s release, but may not have existed at all if then-Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein had not suggested releasing Kill Bill in two parts. This was a clever way to double the film’s box office, as each volume sold roughly the same amount of tickets.
More importantly, it allowed Tarantino to film everything he wanted and not cut anything. There’s no way Miramax would have released a four-and-a-half-hour film in 2003, and Tarantino probably would not have either.
Now, the only version of Kill Bill that doesn’t exist is the abbreviated one that might have been required in other circumstances. One can imagine scenes that do not directly impact the plot being omitted to hasten the story along.
For example, the marshals (the late Michael Parks and his son James) investigating the crime scene don’t actually learn any information The Bride did not already tell the audience. Likewise, former assassin Budd’s (the late Michael Madsen) job at a strip club is a humiliating downfall from legendary assassin, but does not impact The Bride coming for him.
Fortunately, the Kill Bill world is one in which it is desirable to luxuriate for four and ½ hours with a 15 minute intermission. None of the scenes are bad because Tarantino is a good writer and director and his cast is impeccable.
For fans of martial arts movies, Kill Bill was the pinnacle of celebrating the genre in Hollywood style. At the time, the United States had recently embraced films like The Matrix and Charlie’s Angels, also starring Liu, which incorporated wire-assisted martial arts. Meanwhile, filmmakers like John Woo, Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam were already making their mark.
Uma Thurman trained like Keanu Reeves did for The Matrix to execute her moves. Tarantino hired choreographer Yuen Woo-ping to ensure those fights would not just be an homage to Yuen’s martial arts films but the real deal.
Tarantino blends Chinese martial arts with Japanese samurai swords, casting the late Sonny Chiba as master swordmaker Hatori Hanso.
The film’s epicness also comes from its homage to westerns, particularly Sergio Leone’s The Good the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West.
Viewers should take advantage of the availability of 35mm and 70mm prints in select cities. Even if you don’t understand the technical differences, the film presentations provide a visceral qualitative difference from the modern digital norm.
The Whole Bloody Affair is a full night out at the movies. It might not have been feasible in 2003, but in 2025 it is more than worth your money.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
