The Whole Bloody Affair

Last week, I took in Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair at the theater. This is combined version of Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2 (from 2003 and 2004, respectively). This version, which supposedly fits better with Tarantino's original conception of the film screened at Cannes in 2006, but this is the first time it got a wide release.

This version removes some material made extraneous by it being one film and adds an additional anime sequence, further detailing the background of O-Ren Ishi. Beyond that, it feels like there are some scenes that are cut differently in minor ways and perhaps some use some slightly different takes, though since I haven't seen the original films in a decade probably, I may misremember.

If you really liked Kill Bill, you should see this one, particularly if you haven't seen it in some time. The runtime is long, but there is an intermission, and honestly sitting through this one felt less of a chore than sitting through several of the merely over 2 hours Marvel installments or the theatrical cuts of the Lord of the Rings films. The scenes tend to be short enough not to overstay their welcome and what is going on is interesting. Actually, I feel like the pacing is better here even compared to other Tarantino works like Django Unchained or The Hateful Eight.

Seeing this move on the big screen again in 2025 made me nostalgic for another era in cinema that wasn't really all that long ago. Before the financial pressures of streaming left the studios chasing increasingly formulaic and assembled by committee franchise blockbusters.